A Paperless Global Information Environment?
Benefits
Home Problems Conclusion References
Some of the main benefits of a paperless, global, information, environment pointed out in the essay are as follows:
Access
Speed
Availability
Low Publishing Costs
Access
One of the benefits includes the freedom to share and access information regardless of who you are or where you are. Information would also be available 24-hours a day. A digital copy can be viewed my multiple people at the same time, unlike a hard-copy. With the information being free and available online, this increases access to resources and even those without internet can access information from a public library.
Speed of sharing information
Information can also be updated regularly, replacing the old. Also time-sensitive information can be shared quickly, which would benefit academics greatly, (McClellan, 2004).
Availability
There are steps being made towards making all E-Books compatible with all E-Readers.
For example the Open-E-Book campaign, (http://www.openebook.org, 2010) which is aiming to allow
all publishers to produce and send a single digital publication
file through distribution and offers consumers interoperability between software/hardware.
Low Publishing Costs
By putting work directly online, publishers do not have to pay printing or storage costs.
Although these benefits seem wonderful and revolutionary, there are sadly many hurdles blocking them. To find out more, read about the problems here.
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The complete printable version of the essay
Ellen Dutton
Library and Information Studies
University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
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