Myth of the Paperless Society

One of the most consistent questions I've been asked since the dawn of our premiere issue has been, "What is a magazine on art and technology doing on paper? Aren't all these new technologies supposed to create a paperless society?"

It seems to me that, despite the recent hype surrounding the coming digital revolution in publishing, we will never completely lose our relationship with paper. Not only that, but I will even go so far as to say that we actually, GASP, ...like the stuff. We value it. We cuddle up to it. Already I can hear overworked income tax accountants screaming foul.

The fact of the matter is that human beings have a long-standing meaningful relationship with paper. Paper is intimate. You can touch it, run your fingers down the type and feel the texture of the ink forming the letters. You can hold a page, rip it in half when you're angry, crumple it up and throw it away when you're frustrated at it (try doing that with your computer screen!). Paper has one quality that today's CRT screens lack -- tactility. Can you see yourself taking a laptop to the beach or getting cozy with a Newton next to a blazing fire and a bear rug? Maybe you can. Whether or not you actually do it is another question.

Digital technology is changing the cultural landscape and publishing is not exempt by any means. CD-ROMs are adding a new visual and interactive element. Electronic periodicals, available on the Internet, provide for free and unmoderated sources of information on all kinds of subjects. According to the latest stats, 33 per cent of Canadian homes now have computers. Not bad for our measly 25 year history with these machines. However, it is also fair to say that 100 percent of Canadian homes have some kind of paper-based text material in them, a medium that we have been using for thousands of years. Are you going to convince me that with that kind of history we are going to create a paperless society within our foreseeable future? Good luck.

It is no surprise that the word "virtual" has seeped its way into pop culture. Not simply a catchy word that gets hashed about in advertising nowadays, "virtual" implies that that to which you refer is not really there. The words I am currently typing on my computer screen do not exist physically until they are printed. And because the text is virtual until that point, it has no tactility. If I touch my screen I feel nothing but a sheath of computer latex that forever keeps us sealed off from our two worlds, and it is not until I force it to spew the words out into my world by way of a laser printer and some sheets of paper that the two are bridged.

How many of us have heard of the "paperless office" revolution that new information management software was predicted to have brought? Do you see any less paper in your in-tray? If anything, workers are pushing more paper than ever before, now that the information itself has become more sensitive and the management of that information more delicate.

Certainly there is no question that digital technologies will change the media and the way in which we communicate. As long as industry strives to become more efficient, as long as the conservation of the environment remains a global concern, the manner in which industrialized nations operate will continue to change. If it hadn't we would all still be painting our hands on cave walls. But anytime you hear the word "revolution," be careful. Except in times of war revolutions are only ever named in retrospect. The unfortunate truth is that humans have never had a great track record for understanding change as it was happening.

But that doesn't mean we can't try. And so, in order to accommodate the change we think we're going through, we will remain a paper-based magazine that will establish a growing presence in the digital domain. That means Internet. That means looking into production of CD-ROM. It means anything we need to do to stay alive and interesting.

But, in the meantime, feel free to cuddle up to your copy next to an open fire and get intimate with the ink.

Mark J. Jones - ed.