The Myth of the Paperless Office

246 Pages·2001·1.1 MB·English

by  Abigail J. Sellen

The Myth of the Paperless Office
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The Myth of the Paperless Office
Abigail J. Sellen and Richard H. R. Harper
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2002 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any
electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or informa-
tion storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book was set in Sabon by Achorn Graphic Services, Inc.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sellen, Abigail J.
The myth of the paperless office / Abigail J. Sellen and Richard H. R. Harper.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-262-19464-3 (hc. : alk. paper)
1. Office equipment and supplies. 2. Paper. I. Harper, Richard (Richard H. R.)
II. Title.
HF5521 .S43 2001
651.5—dc21
2001032626
For Christina, Harry, Stan, Ann, and John
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1 Introduction 1
2 What’s Wrong with Paper? 23
3 Paper in Knowledge Work 51
4 Reading from Paper 75
5 Paper in Support of Working Together 107
6 Designing New Technologies 139
7 The Future of Paper 185
Notes 213
References 219
Index 223
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Acknowledgments
As with most research, there are many individuals who contribute but
never see their name on the final product. Given that this work has been
undertaken over a number of years and in different research establish-
ments, there are many such people to thank.
The institution that played the largest part in this work was Xerox’s re-
search lab in Cambridge, England. It was here where we first met and com-
menced the research; but it was here also where we met various other
individuals who deserve a special thank you. Our erstwhile colleagues
Marge Eldridge, Kenton O’Hara, and William Newman all played major
roles not only as active researchers in various studies of paper but also as
friends and advisers. Kenton, in particular, led most of the research on
reading reported in chapter 4, and we are indebted to him for his work and
insights. There were also many other people in the lab, at Xerox PARC in
California, and elsewhere in the corporation, who influenced our thinking
and provided the forum to develop our ideas. They include Bob Anderson
(director of the lab in Cambridge), research colleagues Graham Button,
Mik Lamming, and Allan Maclean, as well as support staff Michelle Hey-
don, Christine King, and Mike Molloy. Outside of Xerox’s research labs,
we are grateful to David Jones, who helped set up the research in the first
place; Ted Carroll, who helped undertake it; Paul Ratcliffe, who encour-
aged us to present it to the corporation; and Gene Golovchinsky, of Fuji
Xerox, who has advised us on a variety of matters regarding e-books.
Moving on to Hewlett-Packard Labs, Bristol, many other colleagues
helped see the book through to completion. Draft chapters have greatly
benefited from input from Barry Brown, David Frohlich, Erik Geelhoed,
Alison Kidd, and Simon Lewis. The book would also never have been