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Abigail J. Sellen

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The Myth of the Paperless Office First Edition

by Abigail J. Sellen (Author), Richard H. R. Harper (Author)

4.2 19 ratings

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Over the past thirty years, many people have proclaimed the imminent arrival of the paperless office. Yet even the World Wide Web, which allows almost any computer to read and display another computer's documents, has increased the amount of printing done. The use of e-mail in an organization causes an average 40 percent increase in paper consumption. In The Myth of the Paperless Office, Abigail Sellen and Richard Harper use the study of paper as a way to understand the work that people do and the reasons they do it the way they do. Using the tools of ethnography and cognitive psychology, they look at paper use from the level of the individual up to that of organizational culture.Central to Sellen and Harper's investigation is the concept of "affordances" -- the activities that an object allows, or affords. The physical properties of paper (its being thin, light, porous, opaque, and flexible) afford the human actions of grasping, carrying, folding, writing, and so on. The concept of affordance allows them to compare the affordances of paper with those of existing digital devices. They can then ask what kinds of devices or systems would make new kinds of activities possible or better support current activities. The authors argue that paper will continue to play an important role in office life. Rather than pursue the ideal of the paperless office, we should work toward a future in which paper and electronic document tools work in concert and organizational processes make optimal use of both.

About the Author

Abigail J. Sellen is a cognitive psychologist at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories in Bristol, UK.

ISBN-10

0262194643
ISBN-13

978-0262194648
Edition

First Edition
Publisher

Mit Pr
Publication date

November 1, 2001
Language

English
Dimensions

6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
Print length

242 pages
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Charlie Warzel
210
Hardcover
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mit Pr; First Edition (November 1, 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 242 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0262194643
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0262194648
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.18 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,940,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #970 in Materials Science (Books)
- #1,841 in Office Equipment & Supplies
- #8,420 in Finance (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.2 19 ratings

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4.2 out of 5

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J. Michael Casey

Paper is Still Useful in the Paper-Less Office

Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2015

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I bought this book from Amazon in 2005, and would recommend it to anyone with a professional or personal interest in the ways people use paper and other types of information display surfaces. It continues to provide a valuable perspective on the uses of paper in the workplace and personal life. I especially appreciate the authors' approach to studying the way office workers (in their case studies) were interacting with paper documents, in ways that were not readily supported by available computers, screens and software.

As another excellent reviewer said, in 2010: "What a difference 8 years makes. ... Selen and Harper's argument does remain relevant and thought-provoking in one important respect. They explain the unique functionalities of paper to argue why paper is better for certain tasks. In the last 8 years, some technologies have started to compete with the functionalities of paper. But [paper] remains more useful than screens for some tasks. Selen and Harper's arguments at least give us the analytical tools to think about whether certain tasks are better suited to paper or computers today."

Today, more than a dozen years since the book was published, many office workers have had computers since childhood.
• Some have very large screens, and some use two or three screens at a time.
• Some office workers (and many travelers) get by with a tablet or smartphone, for many tasks – including reading books as well as email.
• People are indeed using computers more, and printing paper less.
• So we could call it the “paper-less” office …

However, paper still provides useful functionality, e.g., for certain research or editing tasks: when you want to flip back and forth quickly between two pages in different parts of a long document; or when multiple documents need to be viewed in parallel on a larger surface; or when one needs to consult several source documents and notes, while writing or entering data into a new document.
• We can't all perform those tasks efficiently on a smartphone!
• We might need more than two monitors, for some tasks.
• And some of us still prefer the feel of a crisp paper document or handwritten letter, with a "wet ink" signature ...

Today, the final "office work" product is almost always a digital document – unless it needs to be filed in court, or delivered to someone who doesn’t have email.
• After the work is finished, the convenience copies and work papers can usually be shredded.
• Increasingly, paper documents are scanned on receipt -- and saved as electronic documents for improved accessibility, sharing, collaboration, business process workflow, or business continuity.
• Overall, the need for keeping paper records -- and sending them to offsite storage for long-term retention -- is decreasing.
• And the need to retrieve the paper from storage has declined dramatically in recent years -- except when the electronic copies are lost, damaged or disputed.

It is worth noting that human-readable paper records can prove more durable than electronic documents, which may become inaccessible after a few years for a number of technological and behavioral reasons.
• To remain available and readable, electronic documents must be periodically migrated to new media (e.g., every 5 to 10 years)
• The electronic document format also matters: saved documents may become unreadable over time, unless stable format standards are used (such as PDF/A)
• Storage of paper documents may be necessary or advisable, when a person or organization needs to retain (and retrieve) important records over a time horizon measured in decades.

Paper is not dead. It's just resting!

• Unlike that Monty Python parrot ...
• And we're still not sure about Schrodinger's cat ...

If you were able to read all of this review without getting bored and moving on, you should definitely read the book!
• As a bonus, I guarantee that you will learn one new word!

9 people found this helpful

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P.K.Mardak

Must read for anyone in technology

Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2019

Verified Purchase

We are surrounded by and inundated by technology myths. For me, this book describes the original office automation myth and value prop, namely that we will stop or reduce paper usage in a digital world. This book is a well-researched, well-written myth-buster. If you are an enterprise software engineer or in enterprise automation in any capacity, you will really enjoy this book. It's not what you don't know that gets you; it's what you know with certainty that is simply not so! This book is the embodiment of that concept.

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Mandi

I don't love it, but you might.

Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2010

Verified Purchase

I read this in an archival history course. It would probably be most interesting to you if you: a) really love paper/ are a records manager or b) are interested in late twentieth-century corporate office trends.

The greatest thing about it, to me, was that it was written clearly and concisely. Their major points are clearly presented in the introduction. What follows in the bulk of the book elaborates on these.

3 people found this helpful

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Rafael Moscatel

A terrific analysis of the opportunities and limitations associated with paperless initiatives and business processes.

Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2014

Verified Purchase

This bold and insightful analysis by two Microsoft employees into the psychological and practical reasons why certain business processes continue to rely on paper remains relevant even a decade after its publication. The book is especially helpful for records and information governance consultants more intent on providing their clients with a true understanding of the nature of their processes than selling them software solutions driven by buzz phrases including "The Paperless Office." Companies should certainly move toward imaging and digitization when feasible but the best solutions always require a sophisticated approach to rebuilding processes that recognize both opportunities, limitations and human nature.

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Robert Dubose

Interesting but outdated

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2010

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What a difference 8 years makes.

In 2002 it looked as though the authors were correct: the paperless office had been a myth. Technology had increased paper usage rather than decreased it. Many office workers still preferred to read and work on paper rather than screens.

But about the time this book was published, the "myth" started to become true. Per-capita paper usage in offices started to decline. In my experience, most office workers have switched from paper-reading to screen-reading in the last six years. And they have switched to screens for many of the tasks that the authors argued are better suited to paper reading. The difference is new technology. For instance, the authors argue that knowledge workers prefer to review, work, and collaborate on paper documents. As a lawyer, I found that argument to be true in 2002 when text-based programs did not include useful tools for collaboration. But developments since 2002 in programs such as MS Word and Adobe Acrobat have made it much easier to do tasks such as collaborative editing on a screen instead of paper.

Selen and Harper's argument does remain relevant and thought-provoking in one important respect. They explain the unique functionalities of paper to argue why paper is better for certain tasks. In the last 8 years, some technologies have been started to compete with the functionalities of paper. But some tasks remains more useful than screens for some tasks. Selen and Harper's arguments at least give us the analytical tools to think about whether certain tasks are better suited to paper or computers today.

This book was ground breaking in 2002. As a lover of paper, books, and libraries, I wish Selen and Harper had been right. I would be interested to see an updated edition that addresses the usage of paper today. But as technology has advanced, the argument of the current edition has become outdated.

17 people found this helpful

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J. Lee

Insightful book about the reasons why paper is used, and how it can translate to digital

Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2018

Verified Purchase

It's lightweight and an easy read. The pricing is reasonable and content is valuable especially for information science.

Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2007

Verified Purchase

I received the "The Myth of the Paperless Office" book within a few days of ordering it. It was in perfect condition just as it was stated on the promo.

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