[Hidden-tech] Post Powerpoint

[Craig Sinclair]

<<I just read all the H-T thoughts on PowerPoint, spurred some of my  
own on a different tilt>>

Hey Everyone

I've never been a fan of PowerPoint or its ilk, but then I’ve never  
especially liked the idea of lecturing with slides, perhaps more  
because of the way people do this rather than the technology itself.   
To whit, at one teaching workshop I went to we were given handouts - 
that duplicated the overhead projection- and then lectured t. The  
first bullet point on the handout detailed the worst way to teach:  
"Handouts and Lecturing"

As this mode of address is so prevalent maybe we can all try our best  
to wrest it back and make it more innovative and involving.  This may  
be why Pecha Kucha and the Ignite Talks are so popular. I was lucky  
enough to present at Ignite Amherst and it felt rather like PowerPoint  
performance art (both as presenter and audience member), partly  
because of the concept, but then that concept is largely to loosen up  
the perceived rules of PowerPoint address.

As with many cases in the technological world humans are not always  
the active agent; does a person always use a tool or does the tool  
sometimes use the person?  This could be because of inclination,  
training, understanding, time etc., but it can also be just an  
accepted ubiquity in the face of doing something more revolutionary or  
interesting.

I hope some more of you will be able to join in the next Ignite Talks  
to show how you have challenged the PowerPoint paradigm.

Cheers

Craig

Ignite Amherst: http://www.youtube.com/user/AmherstMedia

Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/igniteamherst

Twitter: http://twitter.com/igniteamherst

Ian Parker’s intriguing New Yorker article on PowerPoint: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2001/05/28/010528fa_fact_parker?currentPage=all

===========
Craig Sinclair
Community Media Coordinator
(413) 259-3308
media at actvamherst.com

Amherst Community Television
246 College St
Amherst, MA 01002
www.actvamherst.com







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