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Sonia McBride
University of Washington ExaminerSonia McBride is majoring in Spanglish and is a beat reporter for The Daily at the UW. She has the inside scoop on everything from the latest student senate resolutions to the best library napping spots.
Seattle Examiners
Patricia S. Guthrie
Seattle Health Examiner
Most Recent Post
90 years after Great Flu Pandemic, CDC issues book and new warnings
Seattle Health Examiner
Most Recent Post
90 years after Great Flu Pandemic, CDC issues book and new warnings
Laura Vecsey
Seattle People Examiner
Most Recent Post
Pool-challenged Seattle needs to appoint Swim Czar to re-invent swimming
Seattle People Examiner
Most Recent Post
Pool-challenged Seattle needs to appoint Swim Czar to re-invent swimming
University of Washington Examiner
Electronic Renaissance
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Sonia McBride - University of Washington Examiner
Paper should be obsolete. According to the Duplex Printing/Photocopying Policy, “a conservative estimate of UW paper use is 625 tons per year.” However, this estimate does not include the paper use by students who are printing off campus. The Duplex Printing/Photocopying Policy requires that all printers and photocopiers have duplex capabilities and be set on duplex as a default. There is also a huge paper-recycling program at the UW, due to the paper ban no paper can be thrown into the trash; it must all be recycled. But what if the entire university could eliminate its dependence on paper? Here is a profile of my paper use on a typical day: Spanish Linguistics Lecture: take notes in a course pack that I had to buy at a copy center on the Ave that cost about $20 and is over 200 pages of PowerPoint slides that I will never look at again, because all the information is available online. Linguistics Section with TA: Do review assignments on paper usually printed double sided, but sometimes only single sided, about 2 pages a day. Film Class: Take notes in a notebook. Spring Thesis: Mid-way through the quarter, print out 5 copies of the first 5 pages of our essay to share with classmates for peer editing= 25 printed pages with minimal comments. At the end of the quarter, each student prints out their final draft of a 25-page paper. For a class of about 20 students that’s about 500 pages. But then we have to turn in a “final-final” draft, and so that brings the total up to about 1,000 pages. Often the comments that professors write on our papers are illegible, and the benefits of electronic assignment submission would be two-fold: save paper and increase readability. As for the course packs, the answer is online course reserves. More and more of my professors post PDF files of the course readings on the UW Libraries website. The problem is the impulse to print what is on the screen. But with the increasing laptop ownership among students at UW (70% in 2005) printing documents in order to take them to class is unnecessary. I know it sounds like I am really down on paper, and maybe it’s hypocritical, but I have a huge attachment to books. I like to hold them, smell them and write in them. I need to have lots and lots of books in my room, if not only to read, but also to signal that I have the credibility to call myself an English major, a lit geek, a nerd. |
