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On Dec 15, 2003, at 8:46 AM, Jonathan Robie wrote:
> What is the "cognitive style" of writing documents in XML vs.
> PowerPoint, Word, or FrameMaker? Do the tools we use to write affect
> the way we think?
The tools that we use to write do have an effect on the way that we
think and the way that our audiences think, but much less so that the
content and the presenter do. Tufte is off the mark in many respects;
I'll spare the list a detailed critique of the various fallacies and
non-arguments in the original essay. (In fact, cognitive psychologists
have shown that some kinds of "phluff" actually add to information
comprehension and retention; drop-shadow in graphs is one example.)
The first round of commentary on this subject made the rounds back in
September when a version of Tufte's essay was published in Wired [1].
(See, e.g., [2] or [3].)
There is also plenty of serious literature on the subject, e.g., [4]
-- Paul
--
[1] http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html
[2] http://johnporcaro.typepad.com/blog/2003/08/is_powerpoint_e.html
[3] http://blog.fivesight.com/prb/space/2003-08-30
[4] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0387987746
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