OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION

Making Mountains of Paper into

Molehills by Going Paper LESS Mark Light, 4-H Youth Development Educator

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION

Does this scene look familiar in some of the offices you have to work in?

Background

• In 1975, A Business Week article predicted that the office of the future would be paperless.

• 40 years later, here we sit in offices that still contain paper.

• Electronic tools like the PC made it possible by putting a computer at every desk, but it also put a printer on the same desks.

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION

Barriers??

Barriers• Time• Process / policies are determined by others• Lack of proper technology • Keeping older technology / deskjets, fax, file cabinets• Money• Employee resistence • Paper has been in our lives for longer than paper.less

(birth certificate)• Space• Clientele• Ties to the past• “ I may need this some day”

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION

Paper.less

• Going paper.less is about using less paper versus totally eliminating paper

• Allows for multiple styles in an office• Involves looking at each process / task to

determine why the paper exists• Digital First• Clientele in different

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION

Advantages?

Advantages • Saving money – file cabinet = ipad• Square footage• Increase in productivity• Access from remote locations• Collaboration• Clean office• Backing up files (fire, flood, etc.)• Collaboration

Necessary tools• Your computer• Mobile phone or tablet• External or cloud storage• Multipage / Scanner / copier with OCR• Paper shredder• Apps and other software

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION

What are you us-ing?

Mark’s List• Amazon Photo & icloud for pictures

• Google Drive – forms & collaboration docs

• Dropbox and / or box for Powerpoint

• Phone camera

• Evernote – meeting minutes, web clips, reading material

• Scannable (Genius Scan) – Pic to PDF

• Post it Plus – collaboration

• Demographica – audience numbers

• Kahoot, Polleveywhere – Audience surveys

Mark’s TipsHome

• Taking pictures of school art and papers – not saving

• Viewing local newspaper online versus printed subscription

• Cancelling junk mail / getting online newsletters from orgs.

Work

• Using two devices (computer, tablet, phone / dual monitors)

• Eliminating handouts and agendas by projecting on the wall

• Reducing papers printed by eliminating desktop printer and using network printer

• Reducing size of forms and paperwork for families to have to print from the web

• Online scheduling for appointments

• Scanning manuals and resources in the copier to be saved as a .pdf

• Taking meeting notes on iPad through Evernote, then searching meeting info is available on iPad, phone, and computer.

• Using cloud to post materials after a presentation, so I am not printing an entire PowerPoint presentation as a handout

• Reduce font size by one and reduce margins before printing (two sided)

• New exchange server puts all OSU contacts in e-mail program, so we do not need printed directories and phone lists

• Calendars – you can give read only access to other colleagues so printing weekly calendars are not needed

How?• Set aside time. Going paperless is easier said than done. You should set

aside time, in fact, a day if possible.

• Choose and organize. Now begins the cumbersome (and boring) part. You need to carefully divide documents into useful and not necessary. You’d be surprised to find how much trash you’ve got once you start organizing stuff.  You would also need to create different folders on your computer, and other devices so that the clutter isn’t transferred from your desk to your hard drive.

• Start the upload and backup. Done organizing? Great, now start the process of transferring data and making it go digital. Also, back it up on the external drive as you save it on your computer. No point delaying the backup.

• Do a final check. Go through the papers as well as the data on the computer/cellphone/iPad to see if they match and you haven’t missed anything. Also, check the non-essential list of items again to confirm that all of it is useless.

• Shred what’s not needed. Pat yourself on the back, you have successfully accomplished the herculean task of going paperless and de-cluttering your workspace. Now, just get rid of all the useless documents to give a sparkling clean look to your workspace! Make it look beautiful!