View the show notes on our episode page.http://techdiff.us/episodes/078-the-pen-is-mightier Add this URL to your podcatcher to subscribe to the full-notes feed: http://technicaldifficulties.us/itunes Gabe and Erik are joined by friend-of-the-show and new audio producer Bob VanderClay to discuss pens, paper, notebooks and why we can't seem to transition to an all-digital workflow no matter how many notebooks we throw in the wood chipper. Why Paper? Listen to this section on SoundCloud: 0:00 “Hope I can do two things at once” For Bob, it’s an issue of reliability and speed. Bob sketches out software architecture, and tends to keep his notes around even though he doesn’t refer to them much. For Gabe it’s about the specific problem to be solved, and planning or meeting notes still lend themselves to paper. Gabe considers his notebooks as essentially garbage, to prevent thinking about them as too precious to use. After he’s done, Gabe dismantles his notebooks and scans them. What Kind of Paper? Listen to this section on SoundCloud: 4:41 Field Notes Our original 48-page memo book available in four varieties. Each book measures 3-1/2” wide by 5-1/2” tall and is bound with a rugged three-staple saddle-stitch process. MSRP: $9.95 Manufacturer’s Page Amazon (Affiliate) “Do you take the shells of your dead moleskines, dry them out and hang them on the wall as trophies?” Scanning Episode We’ve done a scanning show before. If that interests you, then check it out “Yeah, I throw them around the yard to ward off other notebooks” Bob prefers plain loose-leaf paper (no lines). Gabe likes dots on the page. Erik likes grids. Moleskine Reporter Notebook The Moleskine Large Squared Reporter notebook has a cover that flips opens at the top, 24 detachable pages at the back for quick notes on the spot and can be used both horizontally and vertically. MSRP: $15.88 Manufacturer’s Page Amazon (Affiliate) Field Notes Field Notes aren’t good because they are small or because they have modestly high quality paper. They’re good because I have a bunch of them and feel ok wasting pages. Having easy access to small notebooks changed the way I used paper notes. I previously coveted high end (and more expensive) hardbound notebooks and their preciousness made me conscious of how I used them. But Field Notes are available for about $3 per notebook on Amazon (I like the black dot grid but many other styles are available too). These aren’t the cheapest notebooks you can find, but you don’t want those. They’re a nice compromise between quality and quantity. Beer Field Notes… Mmmm. grid+lines I use two types of paper (willingly). The first of these is Doane Paper, which I use for any day-to-day writing. I love this paper. It offers a great middle ground between paper with grid-lines and the usual lines of ruled paper. grid+lines Appropriately, “grid+lines” is Doane’s tagline. Depending on the product, the paper is either 70lb or 60lb recycled paper, that is a nice, bright white. It actually seems like it would be too bright, but I really like looking at it. It’s something intangible, I guess. I always liked the idea off a pocket notebook, but in practice, they always ann
View the show notes on our episode page.http://techdiff.us/episodes/078-the-pen-is-mightier Add this URL to your podcatcher to subscribe to the full-notes feed: http://technicaldifficulties.us/itunes Gabe and Erik are joined by friend-of-the-show and new audio producer Bob VanderClay to discuss pens, paper, notebooks and why we can't seem to transition to an all-digital workflow no matter how many notebooks we throw in the wood chipper. Why Paper? Listen to this section on SoundCloud: 0:00 “Hope I can do two things at once” For Bob, it’s an issue of reliability and speed. Bob sketches out software architecture, and tends to keep his notes around even though he doesn’t refer to them much. For Gabe it’s about the specific problem to be solved, and planning or meeting notes still lend themselves to paper. Gabe considers his notebooks as essentially garbage, to prevent thinking about them as too precious to use. After he’s done, Gabe dismantles his notebooks and scans them. What Kind of Paper? Listen to this section on SoundCloud: 4:41 Field Notes Our original 48-page memo book available in four varieties. Each book measures 3-1/2” wide by 5-1/2” tall and is bound with a rugged three-staple saddle-stitch process. MSRP: $9.95 Manufacturer’s Page Amazon (Affiliate) “Do you take the shells of your dead moleskines, dry them out and hang them on the wall as trophies?” Scanning Episode We’ve done a scanning show before. If that interests you, then check it out “Yeah, I throw them around the yard to ward off other notebooks” Bob prefers plain loose-leaf paper (no lines). Gabe likes dots on the page. Erik likes grids. Moleskine Reporter Notebook The Moleskine Large Squared Reporter notebook has a cover that flips opens at the top, 24 detachable pages at the back for quick notes on the spot and can be used both horizontally and vertically. MSRP: $15.88 Manufacturer’s Page Amazon (Affiliate) Field Notes Field Notes aren’t good because they are small or because they have modestly high quality paper. They’re good because I have a bunch of them and feel ok wasting pages. Having easy access to small notebooks changed the way I used paper notes. I previously coveted high end (and more expensive) hardbound notebooks and their preciousness made me conscious of how I used them. But Field Notes are available for about $3 per notebook on Amazon (I like the black dot grid but many other styles are available too). These aren’t the cheapest notebooks you can find, but you don’t want those. They’re a nice compromise between quality and quantity. Beer Field Notes… Mmmm. grid+lines I use two types of paper (willingly). The first of these is Doane Paper, which I use for any day-to-day writing. I love this paper. It offers a great middle ground between paper with grid-lines and the usual lines of ruled paper. grid+lines Appropriately, “grid+lines” is Doane’s tagline. Depending on the product, the paper is either 70lb or 60lb recycled paper, that is a nice, bright white. It actually seems like it would be too bright, but I really like looking at it. It’s something intangible, I guess. I always liked the idea off a pocket notebook, but in practice, they always ann