Ask HN: Do academics still use printers? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Do academics still use printers?

22 pointsamichail38 comments

And if so, why?

I print out academic papers so that I can highlight in different colors, write in the margins in different colors and to throw into a bag and read on public transport.

When I write papers, usually in collaboration with others, it is far easier to scribble in the margins, draw lines to reorganize sections, etc. And you get a better sense of how the paper will look once published.

and ... it is nice to have a break from staring at a screen and being able to sit on a couch, etc. Yes, I do use an iPad, but paper is nice. Interested to see how the new Amazon Kindle Scribe will feel when it is released, mind you it's only B&W.

Yes, for all the reasons impendia listed.

I would also add: cross referencing a printed out paper (or book!) is much faster and easier than on a computer. I think this has something to do with the physicality of the medium. If I’m deep in a paper or a book, it begins to feel like an extension of my body. I can simultaneously track where many different things are in the document just by feel. Over time, you get experience with papers and books you’re well acquainted with. For some reason, this process just never seems to go as far with something on a computer screen. I think it has something to do with spatial memory in people being so powerful, and manipulating an object physically being more keyed to spatial memory than manipulating something abstractly on a computer.

Yes. I'm a math professor and I use a printer, although not too often. Most common use cases:

- When I'm teaching, if I have typed up notes I'll print out a copy to refer to in class. I can easily circle mistakes during class (to be corrected later), and I don't have to worry if I get chalk all over them.

- For the reason that GlanFabien said. If I want to read a paper carefully (this includes a draft of my own work), I'll often print it out. This lets me scribble notes in the margin, take it with me easily, and it puts distractions one step further away.

Conversely, if I just want to skim a paper I will just read it on a computer or tablet.

- If I'm traveling I will print out copies of airline and hotel reservations and things like this. These aren't really necessary, I'm mostly just hedging my bets in case something goes wrong.

Conversely, most things I don't print. For example I just read 250+ job applications, each of which comes with eight documents at a minimum (CV, statement of research plans, rec letters, etc.) and I printed none of them.

Yes. Printing is amazing and essential.

I print the end of term maths exams. And handouts we want to discuss and annotate with comments.

Paper is an unbeatable technological medium for some things.

Problems arise when dismissive techno-neophile administrators fail to maintain the printers. So I keep some spare toner aside for an invincible 2005 Canon desktop laser hidden in a lab.

All hail the Invincible Laser, burner of maths, bane of admins!

Yes. In addition to what others have said, I find looking at a printed copy of my own stuff to make edits to be very useful. I don't know why, but I can edit LaTeX all day looking at the pdf output thinking everything is great, but after printing it I immediately spot glaring issues.

Yes, taking notes on paper, proofreading, quick sketches or formulas are much easier with a pen. Also exams are printed.

So why not a tablet? Infinite battery life and easy crossreferencing, e.g. just put page 2, 15 and 47 next to each other -> would need three tablets. Furthermore writing on glass still is different, even matte glass.

So while more and more parts of work are "digital", for some parts you still want "analog".

I don’t, but I’m an outlier.

Why lots of people do: for prose projects, seeing a printed out version of the thing is superior for proofreading, editing, etc. The context switch helps break you out of your “this is text I wrote so I can’t see the errors in it” rut.

Also, reading long documents is still easier on paper than on screens——the screen alternatives all still kinda suck. iPad and the like have glare, hard to read outside, etc. remarkable and kindle and other e-ink devices are just filthy with compromises, like, kindle screens are all too small when most documents come formatted in letter size pdf, remarkable has no backlight and in addition the remarkable 1 at least is agonizingly slow and the software is utter shite.

I put up with the iPad/remarkable mess personally because (a) I refuse to own a printer at home, since the damned things never work right, (b) I also hate clutter and already have too much paper generated by others sitting around in piles, (3) pdfs and such are much easier to travel with

If you have a single monitor it's easier to multiscreen on paper. You can print and put leaves side-by-side. It makes convenient to navigate through works that don't read linear, and make a lot of references to itself, but several pages ahead/back.

I used to because it is easier to proofread on paper than on a screen. Or maybe it's just the switch up that's useful. Seeing a document presented differently somehow just makes it easier to look at it with fresh eyes and spot mistakes.

I mostly don’t; however, there are many people who prefer reading papers, well, on paper (which makes sense, as most LaTeX templates are adapted for printing, not for screen reading), and that’s quite understandable.

Paper is a perfected technology. Doesn't loose charge

Can outlast file format

If I can get my printer to work, then yes, I do use it. Getting printers to work is the hardest problem in computer science.

When I was in graduate school, I printed out hundreds of pages of papers a week. I probably went through a ream of paper a week. I just can't efficiently read on a screen and taking notes on paper is much easier for me.

Because they're everywhere in universities.

Children also love printouts and worksheets.

Not anymore, because I find that the iOS version of Zotero covers most of the use cases in the comments

But I still print when I want to show stuff to other people, or for lab bench protocols

Yes, to print things out to hand to students.

Yes, because paper is easy on the eye. But I'd switch to e-ink display if they had higher refresh rate.

When I am studying I print and annotate notes. Handwriting is far superior to typing for me.

Any reviews on Remarkable/Remarkable2 tablets?

I hate hate hate hate hate my remarkable 1. Discussed why here a while back [1] but the TLDR is that it’s incredibly slow and the software is garbage. Would love to try a remarkable 2 but only for free after wasting money on the last one. Considering trying the impending Amazon thing, scribe or scribble or whatever they call it

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27517285

Based on my time working university IT, yes. And they all insist on having their own, grant-purchased printer in their lab on the network, supported by you.

To some extent we can support them ourselves (as I do with my Canon). It can can be easily set with an IP/hostname and "just works". When it's not in use, it's unplugged. The main support issues are probably physical, right? Newer printers tend to break too easily. And yes, some academics are too dumb to fix a paper jam or change a toner cartridge. Hasn't it always been so?

To a certain extent, you are correct that the physical support like jams and toner replacement was typically handled by the lab. However it still meant having 30 printers, all of them of different makes and models and firmware versions on the network. Thirty ethernet runs having to be patched in, and 30 more ports on the switch lit up, and 30 more static IP leases doled out. All of that is relatively minor on its own, but at the end of the day its still a liability. Not all liabilities are necessarily a bad thing though, if it allows you to reach a desirable outcome. So what was the desirable outcome in this case?

Not having to walk 30 feet down the hall to the shared copier/printer on every floor to retrieve your print.

If the printer down the hall were sufficiently better than a SOHO printer, wouldn't most people be willing to make that trip?

I'd rather walk 30 feet to a printer that prints at better quality, can staple, can print 5x or 10x as fast, doesn't make noise next to my desk, and can be loaded with 5 reams of paper instead of 0.5 reams.

Convenience and confidentiality, e.g. you don't want to print grant proposals or recommendation letters on shared printers.

A common setup is to have shared printers for high volume things like exams and additionally have low volume printers per group.

> 30 printers all different

Have you tried endorsing certain models? Most researchers don't want to spend time picking out printers and will just get a random one. If you suggest one, they will probably just agree.

Have you never had to use an id-card to start your print?

Takes care of the confidentiality issue.

No and it doesn't. There is a shared printer available to all faculty (by network from their workstations) in a locked room. So you go there to collect your print outs and usually they are between colleagues' print outs that were sent at around the same time.

So that doesn't fix the issue and is already much more annoying than a small printer (other room, lock, finding your print out). Add any further hassle like id cards on top and nobody will use it.

I suddenly see your point in the last stanza.

Why can't we share a communal printer? Good question. Especially considering how sparse usage is compared to the 80s/90s.

My guess is a "tragedy of the commons" type snafu, with the printer always seeming broken by someone else's job.

I actually liked going to the print room - kinda like the water cooler where you could meet people and talk - catch a look at their print job and strike up a conversation "Oh I see you're running regression tests...". IIRC at UCL CS the print room was also where the coffee pot lived.

And I hope you help them with a smile on your face, since it’s … your job!

Based on my time at the universities, everyone uses the huge printing/copying/scanning machine in the corridor or printer room.

Reliable A3 duplex colour every time, activated by an identity card, and far faster than anything that fits on a desk.

I'm a higher ed sysadmin and yes, yes they do. I have faculty that refuse to accept digital assignments and require their students to turn in their work by hand during office hours. I have other faculty that require every student to print out the assigned reading and bring it to class. I've been preaching for "green months" where I just turn off the print server but that's falling on deaf ears it seems like.

Please read the other responses here and consider that maybe your colleagues have a better idea of what they need than you do.

Looks like I need to understand my users better.

Edit: holy crap, read all of the responses so far and I have some emails to send and thought processes to change. Thanks for helping me realize this.

If you really want to help your colleagues, make it as easy to print as humanly possible. ;-)

I don’t know how many times I’ve had to help older people I work with who are at the end of their chain trying to figure out how to simply print some document, work-related or otherwise. It should be plug and play but it usually isn’t. Technology is really not that intuitive for people who didn’t grow up with it, and what they need is frequently quite different than what “we” (digital natives, I guess) need. Accessibility’s a bitch!

Requiring students to print out assigned reading is ridiculous though. I'd also argue that they should print the assignments out themselves if they want a paper copy to use as opposed to making students do it, though I suppose that's also a budgetary thing (fob the costs onto the students, where it's spread out more).

Maybe so, but it isn't someone in IT's job to point this out.

I have a good relationship with my department's IT guy. If he started telling me how to run my classes, we'd have a much less good relationship all of a sudden.

Never said it was.

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