4 ms·

Show HN: Labit – a network of laboratory pages for research groups

ArslanAtajanov 9y ago
What’s Labit? - Laboratory pages for research groups. Why Labit? - We want to bring research groups closer to each other, give them opportunity to establish connections and simplify collaboration. How Labit works? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJClMIWOh-M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJClMIWOh-M As it is with many ventures, Labit started out of frustration. We are a team of 4 people (2 researchers and 2 software engineers). We were frustrated that laboratories and research groups around the world were working in a relative isolation. Their webpages are outdated, unorganized, scattered on the Internet, and in many cases broken. This realization sparked a discussion that led to creation of Labit. Any questions and feedback are welcome. Thanks!
- ivan_ah 9y ago
  Very cool. It's like a CMS adapted for a research groups (a.k.a. labs --- note potential source of confusion since lab can also mean actual lab with test tubes etc). One thing that I found confusing is the lack of pricing info. Is this going to be free and if so how will you pay the hosting bill when you get 1000+ freeloaders? Or do you see it as a run-it-yourself free software?
  - edjay 9y ago
    Some additional features that will be added will be priced. But basis is free. Everything that is in there now is free.
  - ArslanAtajanov 9y ago
    Hi there. Good questions. We will be introducing pricing for some advanced features (that we are working on right now) and analytics later, but the core functionality will stay free. We are covering the hosting bill with the help of some local startup programs and some bootstrapping for small things. And currently we are actively seeking funding from investors/accelerators. Some are interested, but waiting to see if this gains traction. So right now, we have to onboard as many users as we can, get feedback from users and then we will have a considerably higher chance to find some funding.
- brudgers 9y ago
  It is an interesting idea. Creating and maintaining an informative page represents a substantial investment of time by laboratory personnel and the return on that investment is largely dependent on the durability of that information online. Because laboratories tend to have longer life cycles than web projects, I am curious about Labit's model for achieving sustainability over a period of ten or more years.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- gravypod 9y ago
  Is there an API to obtain data from your site? I'm assuming two of the biggest features researchers will want is a "faculty acquired" and a "grant won" brag-post system. It will be interesting to see what data comes out of those two features. Who gets money, what do they do/buy with the money, who do they subcontract with that money, how long does it take to get money, who stays at their institution with their money, what PIs constantly win grants, etc. This will be a lot of fun.
  - ArslanAtajanov 9y ago
    There is no API yet. Exactly! This is exactly what we are planning to do with all the data after we reach a meaningful number of users.
edjay 9y ago
Nice to see your work here. I am one of the co-founders of Labit. Here to answer your questions if you have any.
ArslanAtajanov 9y ago
Here is a link [1] to a post on Medium written by my co-founder and a link [2] to our YouTube page that has some tutorials if you want to know more about Labit. [1]: https://medium.com/@chengeerlee/bringing-research-groups-online-one-step-forward-to-open-science-85896de77704 https://medium.com/@chengeerlee/bringing-research-groups-onl... [2]: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxzIti06vZguLlJjXhBaQKA https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxzIti06vZguLlJjXhBaQKA
justin--sane 9y ago
I would actually be interested to move our research groups website there. However, I'd first have to check with the Uni IT / security if it is allowed to host a website externally. This could be a general problem - did you look into University policies to see if this could be an often occuring issue?
- ArslanAtajanov 9y ago
  Your question is quite common among our first adopters. We have talked with representatives of a few universities. As of now they don't have any objections. However, we are working on clarifying this with other universities in US and Europe. In any case, the functionality that Labit currently offers doesn't pose a risk to individuals and research groups. Moreover, many labs host their pages on Wix, WordPress, SquareSpace etc. and their university administration doesn't mind. I think that these are the reasons why there were no objections from administration so far. And a question for you in return. How important for you is the ability to have a custom domain for your research group? On a scale from 1 to 10.
  - justin--sane 9y ago
    10, since it is policy here to use a subdomain of the university. Of course, all data hosted on the lab website is usually not sensitive. But I know of a couple of unis where the policy is quite rigid and they simply do not allow any external hosting. Do you have any plans to allow self-hosting? It seems to work quite well for wordpress and ghost...
    - ArslanAtajanov 9y ago
      For those cases, where the policy is very strict, we are going to contact universities directly first. If that doesn't work then we will have to find a way to allow self-hosting while preserving the connection to the whole platform/network as that is the main purpose of the service. Can you tell me the name of your university? You can send me an email (rc[at]labit.io) if you would rather not share this information on HN. And regarding custom domains. We are definitely working on that. It is our top priority right now.
flor1s 9y ago
It's not quite clear to me what kind of features you have to "reduce isolation"? Also, how easy is it to integrate an existing web page design into labit?
- jamessb 9y ago
  There seems to be a social media type feed with posts/new publications that you can like or comment on [1]. But I'm not sure what value this really adds, as people who want to use social media to engage with other scientists already are, using Twitter (or Pubpeer, if they want to be more criticial). [1]: https://labit.io/global https://labit.io/global
  - ArslanAtajanov 9y ago
    Well, why not? Ideally, we think that this would allow users to interact directly on our platform thus positively influencing adoption and retention.
- ArslanAtajanov 9y ago
  Re "reducing isolation": Currently, all research group web pages are scattered across the web and we want to connect them, make them discoverable. E.g.: Let's say an undergraduate/graduate/researcher who wants to find all research groups/professors working in a certain field has to scour the web to find a handful of labs that are interesting to him. With Labit s/he will be able to filter all laboratories/research groups that might be interesting to him/her. And as user base grows the benefits of having all labs connected into a single network will yield even more benefits. The above example is from personal experience of mine and my peers and the reason why we started to work on Labit. And there are many more similar examples that can be thought of. Re Design: Customization of the design is one of the top requested features. We are working on it. That being said one of the goals of the platform is to organize information in a structured way. We are still not sure how availability of deep customization will affect overall structure, ease of use and discoverabilty. This is something we are experimenting with. Locking down most of the structure and design of the web pages, while allowing minor customization might be a good thing in the long run. I would love to hear your argument on adding advanced customization options.
sleavey 9y ago
I wrote a guide to using WordPress to run an academic labbook [1]. It's basically just a case of installing some free plugins, and you've turned it into a collaborative platform. I've thought about combining the plugin code together into a single one for ease of setup, so if anyone finds that interesting then I can look into it properly. This avoids proprietary solutions like the one here and allows self hosting. [1] https://attackllama.com/2015/10/online-labbooks-for-scientific-research/ https://attackllama.com/2015/10/online-labbooks-for-scientif...
- ArslanAtajanov 9y ago
  Awesome stuff! You should make it and see what happens. Many researchers/students struggle with the discovery of research groups, collaboration etc. The more people/companies try to tackle these issues the merrier.
clarkevans 9y ago
What is your monetization model? Is the goal to get big enough to have Facebook, Google, LinkedIn buy you out? Or will there be advertisements? Might you consider a monthly fee and organize as a self-sustaining cooperative of researchers (https://platform.coop/ https://platform.coop/)? For example, Stocksy is a cooperative owned by artists (https://www.stocksy.com/service/about/ https://www.stocksy.com/service/about/) and is profitable.
- ArslanAtajanov 9y ago
  We are currently working on several advanced features and analytical tools that will be offered as a subscription on individual basis or as a package (enterprise tier, e.g. for universities, companies). To answer your question on getting big, our focus now is implementation of a platform that is a home to research groups of the world. We have to do it fast, and we have to do it right. In other words, the goal is to get big and be useful. That doesn't mean that our exit strategy is to get bought by a big player.

What’s Labit? - Laboratory pages for research groups. Why Labit? - We want to bring research groups closer to each other, give them opportunity to establish connections and simplify collaboration. How Labit works? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJClMIWOh-M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJClMIWOh-M As it is with many ventures, Labit started out of frustration. We are a team of 4 people (2 researchers and 2 software engineers). We were frustrated that laboratories and research groups around the world were working in a relative isolation. Their webpages are outdated, unorganized, scattered on the Internet, and in many cases broken. This realization sparked a discussion that led to creation of Labit. Any questions and feedback are welcome. Thanks!

ivan_ah 9y ago
Very cool. It's like a CMS adapted for a research groups (a.k.a. labs --- note potential source of confusion since lab can also mean actual lab with test tubes etc). One thing that I found confusing is the lack of pricing info. Is this going to be free and if so how will you pay the hosting bill when you get 1000+ freeloaders? Or do you see it as a run-it-yourself free software?
- edjay 9y ago
  Some additional features that will be added will be priced. But basis is free. Everything that is in there now is free.
- ArslanAtajanov 9y ago
  Hi there. Good questions. We will be introducing pricing for some advanced features (that we are working on right now) and analytics later, but the core functionality will stay free. We are covering the hosting bill with the help of some local startup programs and some bootstrapping for small things. And currently we are actively seeking funding from investors/accelerators. Some are interested, but waiting to see if this gains traction. So right now, we have to onboard as many users as we can, get feedback from users and then we will have a considerably higher chance to find some funding.
brudgers 9y ago
It is an interesting idea. Creating and maintaining an informative page represents a substantial investment of time by laboratory personnel and the return on that investment is largely dependent on the durability of that information online. Because laboratories tend to have longer life cycles than web projects, I am curious about Labit's model for achieving sustainability over a period of ten or more years.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
gravypod 9y ago
Is there an API to obtain data from your site? I'm assuming two of the biggest features researchers will want is a "faculty acquired" and a "grant won" brag-post system. It will be interesting to see what data comes out of those two features. Who gets money, what do they do/buy with the money, who do they subcontract with that money, how long does it take to get money, who stays at their institution with their money, what PIs constantly win grants, etc. This will be a lot of fun.
- ArslanAtajanov 9y ago
  There is no API yet. Exactly! This is exactly what we are planning to do with all the data after we reach a meaningful number of users.

edjay 9y ago

Nice to see your work here. I am one of the co-founders of Labit. Here to answer your questions if you have any.

ArslanAtajanov 9y ago

Here is a link [1] to a post on Medium written by my co-founder and a link [2] to our YouTube page that has some tutorials if you want to know more about Labit. [1]: https://medium.com/@chengeerlee/bringing-research-groups-online-one-step-forward-to-open-science-85896de77704 https://medium.com/@chengeerlee/bringing-research-groups-onl... [2]: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxzIti06vZguLlJjXhBaQKA https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxzIti06vZguLlJjXhBaQKA

justin--sane 9y ago

I would actually be interested to move our research groups website there. However, I'd first have to check with the Uni IT / security if it is allowed to host a website externally. This could be a general problem - did you look into University policies to see if this could be an often occuring issue?

ArslanAtajanov 9y ago
Your question is quite common among our first adopters. We have talked with representatives of a few universities. As of now they don't have any objections. However, we are working on clarifying this with other universities in US and Europe. In any case, the functionality that Labit currently offers doesn't pose a risk to individuals and research groups. Moreover, many labs host their pages on Wix, WordPress, SquareSpace etc. and their university administration doesn't mind. I think that these are the reasons why there were no objections from administration so far. And a question for you in return. How important for you is the ability to have a custom domain for your research group? On a scale from 1 to 10.
- justin--sane 9y ago
  10, since it is policy here to use a subdomain of the university. Of course, all data hosted on the lab website is usually not sensitive. But I know of a couple of unis where the policy is quite rigid and they simply do not allow any external hosting. Do you have any plans to allow self-hosting? It seems to work quite well for wordpress and ghost...
  - ArslanAtajanov 9y ago
    For those cases, where the policy is very strict, we are going to contact universities directly first. If that doesn't work then we will have to find a way to allow self-hosting while preserving the connection to the whole platform/network as that is the main purpose of the service. Can you tell me the name of your university? You can send me an email (rc[at]labit.io) if you would rather not share this information on HN. And regarding custom domains. We are definitely working on that. It is our top priority right now.

flor1s 9y ago

It's not quite clear to me what kind of features you have to "reduce isolation"? Also, how easy is it to integrate an existing web page design into labit?

jamessb 9y ago
There seems to be a social media type feed with posts/new publications that you can like or comment on [1]. But I'm not sure what value this really adds, as people who want to use social media to engage with other scientists already are, using Twitter (or Pubpeer, if they want to be more criticial). [1]: https://labit.io/global https://labit.io/global
- ArslanAtajanov 9y ago
  Well, why not? Ideally, we think that this would allow users to interact directly on our platform thus positively influencing adoption and retention.
ArslanAtajanov 9y ago
Re "reducing isolation": Currently, all research group web pages are scattered across the web and we want to connect them, make them discoverable. E.g.: Let's say an undergraduate/graduate/researcher who wants to find all research groups/professors working in a certain field has to scour the web to find a handful of labs that are interesting to him. With Labit s/he will be able to filter all laboratories/research groups that might be interesting to him/her. And as user base grows the benefits of having all labs connected into a single network will yield even more benefits. The above example is from personal experience of mine and my peers and the reason why we started to work on Labit. And there are many more similar examples that can be thought of. Re Design: Customization of the design is one of the top requested features. We are working on it. That being said one of the goals of the platform is to organize information in a structured way. We are still not sure how availability of deep customization will affect overall structure, ease of use and discoverabilty. This is something we are experimenting with. Locking down most of the structure and design of the web pages, while allowing minor customization might be a good thing in the long run. I would love to hear your argument on adding advanced customization options.

sleavey 9y ago

I wrote a guide to using WordPress to run an academic labbook [1]. It's basically just a case of installing some free plugins, and you've turned it into a collaborative platform. I've thought about combining the plugin code together into a single one for ease of setup, so if anyone finds that interesting then I can look into it properly. This avoids proprietary solutions like the one here and allows self hosting. [1] https://attackllama.com/2015/10/online-labbooks-for-scientific-research/ https://attackllama.com/2015/10/online-labbooks-for-scientif...

ArslanAtajanov 9y ago
Awesome stuff! You should make it and see what happens. Many researchers/students struggle with the discovery of research groups, collaboration etc. The more people/companies try to tackle these issues the merrier.

clarkevans 9y ago

What is your monetization model? Is the goal to get big enough to have Facebook, Google, LinkedIn buy you out? Or will there be advertisements? Might you consider a monthly fee and organize as a self-sustaining cooperative of researchers (https://platform.coop/ https://platform.coop/)? For example, Stocksy is a cooperative owned by artists (https://www.stocksy.com/service/about/ https://www.stocksy.com/service/about/) and is profitable.

ArslanAtajanov 9y ago
We are currently working on several advanced features and analytical tools that will be offered as a subscription on individual basis or as a package (enterprise tier, e.g. for universities, companies). To answer your question on getting big, our focus now is implementation of a platform that is a home to research groups of the world. We have to do it fast, and we have to do it right. In other words, the goal is to get big and be useful. That doesn't mean that our exit strategy is to get bought by a big player.