Albert may I have history especially the George 5 and Tsar. How were they related yet it did not end well. I am still upset about that. I saw a movie and it was sad.No one tried to sad them! Why?
IMHO, the quality and depth of writing in general began to take a downturn when the first DOS versions of what is now PowerPoint emerged and organizations started using slide decks in lieu of briefing papers and reports, ostensibly because of "efficiency" on the part of the writer and the reader. Email also grew to supplant memorandums and other forms of correspondence that were editorially reviewed by others prior to sending. While velocity increased, what suffered was analysis and understanding on the part of the writer or slide jockey, resulting in less comprehension by the recipient. This is expressed in the joking term "His understanding is PowerPoint deep". With the decreasing organization emphasis on the art of writing and reading comprehension also went attention spans and the ability to focus deeply. Throw into this mix web browsers and search engines which have largely replaced the use of libraries for research along with small cell phone screens which dont lend themselves to much more than a few sentences, and the is result human brains which have been transformed from routine deep thought and deep understanding capacity into only being comfortable with short & disconnected chunks of rapid fire information frequently devoid of depth. LLMs trained in this environment are going to be a lot different than they would be had they ingested pre-personal computer and internet material.
"His understanding is PowerPoint deep" I have not heard that one before. It makes a lot of sense, especially your observation that this began many years ago. I can see how PowerPoint was an exciting and useful tool when it was first developed, and I also see how it became an intellectual crutch that retrained how people absorbed presentations and information. I am making a lot of updates to how I will teach this coming year.
Quite a few years ago I attended a communications course given by Dr. Edward Tufte, he was not a fan of PowerPoint. You may find these links to some of his material on PowerPoint and communications interesting:
PowerPoint does rocket science and better techniques for technical reports (includes an analysis of how a poorly constructed .ppt deck misinformed NASA leadership re the condition of Columbia prior to its reentry and subsequent structural failure):
Albert may I have history especially the George 5 and Tsar. How were they related yet it did not end well. I am still upset about that. I saw a movie and it was sad.No one tried to sad them! Why?
Fear. The king was terrified of provoking revolution at home. And it was not an irrational fear.
IMHO, the quality and depth of writing in general began to take a downturn when the first DOS versions of what is now PowerPoint emerged and organizations started using slide decks in lieu of briefing papers and reports, ostensibly because of "efficiency" on the part of the writer and the reader. Email also grew to supplant memorandums and other forms of correspondence that were editorially reviewed by others prior to sending. While velocity increased, what suffered was analysis and understanding on the part of the writer or slide jockey, resulting in less comprehension by the recipient. This is expressed in the joking term "His understanding is PowerPoint deep". With the decreasing organization emphasis on the art of writing and reading comprehension also went attention spans and the ability to focus deeply. Throw into this mix web browsers and search engines which have largely replaced the use of libraries for research along with small cell phone screens which dont lend themselves to much more than a few sentences, and the is result human brains which have been transformed from routine deep thought and deep understanding capacity into only being comfortable with short & disconnected chunks of rapid fire information frequently devoid of depth. LLMs trained in this environment are going to be a lot different than they would be had they ingested pre-personal computer and internet material.
"His understanding is PowerPoint deep" I have not heard that one before. It makes a lot of sense, especially your observation that this began many years ago. I can see how PowerPoint was an exciting and useful tool when it was first developed, and I also see how it became an intellectual crutch that retrained how people absorbed presentations and information. I am making a lot of updates to how I will teach this coming year.
Quite a few years ago I attended a communications course given by Dr. Edward Tufte, he was not a fan of PowerPoint. You may find these links to some of his material on PowerPoint and communications interesting:
Cognitive Style of PowerPoint:
https://diverdi.colostate.edu/all_courses/%20oral%20presentations%20-%20communication%20and%20style/cognitive_style_of_powerpoint_tufte.pdf
PowerPoint does rocket science and better techniques for technical reports (includes an analysis of how a poorly constructed .ppt deck misinformed NASA leadership re the condition of Columbia prior to its reentry and subsequent structural failure):
https://www.edwardtufte.com/notebook/powerpoint-does-rocket-science-and-better-techniques-for-technical-reports/