With apologies to Thomas Dolby...

Data mining, storage and retrieval becomes critical when the data is part of an international scientific laboratory. With that in mind, Microsoft Research and Renaissaince Computing Institute (RENCI) eScience Workshop in Chapel Hill, NC has attempted to bring in presentations that address directly the framework, management, challenges, social networking, workflow processes and the move toward an international XML standard for analytical chemistry (which is an effort spearheaded and presented at the conference by my husband - get in touch if you'd like more info). The scientific community is slow to automate such processes, as its main focus has always been on the research and development side, relying heavily on vendors to understand their needs. However, more effort is being made, mainly from the university crowd, to understand the unique needs of data management at the scientific level.

Microsoft's eScience Workshop is providing the platform. For more information or to obtain specific presenter information, visit the RENCI web site for contact information.