[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message]

Re: The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint

• To: xml-dev@l...
• Subject: Re: The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint
• From: "Thomas B. Passin" <tpassin@c...>
• Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 18:36:34 -0500
• In-reply-to: <20031215170825.GA2603@s...>
• References: <6.0.0.22.2.20031215094429.03b3a8e0@p...> <20031215170825.GA2603@s...>
• User-agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.6b) Gecko/20031205 Thunderbird/0.4

jcowan@r... wrote:

> Jonathan Robie scripsit:
> 
>>I just finished presenting an 8 hour tutorial and two presentations using 
>>PowerPoint at a conference where they strongly prefer that we write our 
>>presentations in XML. 
> 
> 
> I did too, but I used XML, namely OpenOffice.org Impress.
> 
> 
>>What is the "cognitive style" of writing documents in XML vs. PowerPoint, 
>>Word, or FrameMaker? Do the tools we use to write affect the way we think?
> 
> 
> It's not at that level: it's about bullet-point lists, really.

Well, it is and it isn't.  It is also that

1) Powerpoint makes it so very easy to bang out lousy bullet-point 
lists, and

2) Powerpoint comes with built-in templates that may have some gripping 
factor when seen the first time but that accentuate the poor qualities 
of so many of these presentations.

Tufte's argument is in part that PP's ubiiquity and the ease with which 
it is able to produce junk, have lead to the widespread notion that that 
kind of junk is actually the preferred way to communicate.  It gets 
built into corporate standards and expectations.

Cheers,

Tom P

• References:
  • The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint
    • From: Jonathan Robie <jonathan.robie@d...>
  • Re: The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint
    • From: jcowan@r...

• Prev by Date: RE: Generating Trees from XML Schema
• Next by Date: RelaxNG news
• Previous by thread: Re: The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint
• Next by thread: Re: The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint
• Index(es):
  • Date
  • Thread