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Digital over Paper Documents: This is Solvable

We need to move away from printed documents. Not to save the forests and not to save on money, though those are nice benefits. We need to evolve beyond what we’ve always done because paper documents are so dumb, so inflexible, so 20th Century. We can do better. Why do we cram as many sections or details as possible on a sheet? We do this to save paper, to go from 40 sheets to 36, to print a little less. We arrange our drawings the way we do to save money thanks to this equation: money not spent = cost/sheet x number of sheets eliminated by crowding drawings onto fewer sheets x number of sets. It’s not to make the documents more legible. Or make them easier to search. Or make using them more convenient. It’s not to increase utility but to cut corners and save money. Well if the goal is to save money, let’s just not print anything.

200 sheets or 1 iPadDigital over Paper Documents

I can hear your screams. On site the contractor needs those big sets! Individual subcontractors only want individual sheets! We’ve always done it this way and it works… Excuse, excuse, excuse. No. Have you ever asked to have the contractor build from only digital documents? Is the framer really carrying that 24 x 36 sheet set up to the roof with him? No. Those giant sets are huge and cumbersome and hard to deal with. All digital has issues, but we architects are problem solvers. Let’s solve this problem.

Imagine a typical construction site in the United States. What percentage of the workers on site has a smart phone in his pocket? Or a tablet at home? What about the project supervisors? Whatever the percentage (I’m sure it’s very high), the point is that all the tech needed to go paperless on site is probably already on site. It’s just being used to check Facebook during lunch, text during a breather, or answer a phone call about another project. The more digital we go on site, the more valuable all our BIM data becomes. We have smart, live models in our offices; we should have smart, live data (models, drawings, whatever) on site. Whatever the size of the project.

For some thoughts on making smarter digital documents (specifically PDFs), read these posts I wrote on BIM Engine. For other thoughts on going to digital instruments of service, check out these posts. To hasten the switch to all digital work, follow Shoegnome on Facebook and Twitter. And while you’re at it, the RSS feed is a great way to never miss anything either.

Comments

  • May 10, 2013
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    I hate printing… and more I hate paying for it AND wasting paper.

  • May 10, 2013
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    Another Great post man. Keep those wheels turning and we’ll solve this yet…

  • May 10, 2013
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    Jared, you are on the right way.
    I’m sure that big formats may be useful for roads, bridges and things like that but not for frequent use at the jobsite. This is why I organized my docs to be printed on A3 format and gave away my plotter long time ago. Now I realize that it was only the first step of the trip. I agree with you: we must move forward, towards the digital documentation. This is the only way to retrieve all the BIM modelling information at the required place.

  • May 10, 2013
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    Peter C

    Interesting post Jared. Do you think that larger format e-ink type displays would be a better solution for on-site drawing/information display? They use very little power to regen each page and use none to display a static image which would be ideal for a drawing!

    I wonder what size of display would be optimal? Something around A2 in size would be very usable I guess. As long as there was one in each area to share and refer to.

    Imagine the potential benefits if you could connect them to the BIM Server so everyone was working from the latest up-to-date information!

    Going fully digital really has the potential to revolutionise and streamline many processes in the construction industry if everyone gets on board. Trying to incorporate people who aren’t ‘digital’ into the workflow will be the complicated and inefficient part.

    • May 10, 2013
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      Peter C

      Small flexible displays are v. cool, but with a large display you would have a similar problem to normal paper; it would blow away in the wind! I don’t think resting bits of 2×4 or half bricks on it to weigh down the edges is a good idea, so there is some practical benefit to a more rigid type display. I’m sure some testing in the field would quickly optimise the best form factor, but it is fun to imagine the possibilities!

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