Table 2: First version of a metadata scheme for a Western Blot experiment (excerpt). This metadata scheme includes the columns: “Work steps” in which every working step of the experiment which generates data is listed; the second column “Value” describes the work step and clearly describes the value(s) which should be documented. The third column “Selection values” offers a range of values which could be selected by the user, and the last column “Acronym” includes an acronym where suitable.