History of PowerPoint
Robert Gaskins, inventor of PowerPoint, has a Viewpoint article in the December 2007 Communications of the ACM in which he describes the starting point for PowerPoint 20 years ago: PowerPoint at 20: Back to Basics
Presentations were nothing new when PowerPoint appeared 20 years ago. Most complaints we hear about presentations today were current then, too: ambiguous and repetitive bullet points, speakers reading their slides, no proper audience handouts, and more. PowerPoint didn’t create any of these familiar ways to fall short.
I really like the tone of this article - something between the hysteria about "PowerPoint is evil" and "slide decks for everything." It's also helpful to hear (again) the business background for the development of PowerPoint. You had black & white transparencies that were created by copying paper (or printing on a laser printer); colorful, expensive 35mm slides; and the rarely-used, high-power, full multi-media show. Each of these had their purpose: internal business meetings; sales presentations; fancy & expensive shows.
Of course, PowerPoint has merged a lot of the functionality of these separate activities, and the vast majority of users have not understood the different purposes for the tools within PowerPoint. Gaskins' general recommendation is to pare things down, as most people who write about this topic. His conclusion:
Audiences rarely complain about too little embellishment but are easily distracted and offended by too much. When in doubt, increase the quality and density of the content and reduce the level of decoration. The emphasis should be more matter with less art.
On reviewing Robert Gaskins' website, I see there have been a number of "20th Anniversary of PowerPoint" articles.
JAck here's something I posted on the on line comments page of the English paper The Times last year:
PowerPoint is a tool and a bad workman..................However, those who use PowerPoint and believe it to be an effective teaching/training method need to consider the points already raised by Martin Waller as well as other commentators.
Preparation is of critical importance to anyone training or lecturing. Perhaps, PowerPoint has made it all too easy to produce something which is visually appealing or into which you can cram far too much information but the fault here lies with the person preparing the presentation. In addition, levels of concentration fall after 15 minutes if only one method of training/instruction is used such as the lecture or PowerPoint presentation (see the Lancet No 8088 from 1978 or Midmer's article in the BMJ Career Focus from 2003).
Geoff Petty in his book Teaching Today describes a lecture as "an event where information passes from the notes of the lecturer into the notes of the students without passing through the brains of either." Food for thought!
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article1666665.ece
If over used, didactic instruction is merely spoon feeding. Modern graphics programmes, like PowerPoint, made this easy. But the thinking on pedagogy predates these tools so it is the TEACHERS/TRAINERS who need to rethink their approaches..........unless they want their learners to learn nothing more than the size of the spoon!