Here's a back-to-basics question for a Friday: Why paper?
A mobile phone or computer can store calendars, notes, documents, contacts, and lists just fine, so why use a paper organizer as well?
For me, it's about how the information is presented. With an electronic screen you can scroll, zoom, search, and follow links, but your vision is always limited to one screenful at a time.
With paper, I can scan and browse as I turn the pages. I can travel through time and space without knowing where I want to end up. Instead of scrolling up or down, I can go in any direction my mind takes me. I can see as much or as little as I want, at my own pace.
As every Friday, feel free to discuss any topics related to ring organizers!
I just came back to the binder topic because I need a way to collect various notes and sketches on paper sheets for different hobbies.
ReplyDeleteFor me, instant availability (no boot-up lag), "no batteries required", and absence of "device failures" failures are the key features. I just suffered from a mainboard failure on my personal computer notebook causing many days effort to setup a new one and transferring the temporarily inaccessible data.
I tried homemeade time planner inserts for two years, but then I realized that I do not have that many appointments worth the effort.
Back to the use: I'd have several topics for which I'd need to gather paper notes. Some are static, but evolving information on paper requires re-sketching or re-printing.
For static lists, binders are great. Especially small cheat-sheet like pages can be used in Mini or Pocket format planners. Examples: Color conversion values for color filters in photography, algorithms for Twisiy Puzzles, or simply paper size values.
However, for large-formats, I'd prefer the Japanese 9.5mm pitch binding with 30 rings along A4 or 26 rings along B5 (as modern replacement for the Deskfax size).
I am in a new spiral of change and the only thing I know for certain is paper forms the first and most critical part of it. Second is fit in the new slightly smaller Brompton bag. So that means A5 and thinner than filofax even compact unfortunately.
DeleteBTW i have a mini Lyndhurst and know that the truly small rings are not big enough and the ones that are big enough add huge bulk. So basically I am afraid I might be moving away from Filofax. Sad day but for work and private life I need one solution and the design of Filofax does not fit me right now.
So what is right? Paper as said above. Thin but enough paper real estate. Removable pages. Sectional structure. Printed sections like diary. The solution I am not so sure about. Suggestions welcome!!
BTW I saw on Reddit a post from a person with many William Hannah discbound notebooks. They look nice but very pricy, too steep from my wallet right now. I have a plastic cover Atoma but the cover size does not allow dividers and there are no diary inserts from them. Of course Etsy but prefer from the brand.
Paul, it sounds like it might be time for a hipster PDA. Are you in the states? You can get tyvek envelopes from the post office for free, and they make great folders for transporting unprotected sheets of paper.
DeleteIs that what its callled? I actually used that in my old job. I found there was too much paper being used then thrown away with one side printed on. So I started to cut it in half, half again and half again. Or rather I tore the page at about half each time. Putting each half together and tearing it for the next. I would repeat and then the small pieces I would stack into small piles and staple the corner. As I used the pages up and I didn't need to keep them I tore them out of the staple and threw away. I always had a few lying around as I was not bothered by them going missing or getting nicked. Also if I lost one I was never botherd because I used the info on them after taking the notes.
DeleteI always had one in my back pocket and there are always pens around the factory and offices to nick so it was very useful.
What I found was that I could use it all byu writing on the paper on both sides and at different angles to use all space that does not have printed matter on it. The trouble was I stilll threw away way too much paper despite trying not to print so much. At least it used some of the paper up. Reduce, reuse and recycle in that order afterall.
However, now I cannot really use that system. Anything I write I need to cover over with a non see through cover for security. Even my work colleagues might not have the same clearances I do. Security is high for work, or it should be. I sometimes think I am the only one who thinks of security at times. I even have a head of security working for me at home when I WFH. I had a year of training my dog to bark whenever anyone came close to the stairs under my window to the front door. That way I have time to close notebooks and turn monitor off. IF needed. A useful border terrier!!
Wow, that job sounds pretty intense. I wish you the best of luck in coming up with something that will meet your needs. PS I have a border terrier too! She's very good at telling me when there are deer in the yard.
DeleteSamantha
DeleteIf you have a Muji near you, look at their frosted plastic binders (A5 and A4). The mechanism is a bit fragile and their filler-paper hates every pen (even Muji’s own) BUT a zip-pouch might be enough protection in a bag. You can punch your own paper (or pay a shop to do it) to fit the hoard of rings.
This sounds like a lot of effort, but the binders are very inexpensive.
Thanks for mentioning Muji, Samantha. I did not know that brand, and they seem to sell everywhere.
DeleteThe binders with metal rings and cardboard cover are cheaper than if you'd buy the bare mechanism. I wonder if you could transfer the mechanism into some higher value covers.
For hole punching, there are several options. There are many small "sequential" punches with six or ten elements at once. Next there are models like "Carl Glisser" that can punch a low count of sheets (1-5) in one go. Larger models that punch 1-4mm at once are very expensive, though.
Samantha
DeleteYou’re welcome, Hans!
The binders with the (20 or 30?) ring mechanism is certainly high-quality and durable. But (alas) they are also shockingly heavy!
I looked on the Muji UK website and was surprised to find that the “Polypropylene Cover for Loose Leaf Paper” is actually not available in the UK. Here in Canada, it is about five dollars. I suggested it because it is very lightweight in addition to being affordable. The spine seems flimsy, but it is sturdy enough for a thin stack of papers.
The special punch would certainly help if inserts had to be added or swapped-out frequently.
Casting aside my papyrophilia for the moment, the main reasons are two: quicker access than digital, as Hans said above, and my brain hasn't evolved to the point where I absorb digital information as well as I do printed (and if I write it down, I retain it even better).
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, I think: Isn't this a nice way of saying "no, thank you" to many developments that originally promised to make the world a better place and life easier? Living a little more old-fashioned, analogue life might be an unusual statement, perhaps a hint of resistance. And on the other hand, I believe that ultimately, it's not about turning back the clock, but about carrying valuable things into the future.
ReplyDeleteYou would be surprised how many people are using analogue systems. If you were to do an anonymous survey I bet even the techies developing these digital solutions use paper analogue systems for ideas and quick notes. The tech is back up for analogue in a lot of people's eyes I bet.
ReplyDeleteAt my place of work (on site) I started to use my filofax but in my old company I would never. They were just not the sort to come out as analogue filofax user. They gave everyone in the offices an A4 diary day to a page (I asked for A5 to be awkward) an expected everyone to use that for work.
Then about 20 months ago I moved to a large organisation and carried my bullet journal notebook over. Then I saw someone with a filofax so mine came out.. Then I bought a leather personal holborn rather than use my metropol faux leather. A treat for a new job and for finding a workplace where I was not alone in the filofax use.
Then I realised using filofaxes is norrmal too so I went full A5 leather with a vinted finnsbury then a lyndhurst mini backup. Then an A5 lyndhurst main one and now back to the holborn while I sort something moree compact out. I am keeping an eye out for a heritage personal compact or perhaps look at a WH notebook if one came up on vinted or perhaps ebay cheap enough in a colour scheme and leather choice I could live with.
Since going all in with filofax I have started to notice more and more of my colleagues with them.
There are others out there that use paper. A now retired collleague had two notebook (well one was A4 folio) system. he got the notebook froma German company as it was the only place he could find with the specific notebook style. I think they are called engineering notebooks. They are a grid notebook but with a plain title page section and a few other slightly not normal design features. He was very much about the paper with digital backup.
We have to work within outlook and Skype (yes we are only just switching to teams because we had extensions for skype support with MS). So meetings are set with skype/teams with outllook emails and calendar. There is no other way to do it in a large site when you mmight work for years without actually going face to face with people you speak to most days. However underneath all that there is the paper / analogue systems being used by people. Not one of my colleagues write notes in digital. We are not allowed phones or tablets in a lot of places and all IT devices are work supplied only. So digital is desk based only. So what is left? Paper is the only option and it works so people kind of prefer it. After joining the company they all slip into analogue note taking and the noteebook or filofax or similar is the only solutiont that works and they all do their system.
I totally agree with you Nan! When I am on my desktop, I already have 3 massive screens, and I always need more room. If I am on my phone or tablet, I often feel like I need to simultaneously zoom in (to make the text bigger so I can see it) and zoom out (to get the full picture). Somehow, with paper, it is easier to see both.
ReplyDeleteMy working theory is that our physical bodies can manipulate the physical world of paper automatically and without thought. I can pick a piece of paper up and zoom in on it and then set it back down and zoom out nearly immediately and without thinking.
Scrolling is slower and not nearly as intuitive.
Because life is better with ink on your fingers and a pen in your hand.
ReplyDeleteOh but the e-ink notebooks are sooooo nice. That Scandi brand that is leading the way I think is supposed to feel the closest to writing on paper. There are some digital that are nice. I just cannot spare the £400 or so to get the system up and the running costs with app subscription models out there. Work does not allow such things or I would ask for one on the company as It would have most use for me with work.
ReplyDeleteJessie, Pittsburgh, stateside (USA)
ReplyDeleteGood Day/Eve Steve and Philofaxer Chatsworth. It depends on the season, purpose, and length of travel. A quick 8-10+ hr drive or train ride back east: a regular personal, personal compact and/or slimline combination. If a training is involved then my workhorse team accompanies me. The A5 and personal compact Calypso's in Electric Blue with a slimline.