This is, of course, a response to the "paperless" movement. The trouble is that the movement away from paper and toward digital can be about more than the capitalist drive for efficiency.
One of the words the author used was "universality". For me, that has a moral component as well. Consider that information stored in a digital textual encoding is universally accessible. For example, blind people can read it through text-to-speech or a refreshable Braille display. Text-to-speech is also useful for people who have trouble reading due to cognitive disabilities.
So, print things out for your own consumption if you like, but please don't require others to consume information in that form. And, insofar as "the _________ office" refers to a group environment, I think the best word to fill in that blank is "universal" or "inclusive".
BTW, when I heard "screenless", I imagined an office full of people using speech synthesizers as blind people do. In the blind community, "screenless" refers to a talking device with no screen (very often a device made specifically for blind people that lags behind the mainstream, but that's another story).
While I agree with your sentiment, I would argue that translating digital information for physical consumption (paper, e-ink, etc.) does lead to improved access for people with disability.
Digital textual encoding is only universally accessible if the context it is situated within is also textually encoded. The lack of context (i.e., poor accessibility compliance) across digital mediums is the single largest inhibitor for the visually impaired community. Once digital information is prepared for print, the source of output is simply a matter of changing peripherals (printer, braille embosser, braille display, text-to-speech).
The authors may not have intended to directly address the needs of disability, but I do not think that their use of "universality" is misplaced. We should applaud any effort that encourages society to think beyond the constraints of the graphical interface.
One of the words the author used was "universality". For me, that has a moral component as well. Consider that information stored in a digital textual encoding is universally accessible. For example, blind people can read it through text-to-speech or a refreshable Braille display. Text-to-speech is also useful for people who have trouble reading due to cognitive disabilities.
So, print things out for your own consumption if you like, but please don't require others to consume information in that form. And, insofar as "the _________ office" refers to a group environment, I think the best word to fill in that blank is "universal" or "inclusive".
BTW, when I heard "screenless", I imagined an office full of people using speech synthesizers as blind people do. In the blind community, "screenless" refers to a talking device with no screen (very often a device made specifically for blind people that lags behind the mainstream, but that's another story).