Instead of writing with a pen and taping in images and graphs, reading and adding to an electronic notebook is done through a computer and can involve input from keyboard, sketchpads, mouse, image files, microphone, and directly from scientific instruments. In addition, electronic notebooks allow easier input of scientific data and the ability for collaborators in different geographic locations to share the record of ideas, data and events of the joint experiments and research programs. Paper notebooks are ubiquitous in the scientific community.
Researchers keep personal notebooks to record their ideas, meetings, and experiments.
The contents of these notebooks is usually kept private unless needed to prove when an idea was first recorded. Notebooks are kept on all major scientific instruments as well. These notebooks are shared by all the researchers that use the instrument and serve as documentation of the instrument's status and use. The methods of entry in paper notebooks are common across all the different scientific disciplines. Making quick sketches.