It sounds so beguiling – the “paperless office”. Everything’s tidier, easier to find, searchable, and no more piles of paper to be recycled (or pulled out of the trash to be recycled). And then I start thinking of the logistics. Besides being the Green Czar here at Taylor, I’m also the IT Geek, so when I hear “paperless office”, I start asking questions. Questions about file formats – PDFs are wonderful until your computer can’t recognize someone else’s PDF. Permissions – who can delete, move, or rename the files? A sloppy click-and-drag can hide huge amounts of data inadvertently, and you aren’t even aware of what you just did. Data backups – when your entire company is digital, you want to make sure it’s safe. Archiving – with a new version of every program you use coming out every year, how soon will your digital files be obsolete? We have files from Mac OS 9 days that we can’t read anymore. What about media? Remember floppies? What about Zip drives? If you said yes, you know where I’m coming from. This is a huge transition.

But there are also big psychological hurdles. As much as I hate wasting paper, I also hate the idea of using electricity to read something. There is a range of e-readers out there, some of which use more electricity than others, but the ones that have the best resolution use a bit of energy. And on top of that, I like paper. I like reading a book, a magazine, or a newspaper. I can write notes on a page, or fold it up and put it in my pocket. My daughters may be the last generation that use paper, but I’m definitely stuck in my ways.

I know the day is coming. However, I think the crucial component is still missing. Will it be e-paper? Open-source file formats? Even cheaper, but more dependable, memory? A screen-less computer that you wear? Yes, I do read a lot of science fiction. But we are living in a world of technological wonders, dontcha know?