Tufte's arguments are flawed. To characterize a tool which has practical purposes as evil is misguided at best. His article actually reminds me of arguments for gun control. Yes, PowerPoint is misused. Any tool can be. I could shine a laser pointer in the eyes of my audience. I could throw my shoes at them. Are laser pointers and shoes evil?
The chart that he uses to show PowerPoint's supposed flaws is a poor example. The chart could easily be preserved, either by inserting it as an excel document into the presentation, or simply by screenshotting the chart and inserting the image directly. The PowerPoint "style" that he speaks of is perfectly customizable. There's no practical reason that anyone has to use distracting transitions or colors.
All in all, he is correct that improper use of PowerPoint can break a presentation. On the other hand, proper use of it can be a great aid to any public speaker that has data best presented in multimedia format. His article should have been titled "People Are Evil".
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Ah...so Power Point doesn't bore people - people do. I won't disagree.
ReplyDeleteI would argue that, despite my own distaste for elaborate colors and backgrounds, they CAN be useful if you want to entice people (people who care about such things) to pay attention. However, as you point out, if Tufte wanted to use his unobtrusive chart on a Power Point slide, he certainly could have.