I can take a screenshot and somehow include that in an email or word processing document and send it along. I can forward the URL in an email, but then it’s hard to focus attention on the particular passage I want to comment on. If I see a web article or some other electronic document and want to pass it along to a colleague with a few comments, my digital options aren’t great. One small area where little progress seems to have been made in eliminating paper involves marking up comments and other notes on paper documents. I simply prefer to read in a more relaxed position than one can muster at a desktop PC, and I also like reading in places where even laptops are uncomfortable to use.
My preference for reading paper has more to do with portability than readability nowadays. My desk is littered with web articles I’ve printed out to read later, although I do take steps to minimize the amount of paper required… by printing duplex (those new Pixma printers from Canon finally make duplex practical in an affordable desktop printer), and by even sometimes printing two pages up, thereby fitting four pages on one sheet of paper. For example, I still much prefer to read paper documents instead of trying to read onscreen. However, despite the growing sophistication of personal computers over the years, people seem to cling to paper methods no matter what great digital idea comes along. I’ve had an interest in the “paperless office for years, ever since Adobe Acrobat came out and was pitched as a possible solution.
Note: This article was updated on 12/5/06 to add information about Magic Pen.
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