Frequently Asked Questions
- What happens to my question after I submit it to The Lab Man?
Questions are received into the discussion board and open to free-flow, give-and-take dialogue between all ALA member participants. The discussion board is reviewed regularly by The Lab Man. The Lab Man will determine which questions to answer based upon acceptability pursuant to rules and regulations and alignment with ALA’s organizational mission. The Lab Man may assign a question an appropriate category and forward it to the proper volunteer expert scientists to consider. Once sufficient responses are gathered, The Lab Man may post the answers on the discussion board and send an email to the submitter. Alternatively, any volunteer expert scientist may simply post an answer on the discussion board.
- When may I expect an answer to my request?
The Lab Man and our volunteer expert scientists respond to acceptable questions usually within one week after it is submitted, but a specific time is not guaranteed due to the fact that some questions may require more research.
- Why have I not heard anything about the question I submitted?
There may be a couple of reasons. First, some email addresses submitted with a question are incorrect or do not exist. Second, some of the questions that are sent to The Lab Man are not answered. In either case, the submitter may not receive a response.
- How many volunteer expert scientists are answering questions?
The Ask The Lab Man service is brand new. We expect to grow our population of volunteer expert scientists rapidly over the next year. Volunteer expert scientists must be members of the ALA. Scientists can sign-up now. We also will be accepting volunteer expert scientists into the program at LabAutomation2007 in Palm Springs, CA, January 27-31, 2007.
- Which types of questions are generally not addressed by this service?
Ask The Lab Man is not designed to answer every question posed. Ask The Lab Man will focus on those questions requiring innovative thinking, contributing to the exploration of automation technologies in the laboratory, technical originality, and unique integration and automation strategies in keeping with the mission of the ALA to support the global advancement of education for automation technologies.
Questions that can be commonly found in libraries, textbooks, encyclopedias, or other reference books may not be answered. The Ask The Lab Man service is not a substitute for existing and accepted well-founded literature, and traditional and non-traditional educational sources.
Ask The Lab Man will not entertain questions dealing with:
- Commercial interest
- Dangerous and inappropriate use of chemicals, processes or experiments
- Clinical medical, dental or other physician-related concerns
- Contests or university related special projects or thesis questions
- List requests
- Opinion and/or survey requests
- Reference or textbook questions
- How may I become a volunteer expert scientist?
The Lab Man and the ALA is willing to accept volunteer expert scientists who are members of the association. If you are a member, please sign-up today.
- If I find a mistake or do not agree with an answer, how do I let you know?
Ask The Lab Man serves a rather large community with varying degrees of complexity. Because of this and, of course, as answers become out-of-date — we may in fact be in need of updating or adding more information. Users are encouraged to alert us to incorrect or out-of-date entries at AskTheLabMan@labautomation.org. And, as always, we welcome your comments.
- Do you recommend vendors and vendor products?
No. The Lab Man will endeavor to avoid all commercial issues. However, The Lab Man reserves the right to assist specific requests from the academic community.
- How can I directly contact one of the expert scientists?
ALA can not provide direct contact information for The Lab Man or any of the volunteer expert scientists. The discussion board allows for direct access to the community at large.
- Do you answer medical questions?
No. For medical questions, please seek professional medical care.
- What is the Ask The Lab Man Podcast?
The Ask The Lab Man Podcast affords you the monthly opportunity to download an audio file at your leisure. While The Lab Man Podcast will be brief in form ranging from three-to-five minutes, its function will be to offer a glimpse of interesting and significant questions, answers and ideas emanating from the discussion board in any particular month. The Lab Man also will acknowledge and thank leading contributors and members of our volunteer scientific expert.
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