This is interesting. The young man did a solid amount of research to support his thesis. Still, there's arguments that the article does not address. For example, what is the business cost of revising every document to use Garamond? What is the impact of Garamond on an inkjet printer vs. any font on a laser printer? At a certain volume, I imagine the laser printer will come out ahead.
Another case is the question of black background vs. white background on a computer monitor. The search engine blackie.com cites a 2002 study by Roberson et al (PDF: http://enduse.lbl.gov/Info/LBNL-48581.pdf) showing that black backgrounds use less energy than white backgrounds.
Technology has changed a lot in the last dozen years. Your average monitor went from CRT to LCD to LED-lit LCD. The black background argument does not hold true for early LCD screens (source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-black-is/).
Of course, if you're still using an old CRT that is as deep as it is wide, you can reduce your energy usage considerably by changing to any LCD monitor - no matter what color background you prefer.
Very interesting find. Another idea for saving money is to quit printing everything. I'm amazed by how many documents still get printed, even at JMU. I found this kid's web browsing technology to be even more fascinating than changing fonts. For some reason, I thought the web browsing technology using eye tracking and brain waves had already been accomplished.
Thanks for sharing. This was interesting to watch and see how simple changes can make a difference. Annette, I agree that there might be a high cost if we were to go back and change every document, but if this were something that was standardized now, it might make sense. Just like when people upgrade software. There might be a few hassles when somebody wants to merge a TNR and Garamond docx, but seems fairly simple to resolve. The screen study was interesting as well. I imagine we don't use black screens when typing due to eyestrain and issue with colors showing up on the black, but the point seems to be we should look to reduce.
Interesting! I wonder if we can use this article to make a case for typing our papers in Garamond instead of Times New Roman now...
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting. The young man did a solid amount of research to support his thesis. Still, there's arguments that the article does not address. For example, what is the business cost of revising every document to use Garamond? What is the impact of Garamond on an inkjet printer vs. any font on a laser printer? At a certain volume, I imagine the laser printer will come out ahead.
ReplyDeleteAnother case is the question of black background vs. white background on a computer monitor. The search engine blackie.com cites a 2002 study by Roberson et al (PDF: http://enduse.lbl.gov/Info/LBNL-48581.pdf) showing that black backgrounds use less energy than white backgrounds.
Technology has changed a lot in the last dozen years. Your average monitor went from CRT to LCD to LED-lit LCD. The black background argument does not hold true for early LCD screens (source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-black-is/).
Of course, if you're still using an old CRT that is as deep as it is wide, you can reduce your energy usage considerably by changing to any LCD monitor - no matter what color background you prefer.
Very interesting find. Another idea for saving money is to quit printing everything. I'm amazed by how many documents still get printed, even at JMU. I found this kid's web browsing technology to be even more fascinating than changing fonts. For some reason, I thought the web browsing technology using eye tracking and brain waves had already been accomplished.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. This was interesting to watch and see how simple changes can make a difference. Annette, I agree that there might be a high cost if we were to go back and change every document, but if this were something that was standardized now, it might make sense. Just like when people upgrade software. There might be a few hassles when somebody wants to merge a TNR and Garamond docx, but seems fairly simple to resolve.
ReplyDeleteThe screen study was interesting as well. I imagine we don't use black screens when typing due to eyestrain and issue with colors showing up on the black, but the point seems to be we should look to reduce.
What a fascinating science fair project! And I'm glad he found a journal to submit to! I wonder if his paper was submitted in Garamond...
ReplyDeleteIt definitely is a case of "simple changes can make a difference". Thank you for sharing.