The Myth of the Paperless Office

AdamBa writes: "The New Yorker is running an interesting review of the book 'The Myth of the Paperless Office', also discussing 'Scrolling Forward'. Read it and the ever-informative Malcolm Gladwell will explain why paper enables collaborative work much better than computers do, why a messy desk is a sign of productivity, and give a little background on the inventor of the Dewey Decimal System to boot."

Comments

We just need better tools (Re:drafts)

[fetta]

I have to admit that sometimes I really want to sit down with a red pen and a paper draft. When I have to send my comments to somebody else electronically, however, I'd rather work on the computer than have to retype all my scribbled comments.

There are tools for this, but they just aren't that commonly used. The best one I've found is the full version of adobe acrobat. You can print just about anything to a PDF, and then use Acrobat to draw on it (circle things, draw arrows, highlight, etc) and include comments on anything you draw. There is even an option to create a second document with all of your comments that makes a great checklist for the next revision. PDFs are also common enough that I can send these marked up documents to just about anybody and expect them to be able to see and read my comments.

Again, I don't think we'll get to the paperless office in my lifetime, but we could get a lot closer using the tools that are available.

Re:The next generation portable, PAPER!

[RetroGeek]

Laugh if you like, but there are people PAID to re-assemble shredded documents.

They test the effectiveness of paper shredders.

The ones you get in office supply stores suck. Only 1/4 inch wide cuts. The real shredders cut about 1/2 millimeter, and cross shred 4 millimeters. You end up with big dust....