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I’m currently taking a course at a local university.  The textbook was offered in both print and electronic formats.  I was unable to get the electronic version due to compatibility issues with my laptop, so I ended up with print.

Each week I load up the powerpoint presentations in my dropbox so that I may access them electronically during lectures on my tablet.  I am the only student in class that elects to view the powerpoints electronically instead of printing out the 60+ slide presentations. Any notes are also taken electronically.  This is in alignment with my own company’s policy to be as paper-free as possible.

This past week we had our midterm, which was open book, open notes.  The university has a strict policy on exams – no electronic devices allowed.  We were also allowed to bring a calculator to the exam, but again, this is something that I only use in an electronic version.  So for those of us who had the information in electronic formats, how were we supposed to take advantage of the open book, open notes option while still adhering to the university’s policy? 

The answer: the professor allowed us to use our devices for the purposes of accessing our information.  I suppose during an open exam, the danger of googling something is not that big a deal. The university, however, has the policy to prevent students from connecting with each other during the exams via texting or email, which would be cheating. 

After the exam, I started thinking about other scenarios where replacing paper might create challenges similar to the one outlined above.  The challenge is that electronic documents come attached to devices, something you don’t need to contend with in paper.  One scenario that came to mind is a meeting or presentation.  In an office it is quite common to provide attendants with printouts of the agenda, reports, etc.  Think of how different this scenario would be without paper:

1. Compatibility – you would have to ensure that the electronic document was compatible with different devices.  This could be challenging if your organization has a BYOD policy. 
2. Attention deficits – people already have a hard enough time staying off their BlackBerries and other devices during a meeting when they are following along with paper.  Think about how many more distractions exist when attendants are encouraged to use their devices to follow along.
3. Privacy and security – recording on most devices is easy and can be done covertly.  How could you ensure that attendants wouldn’t record the presentation?  Would that be an issue?  Of course one could always use the recording capabilities to produce really accurate records and transcripts of the meeting.  I’m only pointing out this could be problematic if people are doing it secretly.  What if it was a closed meeting?

Paper, by nature, has a single purpose and function.  Devices, however, are multi-purpose and multi-function.  This is not to say that we shouldn’t be striving to go paperless (or paperlite), but merely to point out there may be some unintended consequences and challenges that haven’t been considered yet. 

From my perspective, it’s critical to understand why people still rely on paper so much before we can start to eliminate it.  Do people rely on paper because:

• it’s a necessary part of the process?  For example many authorization processes require wet signatures.
• of a reliance on old paper-based processes that haven’t been modernized yet?
• it’s easier (or nicer) to view/edit documents? 
• it’s easier to share and use collaboratively because the electronic document is secured somehow or not readily available? 

Has anybody ever done a paperless readiness assessment?  Other than test taking, are there other scenarios where it might be challenging, or create a policy conflict, to use electronic versions?  What about in facilities using sensitive equipment where cell/Wi-Fi signals can cause a disturbance, like a hospital or lab?