Extra Credit Blog-Telling Stories

Everyone learns and tells stories. They help construct identities for ourselves and for our communities. Every culture has their own stories passed down form generation to generation. Each one of our lives could be considered a story. They are selected events that lead to a main point. However, every one has that one friend who tells pointless ones. Each story contains a plot, exposition, complication, climax and resolution. There are different kinds of stories such as narratives, fairy tales and my favorite urban legends. I enjoy the way they make you think and how they sometimes scare you. Some of the greatest stories are told through movies such as The Wizard of Oz. Salman Rushdie uses freeze frames to analyze its meaning. For instance one contains the image Dorothy on the road to Kansas with a bag in her hand. To me this shows her getting ready to run away from home when a tornado hits. This freeze frame summarizes this point in the movie perfectly because what i interpreted the exact plot from it. One scene can say everything according to Joe Morgenstern. And That's exactly what most freeze frames do.

radiohead,just

Before I listened to the lyrics, I watched the video without sound. The setting, from the very beginning, was eerie and in slow motion. There were no vibrant colors and it was set in an earlier time period than present day. Also, the band was playing in a rundown apartment that looked as if there was no electricity. The message that I got from the visual part of the video was that people never mind their own business. Everyone tries to solve each others problems and in the end, they themselves breakdown. Just like the saying, "if its not broken, don't fix it," sometimes people need to deal with their problems on their own without the help of others. The man lying on the ground did not want their help and in the end, everyone was stuck in the same situation that he was in because they did not mind their own business.
The message that I got from the lyrics sort of matched. The message seemed to be that there are some people that are pressured by others to conform and don not just do their own thing. The point of view of the writer is from the inside looking out at the trouble people get into from peer pressure. Trying to be the "cool guy" can sometimes make you lose yourself.
Overall, it seemed to be about the advantages of being independent.

Power Point is Evil!

I would have to agree with Tufte’s side of the story. I believe that Power Point is not the best way of getting material into the public. Personally, I think that Power Point is a very boring way to present a certain topic. This might just be my opinion, but I would much rather do something hands on than sit and look at slides on a Power Point. I do believe that in a business setting it is one of the best ways to get your point across, but even then I think that it would be much better to make a poster or something bigger. This way you can interact more with the presentation than sitting at a computer changing slides. I believe that this affects audience interpretation in a negative way. Like I said, I think that Power Point is a boring way to get the information across to the audience. I believe that if you do something that is hands on, the audience is going to remember what you talked about. If you are just looking at a slide every five minutes, it is going to be harder to remember what was talked about.

PowerPoint is Evil

I have never been a huge fan of PowerPoint. I think they are tedious and they tend to make the presenter look less intelligent. I never really felt as strongly as Edward Tufte, but I can definitely see where he is coming from. When someone presents to you a PowerPoint, especially in a scholastic setting, they typically read word for word what they already wrote on the slide, this annoys me greatly. It makes me feel quite stupid and doesn’t do too much good for them either. It makes them look like they have no idea what they’re talking about.

I don’t like them because my mind doesn’t really work well that way. When information is related, I wouldn’t put it on a separate page, and that’s basically what PowerPoint is, a bunch of pages with minimal information.

I can see why they came about and how they are good. It gets information organized (not very well according to Tufte). It’s a crutch while giving a presentation to a large group so you don’t forget what you’re talking about. Also when presenting certain things I think they could lend themselves better. Something chronological would be more acceptable, but there is probably still something a little better.

PowerPoint is Evil - In Class

I completly agree with Tufte's argument here, I think that PowerPoint honestly makes things to boring and plain. Do not get me wrong, in some classes I understand why it is used. If you have a class of four hundred that is the best way for everyone to be able to view the notes of the classroom. The thing that bothers me about it is when, lets say I have a project due and it has to be in PowerPoint format. I was involved in a technology class in high school, and was always taught PowerPoint was meant as an outline, not a book. So while sitting in class I sit and listen to every single bullet on a fifty page slide... not fun. It should be a few points in mind in which you are able to elaborate on without reading it word for word from the slide. I can sit and read the slide just fine without someone reading it for me. So in that sense I believe he is one hundred percent right.

PowerPoint helps the audiences interpretation by allowing them to almost see what they are getting into. The outline of the talk is available for them to view, and in class it helps them so that they can prepare any questions they may have.

Powerpoint is evil

I agree with Tufte's arguments about how powerpoints supply nothing for a reader and take away from what a spoken or written report could give an audience. The bulleted lists, and very few words of a powerpoint mean something to the writer, but often lose meaning with the audience. The writer will assume that the audience can follow precisely what their argument is and the flow of the powerpoint presentation when in reality with such few words it is often very difficult. In schools he stresses that it makes students act as businessmen by forcing them to create business like presentations. While in school children should be focused on learning how to engage and audience and truly make them understand an argument. Also in school students should be given the task of speaking out loud about soemthing and making the audience understand their perspective.

Power Point Is evil

I personally do not like this article and I feel that this is totally bias. I do not agree with anything that he portrays. I feel that power points are brilliant and it gets information across better than the traditional projector style. Its colorful and its interesting. For example my psycology professor uses powerpoints with her lectures. I can obtain the information better and psycology becomes easier to understand. It's 2010 come on now. The writer is acting like he is stuck in the old days or something. He makes it sound like power point is taking over and I dont think that it is, or ever will. Power point is simply just another means of getting information across. Power points makes boring information interesting and easier to pay attention to. Its modern and the world is changing everyday, so there is nothing nobody can do about it. I wouldnt exactly say that its the only brilliant means of getting information across but there is nothiong wrong with it. Powerpoint is brilliant when necesary.

Power Point is Evil? Hmm? (In-Class Blog Week 9)

Edward Tufte is completely right in what he is saying because, especially in the school systems, kids are not writing out sentences when they have to do a project and they are not really learning much from the subject they are presenting. In a Power Point elementary students and high school student use bullet points and pictures on almost every slide, I know I did atleast. Although I really like Power Points because they are easy and fast to make and you can put pictures on them. Whereas in a word document you cannot put pictures and use bullet points, you actually must write out sentences and paragraphs. There are a couple similarities between Power Point and word documents some include: the ability to transition from slide to slide or paragraph to paragraph and you must have an introduction and conclusion for both. I do agree with Tufte, Power Point does "spice" it up a little bit. And they may be good for sales in a company but not for a student in a school. Power Point is evil but I still like it!

Evil PowerPoint Presentations

After reading this article my first thought is what does Tufte do in his everyday life that leads him to seeing so many PowerPoint presentations? I could understand the hatred towards them if they were the only way he's taught anything, the only type of lectures he sees and the only way he's presented any type of information. However, I don't really understand why it affects him so much if that's not the case. Yes, power points can be informative and monotonous but there are times that I would say having a visual to go along with a lecture is not only helpful, but more entertaining. He mentions how there are only so many words that can fit on one slide, so multiple slides are needed to describe one thing. I disagree with this because during a powerpoint, the presenter is supposed to show that they have knowledge in the topic so most of what's said during the presentation isn't supposed to be word for word what the PowerPoint says. It's merely a tool to get a visual understanding of whats being said, and a summary of the main points so that it's better understood. PowerPoints that are done word for word are for lectures in which you should be taking notes and so you can more easily follow along with the speaker, although sometimes this puts all the attention on the PowerPoint and not as much on the speaker. I would have to say overall I don't completely agree with Tufte. I do think PowerPoints are boring and if I could avoid them altogether I would but I have to listen to lectures and having some visual is better than just talking.

Power Point Is Evil!

I do not believe Power Point is evil. I believe it helps when giving speeches. In my opinion it is a nice organizational program that’s used when trying to get your thoughts together for a speech. However I do agree with the point that it can make a short simple speech turn into a long dragging speech, but I believe this could be a good thing. The pictures and visual aids help to keep the audience’s attention rather than them having to just sit there and listen to a short speech which could cause boredom. This also helps them to recall the information given, when thinking about it they can refer to a picture that was shown at the time that a specific topic was talked about. Altogether I believe Power Point is a useful resource that helps people put their point across graphically rather than by just writing it down and saying it aloud.

Power Point (Kevin)

In this reading it is clear that Edward Tufte does not like power points. I think what he is trying to get at is that power points take away from the actual presentation. If you are trying to explain something and you are using a power point then you need to make sure all of your information is shown and if you are going into great detail then you are going to have a lot of slide which will end up boring people. You can try to make them better by adding color or movement but that is just going to take away from your main point more and nobody will end up getting anything out of your presentation. He also doesn't like how they are being used in schools. Instead of writing a paper kids will only have to make a quick bulleted list about a topic. And once the kids get their information down, which is probably not a lot, then they can work on making the power point look cool. I know when i was in school and we would have to make power points I would spend most of my time on the look of the power point rather than the information on it. So I would have to agree with Edward Tufte in saying that power points are evil.

powerpoint is evil (kyle)

I agree with everything that is said. I totally understand where he is coming from when he talks about how kids are being taught to make powerpoints containing so many fewer words than writing an essay on a given topic. Power points often give to many visuals and to little information which takes away a lot from what is trying to be said. This is less effiecent because you have to make so many more powerpoints to equal the same amount of information as if you had given an essay or bulleted facts. Plus the time needed to change slides also effects how the speech flows to the audience. I also could see how powerpoint would distract an audience from what is being said because of the visual detail that many put into a powerpoint.

p.p.i.e.

Tufte, throughout the whole reading, makes valid points and most of what he says, I agree with, however, he is overreacting. Yes, the images that bounce around can sometimes be irrelevant, and yes, because so little information can be put on one slide that there sometimes has to be a large amount of individual slides, but in general, I think they are a very productive way to present information. Power point presentations are easy to watch, can be entertaining, and typically pleasing to look at, therefore, people follow along easily. Also, I am a visual learner so I can remember things easier if there are visuals along with the points on the slides.

Power Point

I do not agree with Tufte's arguments about Power Point. I think that Power Point is a good and reliable program to make presentations for school or businesses. An argument that he makes is that there is barely any information for reading on each slide. Well, it is not intended to have a lot of information because it is supposed to show main points and be brief. Then, when you are giving the presentation you go into detail about each thing that wrote in each slide. For my school projects I have always liked to use Power Point because it is a lot easier to display information than to use something such as a poster board. The information you are providing can be seen to everyone since it will be on a big screen compared to little writing on a poster board. Although, in some cases it may be easier to display information in other ways, Power Point is commonly chosen because it makes everything a lot easier.

Powerpoints

I'm not exactly sure where Tufte gets his information from but speaking from personnal experience I can say that Powerpoint has helped many adults, teens, and children comprehend information that would have otherwise been never learned. He says that there is little information on slides when in actuality it's really all the information you need because if it wasnt then the teacher or presenter would add some more slides. In my psych class our teacher uses a powerpoint everyday and without that powerpoint I would be lost. Not every person is able to write down information just from hearing it alone, especially if the speaker talks fast. Having the powerpoint is benefical in that it allows the audience to copy down what the speaker is trying to get across without becoming lost or thinking to themselves "What did he just say?". Another point he makes is about the graphs and colors and what not. Most of the time people will look at a table of number and say what the heck am I looking whereas if you present them a graph with different colors they can make out for themselves what data is being presented.

How Can You Hate PowerPoint?

I 100% disagree with the man who wrote this paper on PowerPoint and how terrible it is. The man talks about how everyone shortens up information with bullet points and adds to many pictures. Does this man not get that it is just an outline for what the speech or lecture is about? I believe that a power point is a visual aid and an outline at the same time. While talking about a person or an event you can have a picture right beside the information which in turn will make the audience or class more interested. I would rather listen to lectures with an accompanying slide show rather than a lecture with no visual aids. I also disagree with him on how he thinks number charts are better than visual graphs. I believe that by looking at visual graphs it shows the comparison of numbers way better and you can understand it at a quicker glance. Overall, I feel that PowerPoint makes everything more interesting and easier to understand. I have no idea where this guy is getting all his arguments from. PowerPoint is the same format as key lecture notes and a visual aid but electronically displayed. This guy defiantly needs to adapt to the modern era and the new technologies!

Powerpoint Evil?....i dont know about that....

Granted powerpoint is used to make presentations look a little less shabby but, i believe they are put to good use also. for some it helps organize thoughts and facts, so that they are able to give a presentation in the first place. one can drag slides around, add photographs to better depict their message, and grab the attention of people listening. its the same as an outline only digital form for your audience to see. i can see where the authors argument could be valid in terms of time consumption but other wise i think it helps.
if a viewer zones out of a boring presentation, if its the same slide, they are able to keep up with the important materials and cooperate. the only time a powerpoint is over done is when its filled with fluff.think of the name POWER POINT. i use powerpoints to do just that! Get to the point, meat and potatoes, of what im trying to say. they can be over used, but i feel like powerpoints better facilitate note taking and let the viewer know what to take away from presentations. i know that studying off powerpoint notes taken in class, i will be ready for exam time. teachers include things on a need to know basis for the most part that just reading the text wont provide. one would have to use class discussion in context with the reading just to fish out the useful information. I would think all students would love powerpoints. if its boring to you then most likely the whole topic is.....not JUST the powerpoint. trust me if your interested and want a good way to learn then you will pay attention to those slides!

Power Point

I agree and disagree with Tufte's arguments. For younger children I feel that it is more important to read and write rather then type ten words on a slide an move on. Reading and writing is something children are going to have to do everyday so they should master the skills at a younger age. They should learn Power Point later on in the future. However, for business people Power Point is great tool. Giving presentations is made easier and more efficient. The main topics are focused on rather then every minor detail. I would not go as far as saying Power Point is evil because it can be a good tool when used at the proper time. Therefore, the audience interpretation for Power Point during a presentation or a project for older people such as high schoolers and business men/women is more positive than for younger kinds using the program.

power point

Well i can see he really hates power point, the title shows it too. I believe power points are good for somethings, but i do see where he is coming from when he talks about the clip art and about 50 words in power point. I dont think you can you a power point to get all what you need to know for a certain subject out but you can get a lot. you can bring up and make strong points. yes kids are learning this at a young age but they need to know this computers are a big part of ou generation a lot of things are online and if they know how to do this it can teach them to do other things. for example for college so many things are online, i have never be the type of person to like computers but i had to learn to adjust to do things to how they were asked. in school if you are asked to make a power point then thats what you have to do. it is a good thing to know how to make i feel. power points can be very complicatied and i can see where hes coming. I disagree with how evil he makes it seem ya its bad but its not the end of the world. the use of the power point can affect the audience interpretation by they can get things out of it and they can miss impotant info about a subject that was not put into the power point. a power point can also mislead people.

Is powerpoint evil?

In my opinion I beleive powerpoint is indeed evil because of the fact that it fabricates the direct information given. In today's society for powerpoint software they have apps and stuff where you can make your powerpoint slides all pretty or sparkly and stuff which most definitley takes away from the information being given. Instead of the information given straight like it use to be before computers and such, the information now is given but in a different fashion. To me some powerpoints are distracting and often leave me confused by the end due to all of the miscellaneous things added to each slide. Do not get me wrong though, I am a visual person so powerpoints to indeed help me learn. It's just time has really changed and sometimes it takes a lot longer to make a certain point in a presentation. I also agree with Tufte's statement about where they start early in elementary school making kids do these presentations. I think that is wrong because they are allowing these kids to become so comfortable using bulle style information and when they get ready to write high school level essays, they might be confused. They might have trouble forming complete sentences or ideas due to the fact that they are use to powerpoint. This could be bad.

POWERpoint -- JK

To start off, I've always really liked power points. I always liked watching them and creating them. I think they are better then a poster board and they move a lot more smoothly as well. I completely disagree with the quote,

"Audience boredom is usually a content failure, not a decoration failure."

Tufte is making general statements about power point. If an audience is bored it could be that maybe it's not flashy enough. Sure flash can only cover so much, but some topics are just plain boring and no power point can bring them to life.

Tufte really just sounds bitter to me. It sounds like he is just attacking power point.

Power Point is Evil?

I can see where Tufte is coming from, there are some negative side effects to power point presentations. For example, no one wants to hear someone read a power point presentation word for word but I think if a power point presentation is done well then it can be very effective. Tufte says that it's become a substitute for a presentation instead of complementing the presentation but that just not true for the majority of power points I've seen. I like power point presentations. I'm a visual learner so if I have something to look at I pay more attention then I would just listening to a lecture. I think the use of the power point gives the audience a more concise interpretation. If you're trying to give a presentation you want the audience to have a similar general understanding of what you're saying. Just by lecturing it's more likely that the audience will drawn different conclusions from your presentation but a power point makes clear points that lead most of the audience to the same conclusion.

Powerpoint is Evil (BG)

I personally dont agree with Tufte's argument but at the same time i get why he would think that powerpoints are turning speeches and reports in a sales pitch. when i was taught how to put together a power point, i didnt feel like it was a sounding like a sales pitch. I was taught tha tit was supose to be an outline to help you in your speech or report if you got stuck you could refer to it. i can see where Tufte would think that powerpoints are evil and can turn speeches or reports into a sales pitch. Powerpoints are used by companies to try and sale something to a buyer. and with technology taking over, powerpoints are used for so much more. In the end i guess if i have to make a choice on if i agree or not with Tufte, i would have to say i dont agree. I think that its how you present the information and how you say it that makes it seem like a sales pitch or not. I dont think powerpoints are evil, i think that they are very helpful. Powerpoints dont always have to be busy or packed with information, it could be as simple as a list of bullet points and a picture relating to the topic. I think it all depends on alot of other things other than just the fact you are using a powerpoint alone.

powerpoint

I found this article to be really entertaining. I agree with what he said about teachers giving assignments and giving students a week to make the easiest PowerPoint presentation, since I have had to make little stupid PowerPoint presentations, just to familiarize myself with PowerPoint. I also thought it was entertaining because I am currently working on a PowerPoint for my marketing class on the creator of Facebook. I do however disagree with PowerPoint not always being useful. I like when I have/had teachers present notes on PowerPoint versus them writing them out on an overhead or giving them verbally. Giving the notes over PowerPoint helps make the notes easier to copy because then I don't have to worry about trying to read a teacher's sloppy handwriting or remember a paragraph of reading as I am trying to write it all down, kind of hard to do. The use of PowerPoint could change after a reader possibly reads this article. The reader could possibly agree with the writer and discontinue the use of PowerPoint, or the writer could influence someone that has never used PowerPoint before in their life and make them not want to ever use PowerPoint. I however did not have my views change on PowerPoint. I believe it is useful when giving notes. To some degree I believe it could be useful during a speech, but it also draws attention away from the person giving the speech and give the attention to their PowerPoint.

Power point is evil

I have to disagree with this statement. Power points are very useful and can help us understand information better and give us a better understanding of what's going on. In my some of my classes when we take notes we use power points to help the teacher give their point across on a certain topic. I personally love power points when we have notes in class because they give you the information layed out there right in front of you and then they also explain what they have put down on the slides and then give you more and more information. Yes presidents of companies and other people use microsoft power point to show a display of information of what they are talking about and then they explain what they have just shown you. I think a lot of people use power point for different reasons and Ithink one would be because of learning styles to, I also believe a lot of teachers use this technique to. Some learners learn best by just looking at the information and seeing it out in front of them. Some people do learn best by just hearing and not by seeing but that is only for some learners but not all. I am a visual and auditory learner, I like watching people give me power points on a subject and then present it to me so that I can understand the information better and to grasp what that person is trying to tell me.

Power Point- Greg Knapp

I don’t agree with one word that Edward Tufte is saying. Power Point has revolutionized the way that teachers and schools work. When Power Point came out, I remember all of my high school teachers using it. The teachers would obviously not be using it if it was ineffective. It is a more organized way of learning and teaching that has had positive results. Even in college, most of my professors use it. What Tufte said about the slides not having enough information is easily disproven. For example, in my Life on Planet Earth class, all we use is Power Point. The teacher will read the main idea and then talk about it, giving important information. I believe that I had about 2,000 words in notes for my last exam. Power Point is an amazing program that I strongly believe in.