Does Powerpoint use lead to stupidity…
Or is it the other way around? A New York Times article blames Powerpoint for making people stupid.
Among other things the article says NASA blames Powerpoint in part for the space shuttle crash, because it allowed the agency to “become too reliant on presenting complex information via PowerPoint, instead of by means of traditional ink-and-paper technical reports.”
Apparently the slide was too jammed full of information and gibberish for anyone to realize it was explaining a critical flaw that could (and did) have explosive consequences.
The Times article is a summary of theorist Edward Tufte’s broadside against Powerpoint. It’s been out for a while, but costs $7 for a print version on his website.
I’ve had a hate-on for Powerpoint for years for many reasons. One thing the article doesn’t mention is that it’s useless for the kinds of interactive presentations I make. If people want to know something that’s not on the slide, I’d be screwed if all I had was powerpoint.
Similarly, if the audience’s ideas and questions actually matter, Powerpoint is useless. I usually rig up some form of guestbook/comment thing for my presentations so that I can record people’s questions and comments.
When the presentation (complete with the audience’s reaction to it) is stored on the web site, it makes it possible for those who missed the meeting to find out what went on.
Yes I know that you can convert a PP presentation to HTML, but it will still be a disconnected hunk of data that will look really ugly.
Yes I know you can just email people the .ppt file but I, like most sensible people, question the good sense of emailing a meg or two of attatchment just to convey two or three minutes of reading.
