Wed, 31 Aug 2005

PowerPoint: Killer App?

PowerPoint presentations are not knowledge: they're refined and filtered information. Unfortunately, many people get the two confused, which reminds me of a favorite quote from computer scientist David Guaspari:

Comparing information and knowledge is like asking whether the fatness of a pig is more or less green than the designated hitter rule.

The article makes reference to the Gettysburg Address done as a PowerPoint slide show: if you've never seen it, it's here.

Did PowerPoint make the space shuttle crash? Could it doom another mission? Preposterous as this may sound, the ubiquitous Microsoft "presentation software" has twice been singled out for special criticism by task forces reviewing the space shuttle disaster.

(link) [Washington Post]

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