Yes, "PowerPoint is Evil," says Edward R. Tufte in this 2003 essay that appeared in Wired. What kinds of logical arguments does he make? How does he try to appeal to his audience's emotions? Who is his audience? How sophisticated is his language? Is there anything missing from his essay that would make his argument stronger? Does he avoid mentioning anything that would make his argument weaker? Do the visuals support what the text says? Who cares about this topic? Who is Edward R. Tufte?
In the essay read aloud in class entitled "PowerPoint is Evil" Edward R. Tufte makes several logical arguments. We believe that "the standard PowerPoint presentation elevates format over content, betraying an attitude of commercialism that turns everything into a sales pitch," is a very logical argument made by the author. Though we may not personally agree with him, he makes a great point about one of the evils of power point. Now-a-days children no longer learn to write sentences, but instead learn to make sales pitches due to the change in technology. Though I personally think it is extremely distasteful he tries to appeal to the audiences emotions by bringing in a common topic, his happened to be cancer. Though he had facts to support his claims, it's never a good idea to bring in such an emotionally charged topic as cancer. People have lost loved ones due to the disease, and he should consider a lighter topic for his next argument. His paper is also very sophisticated, maybe too sophisticated. Depending on his target audience his paper may be over done. The use of a wide-scale vocabulary and terms may discourage his audience from reading the essay in its entirety. He should consider making it understandable for a broader range of people, instead of one small, very intelligent group. As a group, we decided that there isn't anything missing. He makes good points, he just sounds "whiny" and complains too often. I think that he is blind to the other side of the argument. He makes great claims but needs pros and cons for both his side, and the one he disapproves of. When he is trying to support his side, his visuals are also too emotionally charged. One learns in communications that emotionally charged is okay, but too much can offend people. As a group, we believe that the picture of the Nazis could potentially offend many, and has no direct relevance to the paper itself. Though the target audience for the paper is not a large one, professors, computer people, and power point creators may consider reading the essay.
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Edward makes many logical argument in his article. Even if people like power point they can see where he is coming from. He says it turns everything into a sales pitch and dumbs people down saying they are using format over content.
ReplyDeletePeople spend too much time trying to make the presentation appealing then actually having good information
He states that it's good to use power point to enhance your project but not BE your project.
His demeanor is mean, blunt, sarcastic but honest and to the point.
His audience is anyone using power points for presentations and his use of language is not out of control with big hard to define words, but it still sounds professional...and he does cuss. He is very closed minded in his writing, saying a lot of bad qualities of power points but he starts to say something positive then turns around and argues with himself about it to make his point stronger.
The graphs and the cartoon are confusing and didn't help his audience understand the points he wanted to make.
The article applies to people that use power points on a regular basis. Edward is the author aka the power point hater. THE END
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ariel, kellee, audrey and jess
Edward's logical arguments include evaluating the format of powerpoint and its content. He criticizes the way that powerpoint is turning everything into a sales pitch.
ReplyDeleteHe tries to relate to a wide variety of audiences by giving examples of why it is wrong for today's society, not everything needs to be used to relate to commercialism.
He is targeting parents, businesses, and anyone involved in education. He is also targeting the government as to make a point, and also to public speakers.
His language is sophisticated when he uses words that are targeted to a sophisticated audience. He uses different metaphors to target different audiences.
He doesn't include many alternative ways for presenting. He doesn't explain how the youth can learn and present in alternative ways. Alternatives are important to them because they will be leading the country.
He avoids mentioning the perks and all the good things about powerpoint. A lot of people today are very visual learners, and he doesn't make that point clear.
The political cartoon is valid for a more sophisticated audiences. The graphs are too simple, they don't give enough information about how they could be good or bad. The graphs don't show any statistics, only samples of his opinion.
The audience who he is targeting; especially anyone involved in education and businesses.
Edward is a graduate of Yale and Stafford and also studied at Princeton. He has a Bachelors and Masters in statistics from Stafford. He also has a Ph.D in political science from Yale. He is also a retired professor from Yale. He has published seven books. He has won over forty awards for content and design.
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ReplyDeleteEdward Tufte graduated from Stanford University with a degree in statistics and from Yale University with a degree in political sciences. It is understandable that he would write about his dislike for powerpoint because since he graduated with a degree in statistics he would care that the correct stats are given. He does make a good point about how a powerpoint could go wrong when giving a cancer patient their statistics for survival. He also points out how powerpoint has taken over presentations.
Edward is writing the article for those people who use powerpoint for presentations and those who watch the presentations. The people who care, however, would mostly be the people who are seeing the powerpoint presentations because they might realize the lack of information. Edward's language is very sarcastic and he tries to make the reader feel dumb for using powerpoint. He uses the cancer statement as a way to manipulate the readers emotions to think powerpoint is a terrible way to display information. He also plays with parents emotions when he says that schools should just be shut down instead of teaching powerpoint to the kids.
He avoids mentioning that powerpoint slides attract the readers attention and that it is much more appealing than looking at just a bunch of numbers. The visuals that he uses does not help him persuade younger readers. The reason is because the little comic about Stalin does not make sense to the younger generation and the visual about the good and bad graphs does not appeal to younger readers either because they would rather see a visual graph instead of a white page of numbers.
Edward R. Tufte was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1942. He has a bachelors and a masters degree in statistics from Stanford University. He is an expert in the presentation of informational graphics of charts and diagrams.
ReplyDeleteIn this article he makes logical points about how it doesn't help kids learn writing skills, it turns everything into a sales pitch, and it doesn't take enough time to show a powerpoint. Tuft tries to make powerpoint sound like a bad thing by using the word "damn" to emphasize his point. He tries to make it seem as if powerpoints only hurt us instead of help us. He compares it to an elementary school play which is very degrading. His audience is any powerpoint user such as business men, students, and teachers. He uses words in a simplistic matter to appeal to people who aren't as academically inclined.
He could have showed a different side of his argument and argued against it to help prove his point and make it stronger. The good effects of powerpoint could make his argument weaker.
Tufte's comic gives an example of a group of people having a pointless conversation. They do support the text but they could make a better point. The one that shows the graph could be read and understood by people a lot better than just having the number written straight.People who have to sit through powerpoints and the people who make powerpoints care about this article.
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anna, jordan, cassie, megan
Edward R. Tufte makes a couple logical arguments. In schools today, kids aren't learning the correct use of the English language. Teachers are using power points as assignments for kids, instead of an illustrative assignments such as written essays. This is teaching today's generation how to make a sales pitch rather than constructing a basic sentence. The use of graphs on power points are obscuring the understanding of basic data tables. "Chartjunk is a clear sign of statistical stupidity."
ReplyDeleteThe author appeals to the audiences emotion by getting the reader concerned. He talks about how children aren't being taught correctly in schools. This article appeals to parents because it talks about kids not getting a proper education. If your a parent whats your number one concern? For his example on graphing, he uses cancer patients. Almost everyone can relate, because everyone knows at least one person with cancer.
Edward avoids the positives of power point has. It gives the speaker more power to reach out to different kinds of people, visual learners and note takers. The highlighting of important information instead of the monotonous details. This makes covering more information possible and easier for the readers and the speaker. Also, his visual sample he displays helps his arguement if you are not use to power point. Edward Tufte is a professor at Yale University and American statistician who analyzes statistics and graphs.
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