DigitalBIO

This began as a comment over here:

Perhaps (probably!) I got it backwards.  General purpose business tools are simply inadequate, and we all agree about that, but it's the *biology* that's off-topic.

Now would be a good time for development of DigitalBIO, a (validated) tool that would accept raw data from field/lab work and produce a glittering variety of charts, graphs and posters -- completely annotated with procedures and formulae.  DigitalBIO finally makes good on the promise that the phrase 'electronic book' implies. DigitalBIO is simultaneously a simple field notebook, a worksheet for calculations and statistics, a plain old dead-tree document, and a presentation document with embedded video, animations and live interaction. 

Using DigitalBIO, even the laziest student could see exactly how counting arthrobacter in the creek leads to a wacky, one-column-goes-negative bar chart.

DigitalBIO leverages a blend of Open Source and proprietary technologies and tools to produce a cross-platform (Mac, Linux and, if necessary, Microsoft) product.

DigitalBIO comes in several basic configurations and can be customised to fit your own research area.  Got special presentation needs, unique data preparaton procedures?  No problem, as DigitalBIO is fully customizable either by you, your students, the community, your institution's CS department or a variety of developers:  No proprietary lock-ins!   Best of all, it's built with today's technology, not crufty, fossilized 20th Century code.

Why stop with DigitalBIO?  Roll out modified versions for DigitalASTRO, DigitalPALEO, DigitalPSYCHO -- you get the drift.

...

... well yeah, you're right: it doesn't actually exist, as such.  But you are in a good position to make it happen.  Looky here:

  http://blog.digitalbackcountry.com/?p=1449