At first I thought this New York Times article on the perils of PowerPoint was pretty funny. But as I think more and more about it, and read the comments people have posted, I feel increasingly torn. As a writer and a teacher of writing, I argue for simplicity and clarity.
However, what this article makes clear (in this case, we’re talking about overly-complex PPT slides) is that simplicity can be dangerous, leaving out important nuances and complexities. Some issues, many argue, can’t (or shouldn't) be boiled down into three bullet points.
In our communication we battle against time, cognition, and complexity. Even as I enumerate this brief list, I realize it’s too brief, and fails to thoroughly address our task as communicators. A meta-problem, I guess.
Certainly I don’t have the answer, but always welcome feedback.
-Pete
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment