Re: Death by Powerpoint (literally)

In defence of Powerpoint, perhaps the contrarian view in this list...

- on one hand, there's nothing more deadly than someone reading off a  
load of bullet points, word for word
- but on the other hand something like this doesn't catch on unless it  
fills a need, and we should hesitate before assuming people are lazy  
or worse for using it (tone of that sounds a little more flamey than  
intended :-)
- it's not always displacing a longer reasoned argument (which takes  
hours to write). More often it's the alternative to a spontaneous,  
unscripted verbal performance, which goes unrecorded, can easily go  
wrong, and which not everyone is confident enough to attempt.
- I've found Powerpoint particularly useful when speaking to people  
whose first language is not my own, and for following presentations in  
another language, when I have only a school-level reading knowledge of  
it.
- it's also good for people who weren't at the meeting... when I've  
given presentations without slides, or with purely visual ones used as  
punctuation or as talking points, I end up producing bullet point  
versions to distribute later.
- is there some contradiction between the view that Powerpoint  
"fundamentally devalues reasoning and logic in an argument, and  
replaces it with mere summation and statement" and the idea that "one  
good image, or one good graph with important statistics, is much more  
persuasive"?
- Powerpoint is easily mocked with the Gettysburg address or  
Churchill's speeches in bullet point form, but oratory uses similar  
techniques to make itself easily grasped and memorable: rhythm,  
alliteration, etc.

I think seven bullets is enough... sorry about the blatant lies.

Rob

__________________________________

Rob Waller

Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
University of Reading
T +44 (0) 118 378 6411
M +44 (0) 7850 665933



On 4 May 2010, at 14:15, Randal wrote:

> I would complain about the logic in your article about Powerpoint. You
> fall into a trap set by the New York Times in that your central
> complaint appears to be about the "Spaghetti Graphic" about the war in
> Afghanistan. As the Times noted, the purpose of this was "meant to
> portray the complexity of American military strategy". Whether the
> content is meaningless or not, that is precisely what it does.
>
> It seems to me that one of the central problems about Powerpoint is
> that unlike good and clear writing, which develops ideas and derives
> conclusions, the basic nature of the "Bullet Point" is that is
> presents every statement as a foregone conclusion or accepted fact. It
> therefore allow blatant lies to be presented with the same weight as
> universally accepted truths. This fundamentally devalues reasoning and
> logic in an argument, and replaces it with mere summation and  
> statement.
>
> It seems to me that the popularity of Powerpoint stems from the fact
> that it allows people who can't really write or reason to create what
> looks like (to the lazy or ignorant) an interesting or persuasive
> argument.
>
> I further very much disagree with the statement that presentation
> should simply recapitulate the messages from the presentation, and
> "should be almost meaningless". Luckily, in my life I have been called
> upon to make very few Powerpoint presentations, but as a teacher at a
> design college I have very often given slide lectures, which I
> consider to be a very effective teaching tool. In those cases, as in
> the few really effective (and affective) Powerpoint-type presentations
> I have seen, the images and slides have been central and memorable,
> and the talking that goes on around them is at best explanatory and
> incidental. One good image, or one good graph with important
> statistics, is much more persuasive than a thousand eloquently stated
> beliefs.
>
> -- Randal
>
>
> On May 4, 2010, at 1:49 PM, David Farbey wrote:
>
>> I've been inspired to comment on this on my blog:
>> http://www.farbey.co.uk/index.php/2010/05/lies-death-and-powerpoint/
>>
>> David
>>
>> On 1 May 2010 10:17, Conrad Taylor <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> Aha, Weapons of Mass Confusion.
>>> Thanks for that, Randal!
>>> Conrad
>>>
>>> On 30 Apr 2010, at 23:49, Randal wrote:
>>>
>>> Somewhat cogent article on how Powerpoint makes us stupid:
>>> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/world/27powerpoint.html
>>> The most interesting thing to me was this:
>>> "Last year when a military Web site, Company Command, asked an Army
>>> platoon
>>> leader in Iraq, Lt. Sam Nuxoll, how he spent most of his time, he
>>> responded,
>>> “Making PowerPoint slides.” When pressed, he said he was serious. "
>>>
>>> ___________________________________________________________________
>>>
>>> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>>> [email protected]
>>>
>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>>> http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>>>
>>> For all Information Design matters:
>>> http://InformationDesign.org
>>>
>>> Problems? Write to:
>>> [email protected]
>>> ___________________________________________________________________
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> David Farbey - [email protected]
>> Mobile  07879 005 946
>> Web site/Blog <http://www.farbey.co.uk>
>> Twitter <http://twitter.com/dfarb>
>> LinkedIn <http://www.linkedin.com/in/informationdesign>
>>
>> ___________________________________________________________________
>>
>> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>> [email protected]
>>
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>> http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>>
>> For all Information Design matters:
>> http://InformationDesign.org
>>
>> Problems? Write to:
>> [email protected]
>> ___________________________________________________________________
>
>
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
> [email protected]
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
> http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
> http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
> [email protected]
> ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: 
 [email protected]

To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
 http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe

For all Information Design matters:
 http://InformationDesign.org

Problems? Write to:
 [email protected]
___________________________________________________________________