Comments on Tufte by a Long Term PowerPoint and Freelance Graphics User
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
PowerPoint Is Evil
Corante - Tech News: August 20, 2003 brings
"Power corrupts and PowerPoint corrupts absolutely, claims Edward
Tufte. The ubiquitous presentation program puts a little information -
eight seconds' worth of reading material - on each of a lot of slides.
''Audiences consequently endure a relentless sequentiality, one damn
slide after another. When information is stacked in time, it is
difficult to understand context and evaluate relationships.''
PowerPoint emphasizes form over content and turns everything into a
sales pitch, argues the article. Its conclusion: ''PowerPoint is a
competent slide manager and projector. But rather than supplementing a
presentation, it has become a substitute for it.''
I have great respect for the man every since I read The Visual Display
of Quantitative Information. Much of his rant squares with my
experience in the corporate world, but I think he's a bit off-base in
blaming the tool and not the undisciplined craftsman.
# posted by James : 2:39 PM
Friday, July 30, 2004
beyond bullets: The Pentagon, Politics and PowerPoint
On December 16, in a comment on an item in the FastCompany blog, I opined:
PowerPoint doesn't make you dumb. It very quickly exposes the dumbness that is already there.
The item referred to in the header prompts me to make a similar remark.
PowerPoint doesn't make you smart. It may allow one's intelligence to be seen by others.
PowerPoint is receiving far too much blame and credit for the state of
things. It would be interesting to see a debate between Edward Tufte
and Cliff Atkinson.
posted by James at 6:41 AM
"...re-examine all you have been told at school or church or any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul." Walt Whitman
"If stated reasons don't sit well with your conscience or stand the
test of logic, look for deeper motivations." Docent Glax Othn
James Drogan
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