Scientific research is becoming more and more dependent on the use of information technology in order to acquire, process and share research data. The amount of data that is generated within this process increases with an exponential rate, making it very hard and sometimes impossible to manage or even analyze all of it. Therefore, scientists have to rely on a broad range of software tools that help them to be more productive.

Me, being a scientist myself and trying to cut my way through the daily data jungle, I use this blog as a discussion board for some useful tools, techniques and technologies that I use in my everyday work. I will focus mainly on online collaboration tools since I think they are still not as much accepted and used as they should be, but I will also discuss some other techniques that can be used directly in the lab with no social skills whatsoever required

I will only discuss tools which I use and like myself in order to give you some real first-hand experience . To begin with, here are some topics that I’m currently interested in and that I will probably discuss in the upcoming posts:

• To serve and protect: Software Configuration Management tools (especially Subversion) for Scientists.
• Controlling everything: Embeddable scripting languages (especially Lua) for simulation, configuration and automation.
• Snake charmer: Using Python for your everyday scientific needs: Plotting, calculation, measurement, data analysis, …
• Social online tools for scientists: How to use Slideshare, Mendeley& Co to promote your work and to spread your knowledge.
• Knowledge base: Using Wikis and blogs for your research.

I aim at writing one extensive article each week.  Happy reading!