1. Introduction

We have all used paper based information systems at some stage or other, maybe you just didn't realise that's what they were.

How many of you have a copy of the 'Yellow Pages' at home?

Most of you will, and you have probably used it at some stage to find out a telephone number.

How about an address book that you use to store all the addresses of your friends and relatives?

I bet most of you have kept records of friends' birthdays somewhere so that you didn't forget them, perhaps in a birthday book.

All of these are examples of paper-based information systems. They store information in a logical way. This makes it easy to find information when you need it.

The Yellow Pages stores telephone numbers by category e.g. builders, plumbers, decorators.

The address books stores addresses in alphabetical order.

The birthday book stores birthdays in date order (by month)