All About E-paper

What is it?

Mr. Nicholas K. Sheridon is said to be the “father” of electronic paper, also known as e-paper (The Future of Things). He first invented what was known as Gyricon, a display technology, while working at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in 1974. Gyricon became the foundation for the modern day technology we call e-paper. So what exactly is "e-paper"?

E-paper is an electronic paper display, which is fundamentally an electronic display that possesses paper-like qualities; high contrast, lightweight, large viewing angle, and also holds images indefinitely while consuming minimal amounts of power. It gives users the comfort of reading from paper, notably the “perfect display”, while also having the availability of up-to-date, downloadable information at their fingertips. E-paper makes for a great candidate to replace traditional displays because it, like paper, reflects light rather than uses a background light. This makes it easier on the eyes, and doesn’t need constant refreshing.

While most companies are still at the research and development stages with their versions of e-paper, the models mostly come in the form of flexible plastics, or thin film transistors (TFTs, and even organic thin film transistors; OTFTs), with the ‘e-ink’ being created from LCD or electrophoretic technologies.

REFERENCES

The Future of Things

E-paper Central

E-ink

Moving Forward

What will e-paper replace?

There are currently many applications being tested for e-paper, however the most influential is the e-paper reader. One major desired use of e-paper is to display print media; namely newspapers, magazines, and books, which have become the most common source of material for e-paper users today. Some experts have even made the comparison of e-paper as being this era’s printing press (taking over the traditional function of personal or corporate printers, by electronically displaying documents, consequently eliminating the usage of paper as well).

Also concerning print media is e-paper’s use in advertising, which has been tested and become a revolutionary technology in signage and billboard advertising industries.

On a smaller scale, we can also assume that in the future, e-paper displays may have the possibility of taking over the work of expiration date stamps and price stickers on store-bought products. It has been evaluated in both circumstances and has had positive results, especially where price stickers are concerned. Prices can be changed or updated with minimal effort and minimal use of resources (time).

REFERENCES

The Future of Things

E-paper Central

PRO

Organizational Advantages of

E-paper

It’s all about saving the green in the long-run: money and trees.

E-paper has the technology to complete this generation’s vision of a truly ‘paperless office’. It has the ability for companies to show a green advantage in the prevention of forest destruction, eliminating the billions of pounds of paper used each year by corporations and small businesses. Therefore, disregarding the cost of adopting the new technology, companies will be saving on their monthly paper expenses as well. With time, and mass production, most employees will have at their disposal a portable (more-so than even a laptop computer) e-paper reader for company documents and newsletters. Also, e-paper will enable organizations to obtain power-saving memo boards and signs.

E-paper will also allow for organizations in the print media industry to reach a more global market, at a significantly lower cost; subscriptions to these newspapers and magazines will be delivered by email attachments and downloaded to the users’ e-paper readers. No need for costly distributors.

REFERENCES

AME info

Anygraaf

CON

Organizational Disadvantages of E-paper

Unfortunately there are some disadvantages to this rather revolutionary technology. E-paper technology displays have not yet made it to a stage of mass-production, which means these items may be very costly, especially for those organizations, which would require a large quantity.

E-paper is still in development, which means that those models already available may not have all the desired attributes. For example, e-paper displays are available, but most are only

monochrome; therefore photos or advertisements will lack the esthetic attractiveness desired by both the producer and consumers. Also to be noted is that since there is no backlight, e-paper has a relatively low brightness (cannot be read clearly in darkened areas), as well as low resolution, leading to distorted photos and depending on font size, blurred writing. These drawbacks defeat the purpose of the electronic document reader for employees and consumers, as well as using e-paper as a means of advertising.

E-paper has low refresh rates, which do correspond to the energy savings, however they are time consuming. The slow refresh rates also contribute to the “ghost images” which sometimes appear (burnt-in remnants from previous images displayed).

Finally, since it is a new technology, some, but not all publishers have signed on to making their products available to e-paper readers. To note is Random House (the largest American publisher).

REFERENCES

The Future of Things

E-paper Central

Organizations and Blogs

Organizations use blogs for numerous internal and external reasons.

EXTERNAL USE OF BLOGS

Companies and their employees use public blogs for many marketing purposes. These blogs are an easy and inexpensive way for the people of the organization to communicate information about the company itself, and its products to consumers. Blogs are also an effective channel for public relations, announcing updates, as well as receiving feedback from various publics.

One study showed that 90% of the time people spend on the internet is devoted to "searching". Along with a proper website, the chances for a company to be found on search engines increases with the creation and maintenance of an interactive and dynamic blog. Consumers are pleased with corporate blogs, which provide much more insight to the company's method of operations.

INTERNAL USE OF BLOGS

Organizations use blogs internally as a means of distributing information and collecting feedback from employees. These blogs promote internal communication in the organization. An example: I work for a rather large organization, with many locations across Canada. Our internal blog allows us to indirectly communicate with coworkers, and post blogs congratulating and/or recognizing a job well-done (or exceeding clients expectations) by one of our immediate coworkers. Employees are satisfied with the feedback they receive, and have an overall appreciation for the people they work with.

Disadvantages:

A disadvantage to external blogs is that consumers may not see them as credible sources of information. Anyone can create a blog.

REFERENCES

http://blogging.compendiumblog.com/blog/blog-for-organizations

http://www.centernetworks.com/blogs-business-organizations

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2006/tc20060214_402499.htm