{"id":373,"date":"2006-08-19T15:48:07","date_gmt":"2006-08-19T20:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/?p=373"},"modified":"2006-08-19T15:56:57","modified_gmt":"2006-08-19T20:56:57","slug":"death-by-powerpointliterally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2006\/08\/19\/death-by-powerpointliterally\/","title":{"rendered":"Death by PowerPoint&#8230;literally&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>OK, I promise to stop with <a href=\"http:\/\/unhinderedbytalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2006\/08\/19\/more-fun-powerpoint-thwacking\/\">the PowerPoint bashing<\/a> Real Soon Now, but the situation is just <em>so<\/em> terrible that it&#8217;s hard to walk away.<\/p>\n<p>In reading <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edwardtufte.com\/bboard\/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0001yB&#038;topic_id=1\">this thread<\/a> from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edwardtufte.com\/bboard\/\">Tufte&#8217;s Q&#038;A thing<\/a> (sort of like his blog), he points to <a href=\"http:\/\/armsandinfluence.typepad.com\/armsandinfluence\/2006\/08\/death_by_powerp.html\">this post from the Arms and Influence blog<\/a>, which quotes Thomas Ricks&#8217; book <em>Fiasco<\/em>.  Apparently the geniuses in the Bush Misadministration have taken to replacing direct orders and clear plans with PowerPoint Phluff, leaving the well meaning folks at the Pentagon struggling to make sense of it all.  Check out, for example, this truly wondrous bit of Phluff that purports to explain how something as complex as the occupation phase of the current Iraq war was going to work:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/armsandinfluence.typepad.com\/photos\/arms_and_influence_refere\/ppt1s.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/armsandinfluence.typepad.com\/photos\/arms_and_influence_refere\/ppt1s.jpg?resize=400%2C288\" alt=\"PowerPoint Phluff explaining how the occupation phase of the current Iraq war was going to work.\" width='400' height='288' data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><br \/>\n<\/a>Ah, right.  I know <em>exactly<\/em> what to do now&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s worth repeating the conclusion from the Arms and Influence piece: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nThe Iraq disaster did not happen because someone in the JTF-IV planning group or the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) couldn&#8217;t write a good PowerPoint presentation. The problem was that anyone used PowerPoint to plan a war. Ricks is absolutely right in saying that only the most careless individual, in love with information technology for its own sake, would misuse technology in such an obvious fashion. Unfortunately, these are the people who planned and executed the Iraq war, and many of them are still prosecuting America&#8217;s wars.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>BTW, Ricks give an excellent interview on The Daily Show recently.  I suspect that <em>Fiasco<\/em> would be a very worthwhile (if quite depressing) read.  After a little skimming I also was surprisingly impressed by the Arms and Influence blog (the title didn&#8217;t seem like my cup of tea).  His description of <a href=\"http:\/\/armsandinfluence.typepad.com\/armsandinfluence\/2006\/08\/carry_on.html\">flying on the day when the &#8220;liquids plot&#8221; broke in Britain<\/a> is thoughtful and retains an impressive sense of perspective under difficult circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\t<div class=\"st-post-tags \">\n\tTags: <a href=\"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/tag\/technology\/\" title=\"technology\">technology<\/a><br \/><\/div>\n\n\n\t<h4>Related posts<\/h4>\n\t<ul class=\"st-related-posts\">\n\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2005\/07\/11\/your-ipod-broke-my-metaphor\/\" title=\"Your iPod broke my metaphor (11 Jul 05)\">Your iPod broke my metaphor<\/a> (0)<\/li>\n\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2010\/04\/06\/what-should-a-new-umm-director-of-information-technology-person-do\/\" title=\"What should a new UMM Director of Information Technology person do? (6 Apr 10)\">What should a new UMM Director of Information Technology person do?<\/a> (0)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OK, I promise to stop with the PowerPoint bashing Real Soon Now, but the situation is just so terrible that it&#8217;s hard to walk away. In reading this thread from Tufte&#8217;s Q&#038;A thing (sort of like his blog), he points to this post from the Arms and Influence blog, which quotes Thomas Ricks&#8217; book Fiasco. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2006\/08\/19\/death-by-powerpointliterally\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Death by PowerPoint&#8230;literally&#8230;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0},"categories":[4,17,1,13,15,7],"tags":[73],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p90sy-61","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":372,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2006\/08\/19\/more-fun-powerpoint-thwacking\/","url_meta":{"origin":373,"position":0},"title":"More fun PowerPoint thwacking","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"19 Aug 06","format":false,"excerpt":"I just finished my re-read of Tufte's excellent thumping of PowerPoint and there were two more quotes I couldn't resist sharing: At a minimum, we should choose presentation tools that do no harm to content. Yet PowerPoint promotes a cognitive style that disrupts and trivializes evidence. PP presentations too often\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Computing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Computing","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/computing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.edwardtufte.com\/tufte\/graphics\/book_pp_cover.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":371,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2006\/08\/19\/a-wonderfully-damning-indictment-of-powerpoint\/","url_meta":{"origin":373,"position":1},"title":"A wonderfully damning indictment of PowerPoint","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"19 Aug 06","format":false,"excerpt":"In prepration for coordinating our CSci senior seminar course here at UMM, I'm reading the second edition of Edward R. Tufte's excellent pamphlet The cognitive style of PowerPoint: Pitching out currupts within. I'd used the first edition a few years ago and really liked it, and the second is just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Computing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Computing","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/computing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Braided river","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.flickr.com\/80\/214496166_1c8275c17a.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":839,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2008\/05\/22\/can-we-please-remember-that-m-hasnt-completely-taken-over-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":373,"position":2},"title":"Can we please remember that M$ hasn&#8217;t completely taken over the world?","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"22 May 08","format":false,"excerpt":"I just had to take four on-line safety courses here at Essex in order to get money from our research grant. I'll spare you the horrors, although I did twitter on about of some of them as I went as a sanity saving device, and will share a couple: \"Keeping\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Computing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Computing","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/computing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":557,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/05\/11\/jocp-one-of-the-best-powerpoints-ever\/","url_meta":{"origin":373,"position":3},"title":"JOCP!! &#8211; One of the best PowerPoints ever!","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"11 May 07","format":false,"excerpt":"Stumbled across this gem via Naughton. I just about wet myself laughing during the presentation, and I thought I'd rupture something when he got to the bell sound effect during the graph presentation. I also had to go find the actual PowerPoint file so I could see the small print\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Computing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Computing","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/computing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":478,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/02\/19\/its-hard-for-us-old-folks-to-get-it-or-teach-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":373,"position":4},"title":"It&#8217;s hard for us old folks to get it (or teach it)","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"19 Feb 07","format":false,"excerpt":"John Naughton had a nice column in The Observer last month about the chronic problems with IT courses for kids. There had been a plan for a new required exam in information and communication technology (ICT) for 14 year olds in the UK, but enthusiasm for the requirement has waned\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Computing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Computing","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/computing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":538,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/04\/20\/greetings-from-mics-2007\/","url_meta":{"origin":373,"position":5},"title":"Greetings from MICS 2007","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"20 Apr 07","format":false,"excerpt":"We've arrived without incident in Grand Forks, ND, for MICS 2007. To be blunt, I tend to not come to MICS very often because the quality of the presentations generally isn't very impressive (not the best examples of scientists as great communicators, I'm afraid). We have four UMM student talks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Computing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Computing","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/computing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}