The circle of life for scanned paper

Creating the Flickr account has granted me the perfect opportunity to show my readers how paper begins and ends when it passes through my possession.

My Flickr Slideshow of The Document Management Slideshow!

I selected this first photo because it represents the first stage of the process. That stage is prepping. We must move all post it notes that are covering data to the back of the page, remove staples so they do not scratch the scanner glass during scanning, and insert this "patch-code" sheet in between documents that will comprise separate PDF's.

After properly prepping the documents, the documents are ready to be scanned! Photo number two represents the actual scanning process. We scan documents in "duplex", meaning that both sides of each piece of paper are scanned during one pass through.

The next step is the "quality check". The third photo represents the time spent going through the previewed documents, ensuring that each image is gorgeous.

The last image shows the final stage of paper: wonderful destruction! Now that the pages are scanned and put onto a network so any employee can access it digitally, there becomes no need to keep the physical copy.

Most shredding companies recycle the paper so that it may be reborn into a new document, beginning life anew and awaiting its inevitable destruction!

Another trip planned

Before my employment began at Graphic Imaging Services, leaving the city happened once every few years. Now, every month, or at least that has been the average, I have been sent out for various projects or for training on different pieces of equipment. Each trip has helped teach me something new about myself and/or the world around me.

My first ever trip involved a scanning project in Oregon for the Bureau of Land Management. For two weeks I scanned various pictures that the Bureau found important. I learned how to properly create profiles to capture the images quickly and efficiently

The next was a week of training in California on Colortrac large format scanners. This trip taught me to tear apart the scanner. This was the first time I both held a screwdriver and was expected to take something apart.

Another was a week back in Oregon to scan more documents the Bureau found. This would be the first time that I had to install the scanner, create the profiles, and prep the documents.

A month later I had to drive to Delta, Utah to install two small format scanners, a large format scanner, as well as an industrial printer. My boss accompanied me, though it allowed me to realize how important I was becoming for the company.

The next trip is scheduled in two weeks. I will be flying to Baltimore, Maryland for a week of training on Contex large format scanners. With this final training, I will be certified to install and repair the two most prevalent large format brands.

After each trip, I become more efficient in taking care of equipment, software, and troubleshooting for the customer. When the my two year anniversary hits, I will finally have the confidence (and the degree) that will allow me to pursue a career in Information Technology.

How much do companies pay for that file cabinet?

How much do you like reading statistics? I have spent entire days, and always find the numbers astounding. Today, let's talk about the overall cost of managing a file cabinet.

Allow me to start with the obvious, the price of paper by itself. The average United States office worker uses 10,000 + sheets per year. That equates to about 2 cases of paper per employee per year. With the average price of paper equating to $40 per case, paper doesn't seem too costly on an individual basis. But just how many employees work at your job?

A study by Xerox shows that for every dollar that a company spends on printing paper, they incur another $6 dollars in handling and distribution. For office space, the average cost in the U.S. is 15-20 dollars per square foot. That equates to between 250-300 dollars per filing cabinet just for the space it consumes. A study created by IDC Research found that an organization with 1,000 knowledge workers, those who "think for a living" such as architects, scientists, and software engineers, will waste 2.5 to 3.5 million dollars per year re-printing lost documents and searching for misfiled information.

Taking into account all of that wasted capital on physical documentation, do you still believe paper is the way to go?

The podcast to end all podcast's!

Inky says, Scan or Die!

RSS, Atom, Yammer?

Yammer is a social networking site that includes RSS as an optional feature. Microsoft bought out Yammer as a new product to sell, but is also trying to use it to replace emailing between employees.

When was the last time you sent an email to 50 people? It involves creating the email, repetitive typing of each person's email address, double checking to make sure each person was included, sending it out, then hoping that everyone gets it, all the while hoping that it is not sent their spam folder since there are so many recipients.

Microsoft made a smart decision in creating "one source of the truth" for every department within their organization.

http://www.citeworld.com/social/21968/microsoft-employees-using-yammer

Did you read the Reader? Now you can feed Feedly..

Reader?!

Feedly?!

NewsBlur!?

When did bookmarks get phased out?

Signing up and using Feedly has a few ups and downs. We shall mix them into a salad so you don't notice that yucky onion.

1.  Signing up for new feeds was quick, easy, and completely pain free. There is a search feature that even allows you to locate new feeds with only a few words.

2.  Feedly shows every new update on the chosen sites, but if you want to view the update you must visit the actual site. That is a major drawback. Especially when we are in the habit of visiting the site anyways to see if something new has been posted.

3.  Once you have viewed a particular update (in my case a comic), it is removed from your feed. This is helpful in keeping track of what you have viewed and what is still in your queue.

4.  Certain feeds lack a preview of the updated content. Feedly needs to spend more time viewing the feeds that it offers to ensure that a new feed notification is more than a simple phrase "New comic 10-10-2013"

Feeds have a much better use on mobile devices than on computers since you will already be going to your favorite sites in front of a computer. Getting a notification that Cyanide and Happiness created a new comic, while on the go, will help keep my mind trapped on the internet.

Why do I scan and why should you care?

What concerns you? Is it the threat of global warning? Or perhaps whether or not the panda bears will be seen by your grandchildren? Then again, maybe your only real thought involves that receding hairline of yours. I used to have the same worries, and then I began scanning paper.

I would like you to imagine all of the different occasions you have filled out paperwork. Doctor's offices, job applications, new hire paperwork, applying for a passport, or filling out a marriage certificate come to mind for me. When you hand that paperwork over, where does it go?

Many companies manually type the data into their system and then file that paperwork away, to be stored for the next seven years. We will get into the "Why?" it works that way another day. 

If you spend time thinking about mankind's future, you will see that pens and paper are primitive, obsolete tools, slowly fading from our world. My goal for this blog is to explain the world of useless paper. I want you to stop worrying about that fingernail cracking, whether or not your significant other really loves you, or why Bieber fever is a phrase. I instead want you to Google the amount of paper printed per year, and get angry.