Paperless Home?

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If you follow my blog you'll know that I'm intrigued by the ongoing debate on "the (myth of the) paperless office". You can find two of my posts here and here. Just recently, an article about the paperless home was published in the New York Times titled "Pushing Paper Out the Door". Most of the article also applies to the office too.

The article is a good read. It's not filled with high expectations, but looks for practical ways to reduce the consumption of paper. And some people are interviewed that are working on paperless homes. Scanning in all your paper stuff (also pictures etc.) is one of the (known) ways.
What I think is the real barrier is the first step: deciding to go digital and scanning in all the paper you already have (or throwing it away). Furthermore you need a simple tool to help you easily store the files, add filenames and tags.
Looking at my own life I do clearly see I use less paper. And I use paper in a different way than a couple of years ago. In most cases "the digital version" of the document is, indeed, "the master copy". What I kindof missed though was an analysis why people (still) use paper. I've pointed to the book "the Myth of the Paperless Office" before. This book tells us why we use paper and what affordances of paper need to be overcome before we really have a paperless home and office. I'm looking forward to new ideas that bring that world ever closer!

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