Yes! Copiers!

Copiers are machines that produce paper multiples. The machines are a staple of offices throughout the world because of the utility of duplication. Indeed, it is not always advisable or desirable to only pass around one original document. The machines also provide aesthetic possibilities and limitations that have been explored on countless music demos and poetry zines. Xerox ⇒ is so associated with selling these machines that the company has to advertise against the idea that copies are xeroxes to avoid becoming a genericized trademark like heroin.

Copiers utilize different forms of xerographic, “dry writing” printing. The process is sort of akin to film photography, but also a bit different. The user places the item they wish to copy on top of a glass plane, makes configuration decisions, and then pushes a button to start. An image is taken through electrically charging a drum with photosensitive material on it, which is then exposed to blinding light, and then developed when the opposing charges of the drum meets with toner. The printing aspect of the copy follows when the drum with toner is then again transferred to a piece of paper. The toner is fused to the paper through heat.

The morality of a copier is neutral just like most other tools. The moral choice and will to do good, neutral, or evil through the use of tools is left entirely up to the user.

I think that means that copiers can be cool when the machines actually work. At the very least, I seek to defend copy machines from a senseless attack from seemingly out of nowhere. This shirt goes a step further to suggest a choice to negatively interpret the existence of copiers. Though the suggestion is clearly made in jest, there is something else going on to inspire an entity to spend resources denigrating an innocuous machine.

Boring

There are some shirts within the collection, like I’d Rather Be Juggling, that exist to promote an idea. There are some, like United To Meet The Challenges Of Tomorrow, that are clearly trying promote something which is shrouded in mystery. Either method can help to make a shirt interesting by being unique.

That stated, clarity and transparency are also appreciated. Most shirts within Free Shirt Archive effectively communicate their promotional message in an easily understandable manner. I appreciate the honesty in putting the message out there completely and letting others interpret that message.

This shirt, however, is an attempt to manufacture buzz through intentional obscurity. There is no authentic misdirected passion against copy machines. I get it; the company needs to “get their name out there”. Furthermore, the company surely is not the only one that resorts to these worn-out tactics.

Unfortunately, my commitment to the the idea of this site means that I have to fall into the trap laid out to “get a conversation going” about their product. Making this shirt a private donation to avoid giving the creator a mention does not feel right because I do not need to protect the identity/dignity/privacy of the donor or receiver. I want to hold the project and myself to a standard that all those that care expect. Doing so requires that I accept the consequences of my actions. Therefore, I admit that I find the meaning of this shirt boring.

However

I still like the execution of the simple design of the shirt itself. Thus, I correctly chose to accept this shirt and reserve the right to wear it. I do not always have the opportunity to only wear shirts that express ideas with which I agree. I do take comfort that most people are too involved in their own lives to not care to even look at the shirts that I wear in public.

Spirit Of The Page

That all being stated, Book2Net ⇒ is a company that sells a variety of physical book scanners. The company commissioned the nocopiers.com ⇒ website and this shirt to position the entry-level Spirit model ⇒ as an environmentally friendly alternative to using a copy machine.

The Spirit is a personal computer (“PC”) with a little table in front of the PC and a light with a camera extending from the top. To use this, and many similar book scanners, a user places a book on the table, a Universal Serial Bus (“USB”) drive in a USB slot, and interacts with the options on the screen. The available file formats to save in are Joint Photographic Experts Group (“JPEG” or “JPG”), Portable Document Format (“PDF”), and Tagged Image File Format (“TIFF”). At the time of donation, the machine could only be leased.