19th
November 2001
The paperless office
- Myth or Reality?
In this age of emerging digital technology, why is
the use of paper still on the increase? And for that matter, why
are we still using paper at all? Experts have been predicting over
the last thirty years the concept of the paperless office. Yet research
from a newly published book, The Myth of the Paperless Office, by
Richard Harper, University of Surrey and Abigail Sellen* indicates
that the use of paper has increased and that this increase is due
to the introduction of new digital technology. Case studies on the
use of e-mail in the workplace show that it can lead to a 40% increase
in paper consumption and this doesn't take into account the amount
of paper used to print information from the Internet.
In an attempt to explain this phenomenon, the authors
examine how paper is used and interestingly how people use paper
in conjunction with electronic systems. By conducting 'people watching'
studies (ethnography) and analysing a number of case studies, the
authors conclude that people like and prefer working with paper.
Indeed many activities are undertaken electronically but at some
stage end up on paper because digital technology fails to take on
the 'properties of paper'.
Says Harper: "Putting new technologies in place
doesn't necessarily reduce the amount of paper used, rather, it
may simply shift the point at which documents are printed out. Organisations
may pursue paperlessness for the wrong reasons. They may want to
get rid of paper simply because it is a symbol of the old-fashioned
past, rather than an ineffective technology."
Looking closely at paper reveals why many existing
digital technologies are inferior to paper for certain key tasks
such as reading. Reading is not always conducted in a linear fashion.
In reality, reading at work involves a variety of different disciplines
including scanning, cross-referencing and in depth analysis. These
disciplines in turn require different interactional functions from
the reader. Current e-books show that designers have paid little
attention to the need for people to navigate through, mark up and
work across multiple documents as they read. Looking at paper use
suggests innovative ways forward for digital reading as well as
for other technologies.
On the other hand, the authors point out the shortfalls
of paper usage in the modern office, such as for filing, archiving
and document retrieval, tasks which obviously favour digital methods.
Says Abigail Sellen: "Until such time as digital
technologies can provide equal or better support for many of the
tasks that are central to using information, the future for paper
continues to look bright."
Rather than pursue the ideal of the paperless office,
the authors conclude, we should work towards a future in which paper
and electronic document tools work in concert and organisational
processes make the best use of both paper and digital media.
*Richard H. R. Harper is Director of the Digital
World Research Centre at the University of Surrey
Abigail J Sellen is Senior Research Scientist at
Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
The book is published on Monday 19th 2001 November,
£16.95. The authors, Abigail Sellen and Richard Harper are
holding telephone and one-to-one press interviews on or around 19thNovember.
To arrange an interview with one or both of the
authors, please contact:
Andrea Tams, Cobalt Blue, 01252 728040, andreat@cobaltblue.com
About Richard Harper, DWRC
Throughout the past ten years, Professor Harper has
been at the forefront of research into the use of sociological and
interdisciplinary techniques for specifying user requirements for
new technologies in organisational, mobile and domestic life. He
is a regular public speaker on this theme, having undertaken engagements
in settings as diverse at Trinity College, Dublin, and the Ritz
Hotel, London. He has over one 100 publications and several patents.
His most recent books include:
- The Myth of the Paperless Office with Sellen, A. J. (MIT
Press, Boston, Mass)
- Wireless World with Brown, B and Green, N (Springer-Verlag,
Godalming UK, 2001)
- Organisational Change and Retail Finance: an Ethnographic
perspective, with Randall, D. and Rouncefield, M. (Routledge,
London, 1999)
- Inside the IMF: An Ethnography of Documents, Technology and
Organisational Action, (Academic Press, London & San Diego,
1998).
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