Comments on: The electronic file myth

By: Williams Jason

Williams Jason — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 03:02:01 +0000

I have been an avid reader since I was a teen. I didn’t think it was possible for me to read anymore…until I bought a Kindle. I love it!! I am reading more than ever. I can’t remember when I last turned on my TV. I love the dictionary function. I can just look up a word as I read instead of finding a dictionary. Being able to download a book instantly is genius. One of my most favorite things is I can now read easily at the gym as I do my cardio. Regular books are a pain on the treadmill…books never stay open. I could go on and on…anyway, I tell everyone one about my Kindle and most of the time when I travel I have a hard time actually reading as people around me are always asking what it is that I am looking at.

By: The Electronic File Myth | No Option For Law Firm

The Electronic File Myth | No Option For Law Firm — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:21:50 +0000

[...] The Electronic File Myth [...]

By: Thomas Hoad

Thomas Hoad — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:19:09 +0000

The example of being able to pick up a lever arch file and flick through it is the best case when dealing with paper. You also need to consider the worst case – the paper file is sitting on your colleague’s desk, but you have no way of knowing that, or they have taken it home to do some work on it. Or you have the file but a vital document is sitting in someone’s filing tray. In any of those circumstances the electronic file outperforms paper completely.

As far as consumption of documents goes, I find that things like Coverflow and Quicklook make accessing documents much nicer than on the PC and these sort of technologies combined with large (and multiple monitors) make accessing documents a more pleasurable experience.

By: Damien Behan

Damien Behan — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:04:55 +0000

As the person who usually raises this issue at the Autonomy iManage User Group meetings, it is very frustrating that it’s not easier to “flick through” the electronic file. It’s the one thing that’s really missing from the matter-centric environment.

I’d agree with Cynthia though – we never say “paperless”, we always say “less paper”. But then we approach e-filing from the risk perspective first and foremost – the e-file is a searchable and more accessible record, and far more secure (laptops and BlackBerrys are encrypted, paper is not!). So the goal shouldn’t be to eradicate paper, but to make it the “work in progress” medium – you can mark up, scribble and doodle on paper all you like, so long as you scan it into the electronic file and recycle/shred the paper afterwards…

By: Jes Breslaw

Jes Breslaw — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:58:15 +0000

The future? You need to check something, you verbally call up the document which appears on your 3D or holo-screen, you use gestures to ‘flick’ to the page you want. You ‘grab’ the document dust it to your e-book or mobile and off your go. If you have 20 lever-arch files and dry fingers, got to be quicker! Most of the technology already exists, the problem is the lack of convergence and standards on a stable high performing OS. It will be years before it all becomes consumer able by which time my kids will be laughing at my inability to understand quantum computing video recorder… [sigh]

By: Sean Brady

Sean Brady — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:32:22 +0000

Seems to me that the current crop of tools are still struggling to organize electronic information, and it is organization that they focus on. Work really has not begun yet on how to actually consume this organized this information.

It is interesting that you mention Surface + ebook reader, as those are purely consumption tools. I was just discussing matter centricity with some people, and mentioning how important it was to think about how people were going to read and use the information when designing the system.

Another great article.

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:36:49 +0000

My feeling is the effort should be to drive toward measurably “less paper” (and making it recycled paper) without insisting that success only means fully “paperless”.

1) even the revered iPhone can’t replace the convenience of grabbing a sheet of paper, a napkin, anything to jot a note on..without requiring a device being on your person (with a charged battery at that). 2) the tangibility of flipping through the file, touching paper, and writing instead of typing has some psychological component even for the younger lawyers (as you alluded to). 3) the quickness of putting hard copy mail in the file rather than the extra step of scanning it. 4) the amount of time it takes to boot up a computer is inconvenient. It should be able to flip on and go. 5) the lack of standardization across courts and jurisdictions over what needs to be retained or submitted in hard copy.

This being said..I do like the concept of Microsoft Surface as getting us closer to success: of the “less paper” variety!