It's 20-fucking-21 and I'm still asked to provide paper copies of my thesis. 😐

It's snowing outside and I don't have a usb to copy my shit and bring it to the "copy and bind" guy, so this is gonna be fun. (said no one, ever)

Oh, also, offices are closed so handover is going to be even more fun. 😐

Mind you, there are literally no planes out of here nowadays, so I'll be stuck here even when this is all done. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

All the best for all the fun you are gonna have!

Considering the technical skills of some people it could be a lot worse. Paper is at least some form of backup. I once met a teacher who stored the only copy of her students' exit exams on her everyday USB thumbdrive.

It was hard to resist the urge to flip some tables.

@deadlyRants pls WHAT?!

@deadlyRants they already have digital copies tho. Copies of which are with reviewers right now.

@NoMad And now you'll be a doctor? (PhD)

@Fast-Nop lol nope. That's next stop.

When I handed in my theses physical copies were required for the department library, and as they were marked as classified I was notified that I were required to come and pick them up.

Ironically, academia is kind of stuck in the past for things like this. Doubt it'll ever change.

I just keep pretending that paper doesn't exist.

"Could you print that document for me and then send it"

"Sure!" *prints to PDF, sends through email*

"No I mean print on paper"

"Paper, is that some kind of online hosting service?"

"The processed stuff made from trees?"

"Oh mean you want me to send you hash or weed or something?"

"Ugh no stop trolling, just print the document using ink, then send it to me using the national postal service"

*Buy cheap e-reader, load PDF on e-ink display, package & ship using national postal service*

@bittersweet I wish I had the means to do that.

@mysth I think that's the case, but wouldn't it be nice if they bothered printing and binding it themselves instead? Like, what good could a library of thousands of different prints and shapes of theses do?

@NoMad the trouble is more that this would be completely unnecessary if we hadn't outdated laws....

The "it must be printed" thing stems from the fact that certain laws require a non digital version.

Which would be understandable if we were still in the age where a HDD could fit 200 MB...

We are at 18 TB now. Plus.

If law mandates an archive - it should provide the necessary tools to grant access to an electronic document storage system.

Reason I think this is more sensible is because most universities store their tons of paper copies in a building you should only enter in a full ABC suit with gasmask.

(not joking here, sadly - some buildings shouldn't exist anymore, but new buildings require money and the law processing for building code and hazard checking is a turtle on benzos...)

It's really dumb. I'm not saying that electric storage is best or safest, but saying paper beats electronic storage is imho nuts.

@IntrusionCM For archival purposes you could even go for magnetic tapes that store >100TB.

(Now if only those drives were cheaper)

@IntrusionCM I think in certain cases you might want some backups in print -- electronic storage is not available in case of prolonged blackout, and might not survive forever.

But then I wouldn't pick smooshed bleached trees. I'd pick a polymer tape like piqlfilm, which is used by ESA and the Arctic Archive and stores analog prints, and/or about 250GB of QR codes per reel.

That's much less than magnetic tape, but much more than paper, and survives for thousands of years.

we really need an "internet of things" that is just people borrowing and returning small objects.