What is it?
Orson is an electronic research notebook – a tool for collecting data and evidence, documenting process, writing up research findings in interactive formats, and sharing knowledge with others.
It's ideal for providing interactive supplementary material to published articles, or for creating a web resource for sharing research insights.
Orson supports all kinds of research, not just experimental or lab-based work. Specialised outputs can be represented through the use of custom plugins.
Personal projects
Orson is a useful and flexible tool for taking notes, writing a journal, or collecting ideas – like a digital commonplace book.
Phases of research
There are three broad phases of research supported by Orson:
- Data collection and/or process documentation
- Reflection and representation of research
- Writing up of projects
You may choose not to document every phase of a project in Orson. For example, you may use Orson primarily for data collection, as a knowledge-base; or you may use it to document a project retrospectively through the use of interactive narratives.