Dear Ian,
I have experience of several intranet projects, over the years. I have
rarely seen them justified on the basis of the impact on the environment
(which, of course they should be!), however a common measure of their
success relates to cost-savings in printing and paper.
For example, one organisation that I worked with estimated that they would
save 15,000 - 20,000 pounds a year on printing costs for their internal
telephone directory alone. Given that they had over 2,000 staff, the
directory ran into tens of pages and was published several times a year, the
amount of paper and toner consumed was enormous. Clearly environmental
issues came into play here. Another frequent candidate for computerisation
is the mass of Health and Safety, legal and personnel information which gets
produced by all organisations.
I know that BT have a very high profile Intranet site and claim that it pays
for itself in cost-savings over the conventional paper-based approach to
disseminating information. Imagine the volume of information that an
organisation their size will get through. Again, this must translate into a
massive environmental benefit.
However, it is not always easy - many people prefer to print out pages from
the Intranet, so be careful when making assumptions as to the amount of
paper consumed.
A number of PC manufacturers are now becoming greener and as well as
packaging the equipment using recycled materials, many have a
green/recycling policy.
To a degree, an intranet can give a new lease of life to old computers -
most intranets will run via a standard web-browser - this can run on most
machines, including the older, less green ones that may have otherwise ended
up in a landfill site.
So, overall, despite the not-so-greenness of technology, big savings can be
made in terms of paper and toner consumption and potentially the re-use of
old-kit.
The greatest challenges for an intranet are a) establishing it and getting
people to think electronic, rather than paper and b) making it easy enough
to use which will help a). Unfortunately, many Intranets fail one count or
another and as a result, may not make the impact that was originally
desired. It is important, therefore to consider and capture the business
processes that an intranet is supporting and to develop a strategy for how
it will grow, be rolled out, publicised, supported, etc.
Regards
Chris Meaney (AIMC)
Managing Director
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-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Ian
Morrison
Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2001 03:41
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Museum Intranets
For once I have a query of my own, rather than a rap on the knuckles, to
post.
Recently I have taken on some responsibility for raising
awareness of environmental issues within the National Museums of
Scotland. One important issue is the amount of paper consumed by the
institution, particularly for the purpose of internal communication
(staff notices, minutes of various groups, etc.). We do not have an
intranet as yet, and I was wondering if any MCG members who do have
access to an intranet have noticed any change in the quantity of paper
they use as a direct result. In fact, what are the environmental pros
and cons, if any?
Any help would be much appreciated. So far my impression is that the
rapid expansion of IT in the last two decades has contributed massively
to environmental destruction worldwide, but I would pleased to hear of
any evidence to the contrary.
---
Ian
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Ian O. Morrison, Scottish Museums Documentation Officer
http://homestead.deja.com/user.ian_o_morrison/index.html
Hostes alienigeni me abduxerunt
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