[LINK] Environmental impact of web versus print

[rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au]

Kim Holburn wrote:

> I remember everyone talking about "the paperless office" of the  
> future but now it's yesterday's tomorrow and there's more paper than  
> ever and better, finer printing.  I also remember my first  
> programming jobs: I used to print out my code and go over the source  
> with coloured textas.  I just didn't like reading detailed text on a  
> screen.  I do a lot more on-screen reading now but LCDs are much  
> better than CRTs.

A caveat, this was a long time ago - pre-Web and I've never found the 
research online. But: Stanford Uni (I think) conducted a study into 
readability on-screen vs paper. Paper was streets ahead by retained 
comprehension - that is, people answered questions about the text more 
accurately if they read the text on paper.

These days, most research seems to focus on different aspects of 
on-screen readability, but the basic "which is easier" is not so easy to 
find.

And there are basic design issues as well. It's almost impossible to get 
<stereotype> computer geeks </stereotype> to understand this, but 
typography matters - hugely. Sans-serif fonts reduce readability. Long 
columns reduce readability. "Ragged right" in short columns reduces 
readability. White type on a dark background, ditto. All of these 
lessons seem to go by the board when it comes to designing a Web page.

IMHO, bad on-screen typography probably contributes to unnecessary 
printing...

RC

> Then we can use less paper?
>
> How many linkers actually read ebooks?  I can't imagine it myself.  I  
> like reading real books.  Until they have downloadable epaper books I  
> think I'll pass on ebooks except in extremis.
>
> The other thing is that the whole DRM thing hasn't played out yet.   
> When you buy a real book you're getting something you can read, lemnd  
> to your friends, borrow, borrow from a library, sell.  What do you  
> get when you buy a DRMed book, music, film etc.  You get something  
> that a company can take away when they change their mind, when you  
> computer crashes and has to be rebuilt.  When DRM/Copyright fight has  
> played out a bit maybe it will be worth it to buy digital books.
>
> On 2006 Sep 26, at 9:43 AM, Tom Worthington wrote:
>
>> At 06:25 PM 9/22/2006, rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au wrote:
>>
>>> Tom Worthington wrote:
>>>
>>>> Perhaps AGIMO could carry out a study on: "Are web pages better  
>>>> for the environment than paper documents?". ...
>>>
>>>
>>> " A report released yesterday by ABARE on Australia's forest and  
>>> wood products statistics shows Australians have increased their  
>>> consumption of paper and paper products by 25% ...
>>
>>
>> So the web has not reduced paper use and may have increased it?
>>
>> In that case what steps might reverse the trend? Organizations  might 
>> guarantee that pages would be available in the future. For  example 
>> the UK government lets its stuff be included in the  Internet archive 
>> <http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/preservation/ webarchive/>. OJS 
>> has an interesting option where the whole of your  electronic journal 
>> can be automatically backed up to archives  around the world. Another 
>> way might be to issue DOIs, or similar  for documents, to give the 
>> sense that they are permanent <http:// 
>> www.tomw.net.au/technology/it/qpublishing.shtml>.
>>
>> Also producing documents in smaller pieces might help. For example  
>> providing the summary on a web page first, before the "executive  
>> summary" and the full report. At present it is too easy to send a  
>> 200 page PDF document off to the printer. If you first ad to look  at 
>> the one page abstract and then the ten page executive summary,  that 
>> might slow you down.
>>
>> ps: Another useful technique would be to buy SLOWER printers for  the 
>> office and charge the paper cost to individual business units.  I 
>> have a little ink jet printer which does about two pages a minute  
>> (double sided printing by turning the pages over yourself halfway),  
>> which really makes you think hard before printing.  ;-)
>
>
> -- 
> Kim Holburn
> IT Network & Security Consultant
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