Information Technology Reference
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port effective knowledge work 1 with documents. We introduce novel concepts that
support collaboration on various levels, integrate paper and screens closer than be-
fore, and make ample use of the physical flexibility of paper. All these techniques
are generic and can be easily integrated into user interfaces that target different work
settings.
This introductory chapter serves for framing the topic of this topic. In order to un-
derstand what is so specific about paper, we first provide a synopsis of prior research
that has examined the affordances of paper. Next we will present our approach -
integrating printed with digital documents - and introduce the basics of Pen-and-
Paper Interfaces. This allows us to outline key challenges that will be addressed in
this topic. Finally, we provide an overview of the chapters and guide readers through
the topic's structure.
1.1 Why Using Paper Documents?
With the advent of word processing, electronic mail and the World Wide Web, many
experts predicted that the end of paper use in offices was imminent. Entire compa-
nies attempted going paperless, thereby banishing the symbol of old-fashioned tech-
nology. However the paperless office has failed to materialize. A number of similar
predictions of paperlessness can be traced back in the history until the 19th century
[131]. Paper survived each of them.
Recently, novel technologies, such as e-book readers and tablets, have come to
the market. Printed newspapers see themselves challenged by online information
portals. A growing number of scientific works get published solely online. Again
many commentators prognosticate that paper is becoming passe. Indeed, electronic
media are currently pushing back paper to some extent in publishing. While in the
1990s, paper production was constantly increasing, paper consumption currently
seems to have reached a plateau and remains approximately at the level of the year
2000 [13].
However, this does not mean that we will go paperless to work. The key point is
that the publication medium is not necessarily the medium that we use for eventually
working with the document. For instance, Sellen and Harper showed that the elec-
tronic access to documents made possible by the World Wide Web did not reduce
but it even increased paper consumption. One reason is that people prefer reading
long documents on paper [131]. This still holds true for state-of-the art e-readers and
tablet devices [153, 103]. Hence, even at the beginning of the twenty-first century,
paper remains a key information medium that is omnipresent in our homes and at
our workplaces.
In this section, we discuss what are the affordances of paper that make it such a
pervasive medium, despite all advances in technology. What affordances are likely
1 Following Drucker [25], we define knowledge work as a category of work which primarily deals
with using and developing information. Some very obvious examples of knowledge workers are:
scientists, teachers, students, librarians, engineers, lawyers, journalists.
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