Feb. 14 Readings, or How I’ve decided that none of my comments are valuable after I reread them
The authors of The Character, Value, and Management of Personal Paper Archives ask “what makes paper information valuable?” After the readings for this week, my gut reaction of “Because it’s paper” is a bit more sophisticated. Instead of being valuable in its own right, paper is a proven storage medium and will show changes. The Personal Paper Archives article was particularly appropriate reading this weekend as I attempted to sort through piles of paper (including many duplicate articles) and figure out a filing system for the chaos. In the terms of the article, I am a hybrid piler-filer — which I think means I am doomed to have a desk covered with half-way sorted piles for the rest of my life. Additionally, Case’s observations about the filing practices of historians were dead-on for my filing system. Did anyone else find the authors (sometimes obtuse) comments about filing systems and unread files relevant? At a bare minimum, it was comforting to read that my filing habits are pretty “normal” for the most part. (Or, I would be if my cat didn’t eat paper.)
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So, was anyone else really tempted to try a caffeine nap?
Ahh you identify yourself as a piler-filer…I think i’m an obsessive filer. After four days of piling I always start off my Friday cleaning up so that I can figure out exactly where I stand work wise…if I don’t do that i’d go bananas…
FYI that image looks good. I did find the information about filing things relavant. That’s why when I file, I also discard. (does that make me a piler-filer-discarder?) Its the only way to keep my room clutter free and me panic/claustrophobia free. Nevertheless, I did find it particulary interesting because we save paper for others to read, with the inherant words “just in case” flashing across our minds as our fingers hover above trash cans. Saving things digitally make this an even more interesting problem because–now you can virtually do all the things that you generally do in your office–file, recycle (which i find an amusing term b/c you’re not really recycling are you?) and sort.
Comment by Priya — February 13, 2006 @ 1:23 pm