Electronic advertising 'greener' than paper

Brings a whole new meaning to green screens ...

Matt Chapman, vnunet.com

24 Jul 2008

Advertising that can be updated electronically is more environmentally friendly than using paper-based systems that create waste, according to one ad sales firm.

Stephen Henley, managing director of Bristol-based Henley & Henley, claimed that tests had proven that the screens reduced waste paper.

"We now know that the use of wireless media offers advertisers a cost-effective way of delivering campaigns with minimal wastage," he said.

Sean Keenan, managing director of Comtech M2M, which creates electronic in-store advertising, added that the drive for companies to be more eco-aware is coming from consumers.

"With over 50 per cent of the £1.1bn spent on the UK's point of sale being wasted, retailers are facing increased demands from consumers to deliver environmentally-friendly in-store promotions," he said.

"Our system carries some 'green benefits' saving on the production, delivery and waste of traditional paper-based material for each new campaign."

Retailers are facing increased demands from consumers to deliver environmentally-friendly in-store promotions

Sean Keenan Comtech M2M

Comtech M2M currently uses 500 wireless digital in-store displays to advertise Nintendo products in ASDA, Game, Gamestation, HMV, WHSmith, Woolworths, Zavvi and Independent retail outlets across the UK and Ireland.

The LCD screens are updated remotely using mobile phone GPRS technology and are controlled centrally from Nintendo's head office.

Esquires E ink Cover

For the 75th anniversary of Esquire, they released an "e-Ink Cover" thats pretty incredible. i think this proves to be a somewhat happy union between paper and electronics.

E-Books

Found An Article from the guardian on Ebooks. Dicusses the readibility of the Ebook screens, some new technologies in the field and how many companies are wary to jump on the band wagon, due to the "Napster Effect" (widespread pirating of copyrighted material).
Click Here to Read

The Environmental Aspect

Found this website on the whole environmental impact of paper. It has some pretty good statistics on consumption (can that word only be used for food?), the history of paper and also some alternatives.
Click here!!

National Press Club paper confrence

Soo, in February of 2001, the National Press club had a conference sponsored by PaperCom. The topic of the confrence was to discuss "How will paper survive in an electronic world?" i found 2 documents so far that appear to be from presentation at the confrence, not including the article i just posted. They're semi long, so i wont post them here, but hopefully i will be able to ling the PDF files once i get my website up and running.

Whenever i come across an article longer than 3 pages or so, i always feel the urge to print it out, to understand it better and mark it up. i think this is some sort of evidence for my project.

Smart paper

Just found this amazing article online, released by medill news service, and it kinda blew my mind...

Paper Will Become Smarter, Not Obsolete
The digital age brings embedded functions and capabilities to paper products.
Jennifer O'Neill, Medill News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- The promised but elusive paperless office is the goal of an unlikely team: 15 engineers at Pitney Bowes, the mail and document management company. They've volunteered to do their jobs in a "paperless office zone" in order to understand the value of paper in a modern workplace.

"It's an experiment. They want to understand how they can survive without paper, and say that unless they try to live in this future, it's difficult to come up with new ideas about products in it," says Cheryl Picoult, director of Pitney Bowes mixed-media technology.

The fate of paper in an increasingly electronic world is the subject of a conference this week at the National Press Club here. Organized by a paper industry group called World PaperCom Alliance, it was intended to help industry executives find ways to deal with the impact of an increasingly wired environment on their businesses.

"It's clear that paper won't go away," says Jim Euchner, vice president of Pitney Bowes. "But it's a new world, and paper's role will change."
Paper Gets an Upgrade

We're using more paper in offices than ever before, says Phil Seder, a product manager at Digimarc, which develops digital watermarks. But instead of paper being phased out in the future, he expects its function will be augmented, creating "smart paper."

Paper products such as photographs, financial documents, and event tickets will be embedded with a digital identity, like a watermark, so that each can be linked to the Internet, tracked, and copyright protected, Seder says.

"Smart paper has an identity built within it," according to Seder. You can do more than simply read it. If it's linked to a data source, smart paper can save time by linking you directly to additional information online.

"Everything that is digital before it goes to print, like magazine advertisements or baseball cards, has a digital life at some point. We just embed a message in it," Seder says.

Paper products can carry a bar code that provides some intelligence. Or they may have a chemical or biological marker called a taggent, a radio frequency identification, or a digital watermark, Seder explains. All of these provide traditional paper with the capability to function interactively.
Balancing Form, Function

Consider bar codes. Often found on retail merchandise, the printed codes adhere to a standard format and carry product or linking information that lets a computer identify an item and its cost.

Yet while bar codes are inexpensive and familiar to consumers, they have an "unacceptable aesthetic impact" on business cards or print advertisements, Seder says. That constrains use of this particular kind of link from paper to technology.

"In general, consumers haven't warmed to this technology. They even consider it a bit tacky," he adds.

Alternative methods embed technology in paper without changing its appearance or feel. Taggents put a chemical or biological additive into the paper to identify it, and radio frequency can provide identification and location.

Athletes at the Sydney Olympics wore identification badges with taggents. They contained strands of each athlete's DNA as a unique identifier.

Radio frequency identification is used mainly for inventory control in product packaging. For example, a shipping box may contain a radio frequency identification so company scanners can track the location of individual boxes within an entire shipment of goods.
Watermarks Go Digital

Seder expects consumers will most often use digital watermarking, which is produced by his company, Digimarc.

If you hold a digitally watermarked magazine ad or product box to a Web camera, the embedded message is scanned directly into a browser, which takes you to product information or promotions on the Web.

For example, a company may award a prize to the 100th buyer of a product, identifying her or him upon the purchase through a link embedded in the packaging.

"The eye doesn't see a digital watermark, but a computer can read it," Seder says. Reading the digital watermark takes only a few seconds, he says. And it's a good use for Web cams, he adds.

"We'll see applications by sports card manufacturers using digital watermarks" this year, Seder says. For example, a card of Michael Jordan will contain an embedded link to his home page. You'll simply hold up the card to a Web cam attached to a PC, the camera reads the information, and the browser jumps automatically to the Web page.

But using digital watermarking in general print media ads will take longer, Seder says.

"The market is not quite ready for this yet. This kind of new technology requires consumer education and camera penetration," Seder says. Consumers aren't eager to add yet another peripheral to their PCs.
Paper's Role Changes

Yet the current climate of interactivity at work and at home could help with this transition.

"We live in a networked world where wherever we go we can be connected via cell phones, laptops, and Palm Pilots. And we don't always have paper along with us," says Picoult, of Pitney Bowes. "Paper is a transient medium that used to be for display and transport of information from person to person."

Now that most information can be handled electronically, paper's role as a display medium is more important, Picoult adds. "Ideas and concepts are often more tangible on paper where groups of people can share and collaborate without the need for specific equipment or software."

And Patricia Sachs, a workplace anthropologist, says paper will always serve an important function in the office. Her company, Social Solutions, works to improve the design of work systems, products, and technologies within companies.

"The printed form slows information down," Sachs says. "We're living and working in a pressure-filled environment filled with the demand for fast turnaround, but paper provides the environment for reading and annotating at a human pace."

Printed Matter

Went to the library today and took a look at he book printed matter. It make me think about the tangibility and importance of paper in the experiments done by Karel Martens. While one may be able to achieve the same general idea of the experiments with a computer program, like illustrator of Photoshop, i don't believe that it would be as successful. Marten's design process was so fleeting and completely reliant on his "printed matter" (haha). Only after he created or printed something, could he move forward. I dont really think the same objectives would as valuable on a computer program. Its so easy to simply press "Command Z" or scale something larger, rather than build upon your design and move forward. Also, things can look so drastically different on the computer screen compared to when it's printed out; with the RGB and CMYK differences. The physical printing of Karel Martens experiments, in my opinion, seem far more accurate and valuable than doing the same type of thing with a computer program.

iheartpaper.

These questions really came about over spring break when i was talking with my family about my future and all (yuck). If i remember correctly, i was telling them about what i was interested in and such and mentioned publication design. When my sister brought up the notion of becoming a web-designer "Its so much more realistic in today's world, and there's such a high demand" she says as i snarl in reply; "I don't really know if i like web design, it just seems so technical, i like 'print' a lot better" and then she says, " Well, what you like, and what realistic for your future are two different things Nicole, maybe print things could be your hobby on the side, but web design is so much more practical"...

And that's when i got that sinking feeling....was she right?? maybe i live in LALA land because i chose a field that i am so passionate about, and assume that I'm going to enjoy i have in the future and have a job in something that I'm actually passionate about.

Our conversation then continued on and turned to the recession and how everything is becoming a lot more web based because its a lot more inexpensive. and i knew they were right.

And don't get me wrong, i love the Internet, i feel completely disconnected and out of sorts when i can't tap into. but there's just something i love about paper, the tangibility and pliability, the crispy whiteness, and the way something looks when it's freshly printed. One of my favorite parts of the design process is production, cutting things, folding them and gluing them together. I really love using my hands, i find it to be so rewarding and fulfilling. And the thought of everything being so "web based" just rips that away from me. I'm probably being over dramatic, but that's what was racing through my head during that conversation with my family, and it just made me a little sad...


p.s. i secretly think my sister is a little bitter, because i actually have an idea of what i want to be when i "grow up", she still doesn't know. I think she takes a little bit of satisfaction in telling me that i might not be able to do exactly what i want to when im older (which is what shes doing right now).

p.p.s what that mean? maybe im wrong, but theres still a bit of that lingering sister drama (obviously)

1. Pose a question, any question that you wish to address through or about your design practice

A. Will paper become obsolete in the modern world?
1. Can paper survive the recession? (e.g. magazines and newspapers going out of business)
2. Are electronics better for the environment? (e.g. the rise of electronic advertisements vs. killing of trees)
3. Will paper become something that is only appreciated in the art world ( and those who cherish hand made/old techniques)