Sebastian Kirsch: Blog

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Something for my mom, who is an elementary school teacher and who is learning PowerPoint at the moment:

This Wired article by one Edward Tufte details why PowerPoint (and related presentation software, but mostly PowerPoint, through its ubiquity) makes us stupid. Why it degrades the quality of communication and makes every well thought-out argument into a piece of mindless marketing drivel.

Tufte also wrote a monograph on the subject of PowerPoint abuse, called The cognitive style of PowerPoint; sample pages from the monograph are on his web site on a page about the Columbia accident.

Tufte is an artist and graphics designer who has written several books about the visual display of information. (A department in which I am sorely lacking, so perhaps I should treat myself to one of his books eventually.)

So, please, mom, think of the children: Don’t let them use PowerPoint!