Paper and Paperless Technology
The paperless office is late, but finally it will be realized in spite of all obstacles like restricted durability of present electronic storage media or "paper addiction". Hard- and software are being improved continuously...
A Look at ICT Enabled Dematerialization
October 13, 2010: This article highlights seven areas - books, music, movies, maps, photos, mail, and newspapers - where ICT enabled dematerialization has had a lot of impacts in the past few years. Additionally it also contains a critical look at these changes by describing some downsides. The text also emphasizes that the current trends aren't necessarily better for the environment given that dematerialization also leads to electronic waste and increasing electricity consumption by ICT infrastructure.
For the full article please follow the external link.
Carbon Emissions: Ebooks and Paper Books Compared
September 23, 2010: A study released in August compared the carbon emissions of ebook readers such as the Amazon's Kindle and traditional paper books. The results indicate that the carbon emitted in the lifecycle of a Kindle is approximately equal to the amount emitted by producing and distributing 22.5 books. Hence in the hand of many users a Kindle will overall be less carbon intensive within a year or two of its purchase.
For more information please follow the external link.
Newspapers Look To E-Reader Future
August 05, 2010: A media analyst in Australia is predicting that the days of reading printed newspapers are numbered. He considers the future of newspaper reading in a non-print version such as e-readers which saves costs for distribution and printing, avoids paper production and will be economically beneficial for subscribers.
For more information please follow the external link.
Readers Are Abandoning Print
July 27, 2010: According to a recent report released by the Center for the Digital Future revealed that almost a quarter of Internet users who also read newspapers would miss the print edition of their newspapers if they disappeared. Moreover, 18 percent have stopped subscribing to a newspaper or magazine because of available online content and more than three quarters ranked the Internet as an important source of information.
To read the full report please follow the external link.
E-Books Top Hardcovers at Amazon
July 19, 2010: Amazon announced that for the last three months, sales of books for the Kindle have outnumbered hardcover books. In the last four weeks, sales rose to 180 digital books for every 100 hardcover copies.
For more information please follow the external link.
New Kindle DX With Lower Price
July 01, 2010: Amazon introduced a new version of its large-screen Kindle DX e-reader that is intended as a newspaper and textbook-reading device and dropped the price from $489 to $379. The new version comes with a more slate-like "graphite" color and an improved e-ink screen.
For more information please follow the external link.
E-Readers Go Below $200
June 21, 2010: Due to a growing market for e-readers, the decline in component costs, increased profitability by ebooks but also as manufacturers of e-readers are facing a mounting threat from Apple's iPad, Amazon and Barnes & Noble cut the prices of their e-reading devices. While Barnes & Noble dropped the price of its e-reader Nook from $259 to $199 and introduced a new version of the device for $149, Amazon cut the price of the Kindle e-reader from $259 to $189.
For the full story please follow the external link.
More Than 100,000 People and Organisations Participate in Paper-Less Day on June 3rd
May 31, 2010: Paper-Less Day is being organized by the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD) in order to raise awareness about the growing problem of excessive paper use, its contribution to global warming and how organisations can become more efficient by using less paper. The individuals and organisations participating in Paper-Less Day will stop all non-essential printing and copying on June 3rd.
For the full story please follow the external link.
Trading iPads for Thousands of Wasted Sheets of Paper
May 22, 2010: The investment firm SageView purchased a half-dozen iPads for their offices with the goal of loading them with PDF's of investment materials and replacing stacks of bound, printed material for client meetings. The company expects to save over 12,000 sheets of paper per quarter due to the use of iPads.
For the full story please follow the external link.
New Company Plans to Create a "Paperless" Society
May 10, 2010: The company Doxo is announcing a new online service that helps consumers get rid of paper bills. At the same time, it wants to help corporations to save money by eliminating paper waste and plans to sell its Web-based service directly to enterprise customers like mobile carriers, banks and utilities.
For the full story please follow the external link.
The New York Forum Goes Completely Paperless
April 29, 2010: The New York Forum, a global business leader meeting to be held on June 22 and 23 in New York City, announced that it will be the first of its kind to go completely paperless. All participants will receive an iPad featuring the program, background information, schedule and any other relevant materials.
For the full story please follow the external link.
Xerox Looks to Accelerate Lender's Adoption of Paperless Mortgages
April 27, 2010: Xerox Corporation recently showcased eVault, a virtual repository of electronic loan documents that directly connects to the Mortgage Electronic Registration System. EVault provides users with the ability to securely store and manage electronic promissory notes for funding, post-closing, servicing, and custodial purposes, with instant access to to the status of an eMortgage at any stage of the process.
For the full story please follow the external link.
Switching to Paperless Makes Americans More Satisfied Consumers
April 26, 2010: According to a study by PayltGreen there exists a direct correlation between consumer satisfaction and paperless billing behaviours. The survey also reveils that less clutter, easy access and reduced waste are motivating consumers to leave paper behind.
For the full story please follow the external link.
Colour E-Readers with Video Shown Off
April 09, 2010: A colour e-reader that supports video and potentially web browsing has been shown off by Dutch researchers. The prototype uses screen technology that is supposed to be up to four times more energy efficient than LCD screens. The Dutch firm Liquavista expects the first e-readers using the "electrowetting" technology to be available by the middle of 2011 and the technology to then become more widespread.
For the full story please follow the external link.
E-Books on Apple's iPad
April 02, 2010: 300,000 iPads were sold on its first day on the market and over the same time period, iPad users have downloaded over one million apps and over 250,000 e-books. Although the Kindle app and Apple's own iBooks do not come pre-installed on the newly released iPad, people who are interested on reading e-books on the device can pick whatever free book app they want.
For the full story please follow the external link.
Color E-Ink Is Coming This Year
March 18, 2010: The next generation of e-readers with color e-ink displays will be out on the market by the end of 2010. Color electronic ink displays will be especially useful for magazines and as the technology develops, it will also become fast enough for watching videos. Currently, the color is not as vivid as an LCD display but electronic ink displays are easier on the eyes and the fact that they can eliminate a backlight and constant power supply means more energy efficiency.
For the full story please follow the external link.
More Newspaper and Magazine Content for Sony E-Readers
March 11, 2010:
Sony announced that it is expanding its selection of newspapers and magazines in its e-book store. Users of Sony's e-readers will be able to subscribe to 20 new newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, Boston Globe, San Jose Mercury News, PC Magazine and Foreign Affairs.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
The Internet Overtakes Print in News Consumption Among Americans
March 01, 2010:
According to a new survey conducted by Pew Internet and Project for Excellence in Journalism, the Internet is now the third most-popular news platform, behind local and national television news and ahead of national print newspapers, local print newspapers and radio. The majority of news consumers use two to five websites per day to get their news and 21 percent rely only on one favorite website to get their information.
To read the full report, please follow the external link
To read the full report, please follow the external link
Textbooks That Professors Can Rewrite Digitally
February 21, 2010:
Macmillan, one of the five largest publishers of trade books and textbooks, is introducing software called DynamicBooks which will allow college instructors to edit digital editions of textbooks and customize them for their individual classes. Professors will be able to reorganize or delete chapters, upload course syllabuses, notes, videos, pictures and graphs. Moreover, the software allows to rewrite or delete individual paragraphs, equations or illustrations.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Do E-Readers Cause Eye-Strain?
February 12, 2010:
There is a lively debate among fans of e-readers and paper books about which type of reading experience is most friendly to the eyes. Doctors and researchers note that in most instances, paper can offer more visual sophistication than a screen. But certain types of paper such as inexpensive newsprint or the paper in softcover books can provide an inferior reading experience for the eyes than the electronic alternatives.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
British Library Releases Thousands of Free E-Books
February 09, 2010:
The British Library releases thousands of works from out-of-copyright nineteenth-century authors that will be made available to users of e-readers. There are plans to extend the list to include early twentieth-century books too and by 2020 the library aims to provide 50 million items in digital format.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
The Science of Electronic Books
January 26, 2010:
The major advantage of e-ink, the technology behind the e-readers' special screens, compared to LCD screens is its low power consumption. To understand how e-ink works, the following article provides an interesting insight.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Amazon Takes Kindle DX Global
January 05, 2010:
After taking its basic Kindle e-reader international in October 2009, Amazon is taking its larger-screen Kindle DX global as well, giving it the ability to wirelessly download books and other content in more than 100 countries starting January 19. The global DX will remain the same price tag of $489 but non-U.S. customers have higher prices on some Kindle e-books.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Research Studies Predict Growth for E-Reader Market in 2010
December 28, 2009:
On Christmas day, for the first time, Amazon sold more digital books than physical books. Moreover, Amazon reports that the Kindle e-reader is the most gifted item in Amazon's history and general sales of e-readers in 2009 go up to about 3 million. Research Studies even predict a growth for the e-reader market in 2010: Forrester Research estimates the number of e-readers sold in 2010 to double with about 6 million.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Group of Magazine Publishers Is Said to Be Building an Online Newsstand
November 24, 2009:
A consortium of US magazine publishers including Time Inc., Condé Nast, Hearst and Meredith are planning to jointly build an online newsstand for publications in multiple digital formats. The new magazine company would make it easy to buy print and electronic copies of magazine publications from one single website and would develop software standards for magazine viewing on iPhones, BlackBerrys, e-book readers and other platforms.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Serving Literature by the Tweet
October 29, 2009:
Readers of "Electric Literature", a new quarterly literary magazine, may enjoy new literature on paper, Kindle, e-book, iPhone and starting next month also as an audiobook. By allowing the magazine to be read in different formats, its founders seek to revitalize the short story in the age of the short attention span. To publish the paper version, they use print-on-demand; the e-book, Kindle, iPhone and audio versions eliminate printing bills and the price for its subscription is therefore only half the price of the paper format.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
E-Book Fans Keep Format in Spotlight
October 21, 2009:
Some sellers and owners of electronic reading devices are making the case that people are reading more because of e-books. Fans of the reading devices suggest that the numerous benefits and the convenience of using these products have created a greater interest in books.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
AUO Unveils Flexible E-Paper
October 20, 2009:
The Consumer Product Display Business Group AU Optronics has announced a 20-inch e-paper module aimed at public information display applications and has launched its six-inch and nine-inch flexible e-paper displays. According to the Senior VP&GM of AUO, the mass production of the flexible e-paper will drive the next wave of the reading revolution.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
A New Electronic Reader, the Nook, Enters the Market
October 20, 2009:
Barnes & Noble, the largest bookchain in the US, unveiled its Nook electronic reading device which will ship starting in late November. One of the differentiating factors of the Nook is that customers can lend books to friends and while in stores, Nook owners will be able to read any e-book through streaming software.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Libraries and Readers Wade Into Digital Lending
October 15, 2009:
Public libraries are expanding collections of books that reside on servers rather than shelves. The idea is to capture borrowers who might otherwise not use the library, as well as to give existing customers the opportunity to try new formats. Digital collections are still small compared to printed ones but circulation of e-books and audio books is clearly on the rise.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Glo Bible Spreads the Word (and HD video) of God to Digital Generation
October 14, 2009:
With 2,382 high-resolution photos, 7,500 articles, 463 virtual tours, 3.5 hours of high-definition video and 689 works of art, Glo claims to be the Bible that will engage the digital generation of Christians. It includes close-ups of religious art such as the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel and accompanying text, tours of the Garden of Gethsemane and Temple Mount and the Bible mapped out on a timeline and atlas featuring a youthful publicity campaign that urges people to "dive into the world of Bible".
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Amazon's Kindle Electronic Reading Device is Going Global
October 07, 2009:
Amazon will start selling a new version of the Kindle that can wirelessly download books both in the US and in more than 100 other countries at the end of October 2009. International users of the new Kindle will have a collection of around 200,000 English-language books to choose from and their catalogs will be tailored to the country they purchased the device in.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Say Goodbye to the Books
September 04, 2009:
A prep school in New England has given away half of its library collection, replacing it with an entirely digital infrastructure. The academy spent about half a million dollars to create a new digital "learning center" which includes flat-screen TVs, laptop-friendly study carrels, electronic reading devices and instead of a traditional library with 20,000 books, they built a virtual library where students will have access to millions of books. The headmaster of the school sees this as "a model for the 21st century school".
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Exploring the Persistence of Paper with the Electronic Health Record
September 01, 2009:
Even in institutions which have long adopted computerized systems, employees still rely on paper to complete their work. Healthcare organizations for example are increasingly implementing electronic health records and other related health information technology. Based on semi-structured interviews with employees of a medical center, a research group identified 11 categories of paper-based workarounds to the use of electronic health records.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
New Type of Disappearing Ink
August 27, 2009:
After Xerox announcing in 2006 a paper that erases itself in 16 to 24 hours, researchers at Northwestern University discovered a method to make a new type of self-erasing medium.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Cleantech Group Report: E-Readers a Win for Carbon Emissions
August 19, 2009:
The Cleantech Group conducted a lifecycle analysis of Amazon's Kindle and found out that e-readers could have a major impact on improving the sustainability and environmental impact of the publishing industry, one of the world's most polluting sectors.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Publishers Are "on the Road" to Pure Digital
August 13, 2009:
The American Chemical Society found that most subscribers to its academic journals no longer want the print version, and the group's vice-president of Web strategy says it's only a matter of time before print fades away completely.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
An E-Reader in Every Backpack
July 14, 2009:
Some influential members of the US Democratic Party argue that government should furnish each student in the country with a digital reading device, which would allow textbooks to be cheaply distributed and updated, and allow teachers to tailor an interactive curriculum that effectively competes for the attention of their students in the digital age.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Publisher: Google Book Settlement Flawed, but Essential
June 30, 2009:
The head of the Oxford University Press says that while the Google book settlement is imperfect, it may be the best way to prevent nearly a century's worth of knowledge from effectively vanishing.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Avoiding Digital Decay
June 16, 2009:
Due to the constant developments and changes in technologies, digital content has a short lifespan and is often the most vulnerable to decay. However, a team of researchers of the University of California describe a method that will let people store information electronically for billion years.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Paperless Classroom Becoming a Reality
June 09, 2009:
California's governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced that pupils will soon only be learning from digital texts, and experts in the UK said that the paperless classroom is becoming a reality in their country too.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
University of Washington Reveals Kindle DX Pilot Plans
June 05, 2009:
The University of Washington is revealing details of its Kindle DX pilot. About 40 incoming computer science graduate students will receive Amazon's large-screen electronic reader to replace printed textbooks and research papers.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
U.S. Government Wastes Over $440 Million per Year in Printing
May 21, 2009:
Out of nearly $1,3 billion dollars the U.S. government spends on printing every year, almost one third - $440 million - is wasteful, according to the "2009 Government Printing Report".
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Digital Content Doubles Every 18 months
May 19, 2009:
The world's total store of digital data now amounts to 487 billion gigabytes or the equivalent of 237 billion fully loaded Amazon Kindle readers.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
New Xerox Printer Cuts Waste by 90 Percent
May 11, 2009:
Xerox unveiled its new ColorQube 9200 multifunction printer, a machine that uses a combination of innovations to reduce waste by 90 percent, cuts energy use and emissions by 10 percent, all while saving nearly two-thirds the costs of traditional color printing.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
34 kg of CO2 to Make a Book
May 07, 2009:
"34 kg of CO2" is the title of a bookproject presented by the Government of Catalunia adressing the causes of climate change as one of the main threat's to the planet's health. "34 kg of CO2" is also the exact quantity emitted in order to make one of the books in which the results of the project were published.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Looking to Big-Screen E-Readers to Help Save the Daily Press
May 03, 2009:
AMAZON appears to be first in line to try throwing an electronic life preserver to old-media companies. As early as this week, according to people briefed on the online retailer's plans, Amazon will introduce a larger version of its Kindle wireless device, tailored for displaying newspapers, magazines and perhaps textbooks.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
The E-Boks System: Electronic Distribution of Documents
May 01, 2009:
The "e-Boks" system is an electronic postbox where users may receive important documents electronically and free of charge. Being widely used in Denmark, a recently published Life Cycle Assessment Study compared it with the use of traditional printed documents sent by post in an envelope. The results reveal that changing from conventional distribution to the e-Boks system has positive consequences for the environment.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
The Future of Ink
April 14, 2009:
The market for e-book readers has generally been viewed as a two-horse race, with book-selling giant Amazon facing off against consumer electronics giant Sony. Both devices are built around a screen that uses E Ink technology to enable their extended battery life, and the company behind those screens will happily sell them to anyone. Now, it looks like a number of companies, including traditional publishers and wireless service providers, are interested in taking E Ink up on that offer, and releasing their own portable readers.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Zumbox Makes Paperless Postal Service Possible
February 10, 2009:
Zumbox is the first all-digital online alternative to the traditional paper postal service which has given every US street adress an online mailbox. Businesses, retail stores, banks or private persons may has the opportunity to sign up with Zumbox and send that mail electronically.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
UPDATED: Kindle 2 Shows Sleeker, Richer Device with Stephen King
February 09, 2009:
Looking at the revamped Kindle 2 gives you the immediate impression its designers were solidly on about form and function. With the straight QWERTY keyboard layout, joystick-like thumb control instead of a wheel for scrolling around, and overall its thinner, lighter, more Apple-like footprint, the Kindle 2 could become a viable book replacement for those who didn't feel the same way about the original Kindle.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
OLPC as an E-Reader
February 07, 2009:
As the One Laptop Per Child project scrambles to revitalize itself after numerous setbacks, staff layoffs and dismal sales, it could find the footing it needs to survive by playing to its product's hidden strength as a low-priced, take-it-anywhere e-book reader.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Printing The NYT Costs Twice As Much As Sending Every Subscriber A Free Kindle
January 30, 2009:
It costs the Times about twice as much money to print and deliver the newspaper over a year as it would cost to send each of its subscribers a brand new Amazon Kindle instead.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Flexible Display Screens: Bend me, shape me, anyway you want me
January 22, 2009:
Over the years, the screens on laptops, televisions, mobile phones and so on have got sharper, wider and thinner. They are about to get thinner still, but with a new twist. By using flexible components, these screens will also become bendy. Some could even be rolled up and slipped into your pocket like a piece of electronic paper. These thin sheets of plastic will be able to display words and images; a book, perhaps, or a newspaper or a magazine. And now it looks as if they might be mass produced in much the same way as the printed paper they are emulating.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
IBM Introduces Software to Reduce Paper Consumption
December 2, 2008:
IBM unveiled the IBM Rational Requirements Composer, a piece of software that will help businesses lower operating costs and reduce paper consumption.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
The Revolution of Paperless Paper
October 15, 2008:
At Plastic Logic's factory in Dresden, British engineer Dean Baker shows us a new kind of newspaper. What's new about it? Well, for a start there's no paper - it's electronic. The device looks just like a table mat, it's as light as a magazine(...) It was at Cambridge University that scientists pioneered the whole idea of replacing silicon chips with plastic ones.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
The Paperless Office: On its way, at last
October 9, 2008:
No longer a joke, the "paperless" office is getting closer.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
The Best Software Tools for the Paperless Office
June 16, 2008:
A scanner and an OCR software are the key components of a "paperless office".
The scanner helps you bring existing paper documents like letters, invoices, books and faxes into the computer while the OCR software converts these scanned images into editable and searchable formats like PDF or Microsoft Word.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Farmington City Hall Is Going Paperless
April 2008:
The city of Farmington is several months into a project that should dramatically reduce the amount of paper floating around city hall..
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Automatic Bookscanner Nominated for European ICT Prize
March. 16, 2007:
The European ICT Prize Awards Ceremony took place at CeBIT. 20 Grand Prize Nominees competed for the three Grand Prizes of €200,000 each.
Among the winners was the patented ScanRobot, a concept which requires an opening of the book by only 60 degrees, thus reducing the mechanical stress to an absolute minimum.
As scanning and turning is accomplished in the same step, rates up to 40pages/minute can be reached.
For more information please visit the website of the European ICT Prize
or the Homepage of the Developers in Vienna: Treventus
For more information please visit the website of the European ICT Prize
or the Homepage of the Developers in Vienna: Treventus
Plastic Logic raises $100 million to enable the first “take anywhere, read anywhere” electronic reader products
Jan. 3, 2007: Plastic Logic announced that it will build the first factory to manufacture plastic electronics on a commercial scale.
“Our displays will enable electronic reader products that are as comfortable and natural to read as paper whether you’re on a beach,
in a train or relaxing on the sofa at home.” stated John Mills, Chief Operating Officer at Plastic Logic.
“Wireless connectivity will allow you to purchase and download a book or pick up the latest edition of your newspaper wherever
you are and whenever you need it. The battery will last for thousands of pages so you can leave your charger at home.”
The press release is available on this external link
For high resolution images and video related to the displays, please visit the corresonding section on the Plastic Logic Homepage
The press release is available on this external link
For high resolution images and video related to the displays, please visit the corresonding section on the Plastic Logic Homepage
Erasable Paper
Nov. 27, 2006: Xerox is working on a self-erasable paper that fades back to white within 16 hours. This special paper would be perfect for short-term use.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
How does Electronic Ink work?
For the basic informations about electronic ink - which has the potential to replace ordinary paper - please read this article.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
How to Scan Book Libraries?
If you are interested to see how book scanning technology in action, you can find some information and a video on the website
of Kirtas Technologies. The company demonstrates a book scanning robot which scans 2400 pages per hour.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
Lexmark - In paper we trust.
Why paper has endured the digital age
Why Paper has endured the Digital Age: An investigation into the business, psychological
and technological aspects of paper use.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
University of California - How Much Information?
There are interesting differences among nations in the proportion of printed information
in each of these genres: the United States produces far more office documents than other nations,
the European Union produces more books and serials, and other regions produce
more newspapers and mass market periodicals.
For more information, please follow the external link.
For more information, please follow the external link.
Recycling paper FAQ
At the site of the "Paper University" you find a lot of information about recycling paper. Actually for children, it is useful for adults too.
For more information, please follow the external link
For more information, please follow the external link
The Myth of the Paperless Office (Book)
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.
For more information, please follow the external link.
For more information, please follow the external link.
IMPRESSUM
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Tel. +43-1-5125770
Content Management of the section Paper/Paperless: Mag. Lisbeth Hesse, Researcher
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