I've decided to give Open Notebook Science a try. My lab notebook is pretty large (35MB, 400+ pages), so it may take a while to download.

download my lab notebook

Other Open Science Notebooks

Jean-Claude Bradley maintains a list of Open Science Notebooks. If you decide to make your lab notebook open, send him an email to be put on the list so others can find your work more easily.

Help me improve my notebook

I'm also trying to come up with some Open Notebook Science requirements and suggestions to help move towards an open notebook that is intelligible to people besides myself. I'd be interested for your comments/suggestions on what else should be included.

How I construct my notebook

A few people have written asking how I make the document itself. The document is made in latex (specifically pdflatex on a mac). I've posted a simple example electronic lab notebook in latex with the commands and functions that I frequently use. sample.tex is the main file; see this file to determine if you need to install any latex libraries. sample.pdf is the compiled document. If you don't know how to use latex, do a google search for The Not So Short Introduction to Latex.

Open Science Isn't New

Finally, I just want to point out that open science isn't new (though technology is certainly making openness more open):

Secretiveness in a scientist is a disfigurement, to be sure, but it has its comic side; one of the most comically endearing traits of a young research worker is the illusion that everyone else is eager to hurry off to do his research before he can. In reality, his colleagues want to do their own research, not his. A scientist who is too cagey or suspicious to tell his colleagues anything will soon find that he himself learns nothing in return. G.F. Kettering, the well-known inventor (antiknock gasoline additives) and co-founder of General Motors, is said to have remarked that anyone who shuts his door keeps out more than he lets out. The agreed house rule of the little group of close colleagues I have always worked with has always been "Tell everyone everything you know"; and I don't know anyone who came to any harm by falling in with it.

P.B. Medawar, Advice to a Young Scientist