19th November 2001
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: