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Failure to Disarm

 

February 5, 2003 then Secretary of State Colin Powell delivered a presentation to the United Nations Security Council on Iraq's violations of a host of UN resolutions. The presentation was part of a larger campaign by the Bush administration to convince the Security Council and the world at large that military force was needed to stop Iraq from producing weapons of mass destruction. Specifically, Powell argued that Saddam Hussein and Iraq were in violation of UN Security Resolution 1441 as well as other related resolutions (see http://www.state.gov/p/nea/disarm/).

The PowerPoint included famous slides that showed what Powell claimed was definitive proof that Iraq possessed biological and chemical weapons as well as advanced potential for nuclear weapons.

 

Powell's use of PowerPoint reflected an almost ubiquitous use and acceptance of the software presentation software. As a means for organizing and presenting information PowerPoint is a staple in classrooms and boardrooms around the world. However, a host of critics claim that PowerPoint is a limited tool for presenting information and in fact may actually force a pedagogical style that is harmful.
In a blistering critique of PowerPoint, information theorists Edward Tufte claimed the software was incapable of representing information in a meaningful way given structural limitations with how much text can be placed on a slide and the size and resolution of images that the program allows. Tufte also claimed that PowerPoint induces a pedagogical style that is anti-democratic. Tufte wrote in an essay that was reproduced in a Wired article about PowerPoint in the classroom.
"Rather than learning to write a report using sentences, children are being taught how to formulate client pitches and infomercials. Elementary school PowerPoint exercises (as seen in teacher guides and in student work posted on the Internet) typically consist of 10 to 20 words and a piece of clip art on each slide in a presentation of three to six slides -a total of perhaps 80 words (15 seconds of silent reading) for a week of work. Students would be better off if the schools simply closed down on those days and everyone went to the Exploratorium or wrote an illustrated essay explaining something."
 

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