Terry Frazier found a really interesting piece called the social life of paper written by Malcolm Gladwell. Why so interesting? Because it suggest that paper is a critical component of managing and sharing knowledge.
As I read I thought about my uses of paper. Even with a laptop that synchronises to my Palm Pilot, I have piles of paper on my desk. They represent what I’m up to at the moment. One is a list of photos that I’m reloading into an online photo album. I can’t check them off in a PC as I can on paper. I also have a list of articles printed out to read at a location other than my desk. I hand out notes when presenting because laptops are too expensive and there is too much overhead in explaining how to read them.