ABSTRACT
The supply of information has been revolutionized over the past two or three decades. Even before the Internet took off new technology had added a fresh dimension to storing and accessing information. Data which had previously been kept on shelves full of books or in paper-filled filing cabinets and laboriously extracted by turning over the pages or handling the files could now be stored for instant retrieval in the memory of computers. P&per has not disappeared: it probably never will. In fact the advent of new electronic technology has made possible a vast expansion of paper-based information. Newspapers, journals, magazines have grown in number and bulk. Book publishing has expanded. In every organization, business, professional, educational or leisure-oriented, the photocopier has generated reams and reams more paper. The invention of paper many centuries ago in China and its introduction to Europe around the fourteenth century, was probably the most significant factor in the expansion of human communication, far more significant than the invention of printing, which could never have been utilized without a cheap medium on which to print. There is no sign that we can begin to ignore paper yet, if ever. The information revolution is not simply a phenomenon of the computer age but, of course, it is the computer which has added a vast new dimension and the Internet is the latest manifestation of this.
