On Not Settling the ‘Paper vs. Digital Notes’ Debate

If you’ve been in education for a while, you probably have a favorite way to take notes. Maybe you use an app, maybe you use pen/pencil & paper, maybe you even use a hybrid approach with a smart notebook and pen.

A couple of weeks ago, Gabe Weatherhead explains why it’s hard on the strengths/weaknesses/affordances of different notetaking systems:

It’s because different almost always feels better, at first.

My thesis is that digital tools like the iPad have been around long enough that we’ve forgotten the pros and cons of paper. With collective amnesia many of us are returning to writing things on tree pulp only to discover it’s pleasurable and frustrating.

Gabe discusses some of these pros and cons–the ability to instantly read* decade-old notes without any sketchy reformatting is certainly a good start! (*instantly read is obviously a hypothetical situation for lost souls like me with dire handwriting.) Ultimately he argues for being “note-fluid,” able to move easily between pencil and paper depending on what’s useful at the moment. (This reminded me of Kourosh Dini’s more recent post on “settling the mind vs. settling the system,” which argues that “We do not need to compulsively tend to any system.”)

Do you have strong views about notetaking? Sure you do! let us know in comments!

Photo “Does anybody use a pen and paper anymore?” by Flickr user APB Media / Creative Commons licensed BY-ND-2.0