response to printing the web

James Kalbach says: “Consider how extraordinary paper is: lightweight and flexible, it supports thousands of typefaces, as well as black-and-white and color illustrations, and its high-resolution and high contrast facilitates reading.”

As I read this sentence, I am sitting surrounded by piles of paper so large they're not only quite ridiculous, but threatening as well: “Despite predictions to the contrary, it doesn't seem that the advent of networked information sharing has reduced human consumption of paper. In fact, given the amount of printouts modern offices and homes produce, one is inclined to say that even MORE paper is generated today than ever before. A "paperless society" feels a long way off.”

And yet, as I mentally sort through the piles, I realize that the reason behind these printouts is nothing so lofty or typographic as high-resolution, high-contrast, or even its support for a thousand typefaces. It's because of meetings.

Or put more accurately, it's because I do not have a laptop to take to meetings.

I would estimate that 75% to 80% of the paper strewn about my desk in haphazard piles results from being given paper at a meeting or having to take paper to a meeting. Another 15% is given to me by other people who didn't have a meeting but just feel better giving me paper (these are the people from whom I actually have to request a digital copy). Only a very small percentage (1-5%) of the papers on my desk are there because I printed them, for myself, for reference. Most of these end up on my wall where I can see them if I need them.

Why do people like paper? I'm not entirely sure, though I do realize I'm heavily biased for screen reading and very few people share my love of it. It's not searchable, it's menial work in order to classify or file away, it takes up space, it wastes trees, it's usually inefficient in business where only one side gets printed, it's a consumed resource and once you've used that piece of paper it's tough to use again, and it costs money.

Conversely, digital documents are cheaper, easily searchable, easy to file away, takes up zero desk space, is nice to trees, is efficient, the memory is re-usable and the per-byte costs are equal to if not lower than paper.

I find myself sitting here and dreaming of a day when everyone in the office carries their digital storage with them to meetings, a day when people who “feel better” printing something out will have digitized themselves or been retired, a day when I will be able to have stuffed animals or cool toys (not that I don't now, they're just not in the majority) and photographs and other cool and inspiring things cluttering my desktop instead of the carcasses of trees.