PowerPoint Makes You Dumb
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"In August, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board at NASA released Volume 1 of its report on why the space shuttle crashed. As expected, the ship's foam insulation was the main cause of the disaster. But the board also fingered another unusual culprit: PowerPoint, Microsoft's well-known ''slideware'' program. NASA, the board argued, had become too reliant on presenting complex information via PowerPoint, instead of by means of traditional ink-and-paper technical reports. When NASA engineers assessed possible wing damage during the mission, they presented the findings in a confusing PowerPoint slide -- so crammed with nested bullet points and irregular short forms that it was nearly impossible to untangle. ''It is easy to understand how a senior manager might read this PowerPoint slide and not realize that it addresses a life-threatening situation,'' the board sternly noted. PowerPoint is the world's most popular tool for presenting information. There are 400 million copies in circulation, and almost no corporate decision takes place without it. But what if PowerPoint is actually making us stupider?..." nytimes[^] :rolleyes: Later, JoeSox "That sounds exactly like the thinking of a machine to me." -- Morpheus, The Matrix Reloaded joeswammi.com ↔ humanaiproject.org ↔ joeswammi.com/sinfest
JoeSox wrote: But what if PowerPoint is actually making us stupider? And here i thought the question was, "Does PowerPoint turn presenters into mentally-handicapped dullards, or do mentally-handicapped dullards tend to use PowerPoint when giving presentations?" :rolleyes: The first time i sat through a three-hour PPT preso where the slides - with attached notes - were printed and handed out ahead of time, i thought, "surely, someone will realize we could all read this in 5min flat, grill the presenters with questions for an hour, and still come out ahead?" Now i just sleep through those meetings.
Shog9 ---
You'd better turn back, before the frost sets in. These desert nights are for weathered men, The ones who've already given in...
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NY Times wrote: For example, the low resolution of a PowerPoint slide means that it usually contains only about 40 words, or barely eight seconds of reading. PowerPoint also encourages users to rely on bulleted lists, a "faux analytical" technique, Tufte wrote, that dodges the speaker's responsibility to tie his information together. What about the low resolution of two stone tablets containing 10 commandments? --Colin Mackay--
"In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins - not through strength but perseverance." (H. Jackson Brown) Enumerators in .NET: See how to customise foreach loops with C#
Colin Angus Mackay wrote: What about the low resolution of two stone tablets containing 10 commandments? This is a great idea! I shall convert the 10 commandments into a powerpoint file for distribution ASAP! http://www.sinfest.net/d/20000123.html[^] :) i can't believe i am still alive, pope john ii
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JoeSox wrote: But what if PowerPoint is actually making us stupider? And here i thought the question was, "Does PowerPoint turn presenters into mentally-handicapped dullards, or do mentally-handicapped dullards tend to use PowerPoint when giving presentations?" :rolleyes: The first time i sat through a three-hour PPT preso where the slides - with attached notes - were printed and handed out ahead of time, i thought, "surely, someone will realize we could all read this in 5min flat, grill the presenters with questions for an hour, and still come out ahead?" Now i just sleep through those meetings.
Shog9 ---
You'd better turn back, before the frost sets in. These desert nights are for weathered men, The ones who've already given in...
Shog9 wrote: The first time i sat through a three-hour PPT preso where the slides - with attached notes - were printed and handed out ahead of time, i thought, "surely, someone will realize we could all read this in 5min flat, grill the presenters with questions for an hour, and still come out ahead?" But the manager giving the presentation would be stuck checking his/her email all day as normal. They have to get up and walk around every now and then.:) Plus, someof the background graphics are cool, at times:~ Later, JoeSox "That sounds exactly like the thinking of a machine to me." -- Morpheus, The Matrix Reloaded joeswammi.com ↔ humanaiproject.org ↔ joeswammi.com/sinfest
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That. Is. Just. Dumb. " so crammed with nested bullet points and irregular short forms" Right, so Powerpoint invented those, eh? Sure I saw pages of bullet points in my high-school text-books. What a lame excuse. Take responsibility for not communicating, don't blame Power Pointless. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass South Africa Brian Welsch wrote: "blah blah blah, maybe a potato?" while translating my Afrikaans. Crikey! ain't life grand? Einstein says...
Paul Watson wrote: Right, so Powerpoint invented those, eh? Sure I saw pages of bullet points in my high-school text-books. Overhead projectors made me stupid enough to use powerpoint:rolleyes: Paul Watson wrote: What a lame excuse. Take responsibility for not communicating, don't blame Power Pointless. I agree. Let's see, imagine an automobile designer saying... "Well Jim, here is my design for this year's new automobile, it's in this wonderful powerpoint presentation." :eek: Later, JoeSox "That sounds exactly like the thinking of a machine to me." -- Morpheus, The Matrix Reloaded joeswammi.com ↔ humanaiproject.org ↔ joeswammi.com/sinfest
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That. Is. Just. Dumb. " so crammed with nested bullet points and irregular short forms" Right, so Powerpoint invented those, eh? Sure I saw pages of bullet points in my high-school text-books. What a lame excuse. Take responsibility for not communicating, don't blame Power Pointless. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass South Africa Brian Welsch wrote: "blah blah blah, maybe a potato?" while translating my Afrikaans. Crikey! ain't life grand? Einstein says...
Paul Watson wrote: Sure I saw pages of bullet points in my high-school text-books. Can't vouch for the quality of your HS texts, but i do know when i was last in school there was a marked difference between classes where the instructor used PPT and classes w/ only [a chalkboard|an overhead projector]. While i don't deny that it is ultimately the responsibility of the person presenting the information to come up with an effective way of doing so, that doesn't mean you should ignore the effects of using certain tools. The media we use to communicate color the communication itself. I find myself nearly unable to communicate emotion when typing. Perhaps because of the speed at which i can revise and perfect what i've written, i do not take the time to reconsider before eliminating text that doesn't fit well. Things that are easy to do will tend to be done more - bulleted lists are trivial in PPT, while long paragraphs don't work so well. Also, there is the "gee-wiz-kewl-tech" factor - even when PPT is not a good tool, it may be used over other techniques for appearance sake - it looks "new" and "polished".
Shog9 ---
You'd better turn back, before the frost sets in. These desert nights are for weathered men, The ones who've already given in...
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Paul Watson wrote: Right, so Powerpoint invented those, eh? Sure I saw pages of bullet points in my high-school text-books. Overhead projectors made me stupid enough to use powerpoint:rolleyes: Paul Watson wrote: What a lame excuse. Take responsibility for not communicating, don't blame Power Pointless. I agree. Let's see, imagine an automobile designer saying... "Well Jim, here is my design for this year's new automobile, it's in this wonderful powerpoint presentation." :eek: Later, JoeSox "That sounds exactly like the thinking of a machine to me." -- Morpheus, The Matrix Reloaded joeswammi.com ↔ humanaiproject.org ↔ joeswammi.com/sinfest
Jack: Well Jim, here is my design for this year's new automobile, it's in this wonderful powerpoint presentation. Jim: Fantastic! It looks mighty purty. Jack: Just one thing, on page 5, 7 bullet points down, it mentions how this design makes the fuel tank liable to explode Jim: Hmmm... ah well, it's just a PP bullet point, can't be that serious. Lets build it! regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass South Africa Brian Welsch wrote: "blah blah blah, maybe a potato?" while translating my Afrikaans. Crikey! ain't life grand? Einstein says...
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Shog9 wrote: The first time i sat through a three-hour PPT preso where the slides - with attached notes - were printed and handed out ahead of time, i thought, "surely, someone will realize we could all read this in 5min flat, grill the presenters with questions for an hour, and still come out ahead?" But the manager giving the presentation would be stuck checking his/her email all day as normal. They have to get up and walk around every now and then.:) Plus, someof the background graphics are cool, at times:~ Later, JoeSox "That sounds exactly like the thinking of a machine to me." -- Morpheus, The Matrix Reloaded joeswammi.com ↔ humanaiproject.org ↔ joeswammi.com/sinfest
JoeSox wrote: Plus, someof the background graphics are cool, at times Yes indeed. I've done some PPTs with *very* cool backgrounds. (these would be the occasions when i had nothing of value to present, and no desire to present anything at all. A timed, scripted presentation, where you can take a nap under the podium, yelling out vaguely topical sentances when specific sound clips are played... That's the correct use for PPT... ;))
Shog9 ---
You'd better turn back, before the frost sets in. These desert nights are for weathered men, The ones who've already given in...
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Paul Watson wrote: Sure I saw pages of bullet points in my high-school text-books. Can't vouch for the quality of your HS texts, but i do know when i was last in school there was a marked difference between classes where the instructor used PPT and classes w/ only [a chalkboard|an overhead projector]. While i don't deny that it is ultimately the responsibility of the person presenting the information to come up with an effective way of doing so, that doesn't mean you should ignore the effects of using certain tools. The media we use to communicate color the communication itself. I find myself nearly unable to communicate emotion when typing. Perhaps because of the speed at which i can revise and perfect what i've written, i do not take the time to reconsider before eliminating text that doesn't fit well. Things that are easy to do will tend to be done more - bulleted lists are trivial in PPT, while long paragraphs don't work so well. Also, there is the "gee-wiz-kewl-tech" factor - even when PPT is not a good tool, it may be used over other techniques for appearance sake - it looks "new" and "polished".
Shog9 ---
You'd better turn back, before the frost sets in. These desert nights are for weathered men, The ones who've already given in...
But it is still the presenters fault for using the wrong tool. It is not a requirement to use PP. Teachers back in my day (you know, I realised I have been out of school for 7 years now, I still feel like a kid though and just thinking about this is weird) hardly knew how to use the VCR remote. Heaven forbid they be asked to plug in a laptop and open a PP file. :) regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass South Africa Brian Welsch wrote: "blah blah blah, maybe a potato?" while translating my Afrikaans. Crikey! ain't life grand? Einstein says...
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JoeSox wrote: Plus, someof the background graphics are cool, at times Yes indeed. I've done some PPTs with *very* cool backgrounds. (these would be the occasions when i had nothing of value to present, and no desire to present anything at all. A timed, scripted presentation, where you can take a nap under the podium, yelling out vaguely topical sentances when specific sound clips are played... That's the correct use for PPT... ;))
Shog9 ---
You'd better turn back, before the frost sets in. These desert nights are for weathered men, The ones who've already given in...
Shog9 wrote: That's the correct use for PPT. :cool:Sign me up for your next presentation please:-D Later, JoeSox "That sounds exactly like the thinking of a machine to me." -- Morpheus, The Matrix Reloaded joeswammi.com ↔ humanaiproject.org ↔ joeswammi.com/sinfest
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But it is still the presenters fault for using the wrong tool. It is not a requirement to use PP. Teachers back in my day (you know, I realised I have been out of school for 7 years now, I still feel like a kid though and just thinking about this is weird) hardly knew how to use the VCR remote. Heaven forbid they be asked to plug in a laptop and open a PP file. :) regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass South Africa Brian Welsch wrote: "blah blah blah, maybe a potato?" while translating my Afrikaans. Crikey! ain't life grand? Einstein says...
Paul Watson wrote: It is not a requirement to use PP. Oh? Perhaps it's not codified anywhere, but if at some point your boss says "use it", then you use it. I certainly couldn't say one way or another IRT NASA... but going by the engineers that i know, changing from a printed tech report to a PPT would more likely be a request from on high than a personal choice. Paul Watson wrote: Heaven forbid they be asked to plug in a laptop and open a PP file Well, they were, and they did, and the obvious happened.
Shog9 ---
You'd better turn back, before the frost sets in. These desert nights are for weathered men, The ones who've already given in...
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"In August, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board at NASA released Volume 1 of its report on why the space shuttle crashed. As expected, the ship's foam insulation was the main cause of the disaster. But the board also fingered another unusual culprit: PowerPoint, Microsoft's well-known ''slideware'' program. NASA, the board argued, had become too reliant on presenting complex information via PowerPoint, instead of by means of traditional ink-and-paper technical reports. When NASA engineers assessed possible wing damage during the mission, they presented the findings in a confusing PowerPoint slide -- so crammed with nested bullet points and irregular short forms that it was nearly impossible to untangle. ''It is easy to understand how a senior manager might read this PowerPoint slide and not realize that it addresses a life-threatening situation,'' the board sternly noted. PowerPoint is the world's most popular tool for presenting information. There are 400 million copies in circulation, and almost no corporate decision takes place without it. But what if PowerPoint is actually making us stupider?..." nytimes[^] :rolleyes: Later, JoeSox "That sounds exactly like the thinking of a machine to me." -- Morpheus, The Matrix Reloaded joeswammi.com ↔ humanaiproject.org ↔ joeswammi.com/sinfest
JoeSox wrote: PowerPoint is the world's most popular tool for presenting information. There are 400 million copies in circulation, and almost no corporate decision takes place without it. But what if PowerPoint is actually making us stupider?..." I must have missed a memo. I thought we'd started blaming the current American administration for our mistakes. Blaming Microsoft is so last year! ;-) Michael Snow is lying on the ground, and in the air the sleigh bells sound, The frosted patterned window panes, it's British summer time again. No, it's not, It's Christmas - Santa Claus in on the Dole (Spitting Image 1986)
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Colin Angus Mackay wrote: What about the low resolution of two stone tablets containing 10 commandments? This is a great idea! I shall convert the 10 commandments into a powerpoint file for distribution ASAP! http://www.sinfest.net/d/20000123.html[^] :) i can't believe i am still alive, pope john ii
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The Pope just emailed this to me. He told me to share it with the world!!:cool: I converted his ppt to pps http://joeswammi.com/downloads/godspeaks.pps[^] (435kb) Later, JoeSox "That sounds exactly like the thinking of a machine to me." -- Morpheus, The Matrix Reloaded joeswammi.com ↔ humanaiproject.org ↔ joeswammi.com/sinfest
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"In August, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board at NASA released Volume 1 of its report on why the space shuttle crashed. As expected, the ship's foam insulation was the main cause of the disaster. But the board also fingered another unusual culprit: PowerPoint, Microsoft's well-known ''slideware'' program. NASA, the board argued, had become too reliant on presenting complex information via PowerPoint, instead of by means of traditional ink-and-paper technical reports. When NASA engineers assessed possible wing damage during the mission, they presented the findings in a confusing PowerPoint slide -- so crammed with nested bullet points and irregular short forms that it was nearly impossible to untangle. ''It is easy to understand how a senior manager might read this PowerPoint slide and not realize that it addresses a life-threatening situation,'' the board sternly noted. PowerPoint is the world's most popular tool for presenting information. There are 400 million copies in circulation, and almost no corporate decision takes place without it. But what if PowerPoint is actually making us stupider?..." nytimes[^] :rolleyes: Later, JoeSox "That sounds exactly like the thinking of a machine to me." -- Morpheus, The Matrix Reloaded joeswammi.com ↔ humanaiproject.org ↔ joeswammi.com/sinfest
JoeSox wrote: crammed with nested bullet points and irregular short forms that it was nearly impossible to untangle Which happens with traditional ink-and-paper technical reports like, uh, never. What I agree with, though, is that Powerpoint is a great timesink.
Flirt harder, I'm a coder.
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JoeSox wrote: PowerPoint is the world's most popular tool for presenting information. There are 400 million copies in circulation, and almost no corporate decision takes place without it. But what if PowerPoint is actually making us stupider?..." I must have missed a memo. I thought we'd started blaming the current American administration for our mistakes. Blaming Microsoft is so last year! ;-) Michael Snow is lying on the ground, and in the air the sleigh bells sound, The frosted patterned window panes, it's British summer time again. No, it's not, It's Christmas - Santa Claus in on the Dole (Spitting Image 1986)