Throwing The Baby Out With The Bathwater?

I don’t know why so many academic articles come down to these rather extreme sides. I think it has to do with dialectics in teaching. But, this is my first impression of the essay “Beautiful Evidence” by Edward Tufte. His analysis of slideography (a.k.a. power point) made me laugh and think. The laughter may be inappropriate. His major example against the use of .ppt was the Columbia shuttle mission that blew up and killed all the crew members. But some of his statements struck me as over the top.

Laughing part first.

“…the pushy pp style tends to set up a dominance relationship between speaker and audience, as the speaker makes the power points with hierarchical bullets to passive followers. Such aggressive, stereotyped, over-managed presentations….are characteristic of hegemonic systems.” p161

This is followed by a quote about the Roman empire and the use of propaganda. Yes, I found myself laughing at this point. Not because I disagree, or agree but rather, because I would never have thought to reflect on the hegemonic nature of power point. I suppose it is an extension of linear thinking. But, made me giggle at first.

Serious part….

It is ludicrous to think that .ppt could be used as a substitute for serious research and analysis at NASA or otherwise. Writing has its place. Investigative writing. Research writing. Each genre deserves respect and has a place. If .ppt is substituting for other forms of communication it could be a problem.

Thought-provoking for me …..

“Let’s just talk about your business’ indicates a thoughtful exchange of information, a mutual interplay between speaker and audience, rather than a pitch made by a power pointer pointing to bullets. PowerPoint is presenter-oriented, not content-oriented, not audience-oriented.” p. 158