T_R_Oglodyte
TUG Lifetime Member
Just curious how many TUGgers may have intersected with Edward Tufte, perhaps through his books or through having taken one of his seminars?
For myself, I first learned of Dr. Tufte about 1990, when I read an article about him in Forbes. It piqued my interest, and I bought and devoured his book "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information". Despite the ponderous title, it was a quite fun and informative read. After I was done, I put the copy I had purchased (on the company nickel) in the company library and began coaching my project staff using the book as a reference. To this day things I learned from that book still shape my technical reporting.
About five years ago I refreshed my memory of Dr. Tufte, via the internet. I learned that he was now doing one-day seminars around the country. Most of my kids are involved with analysis of numeric data, and I had the wonderful opportunity to attend one of his seminars with DS#2. DS#1 would have joined us, except he had a conflict. At the time DS#2 was a professor of engineering at a public university and has a passion for technical training in math and science, so it was quite interesting getting his perspectives and analysis after the seminar. My son is smarter than me; I can keep up with him, but I can't outpace him in most areas.
When DS#2 and I attended his seminar, I was quite intrigued with Tufte's assessment and critique of PowerPoint. That was new information for me, since PowerPoint didn't exist in my earlier intersection with him. I'm not as down on PowerPoint as he is, but his critique was quite helpful for me to get a better understanding of PowerPoint limitations, most notably how it can used to direct thinking instead of to illuminate thinking. His presentation of how PowerPoint was deployed to devastating effect on the pre-launch analysis of the Challenger Space Shuttle was sobering.
For myself, I first learned of Dr. Tufte about 1990, when I read an article about him in Forbes. It piqued my interest, and I bought and devoured his book "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information". Despite the ponderous title, it was a quite fun and informative read. After I was done, I put the copy I had purchased (on the company nickel) in the company library and began coaching my project staff using the book as a reference. To this day things I learned from that book still shape my technical reporting.
About five years ago I refreshed my memory of Dr. Tufte, via the internet. I learned that he was now doing one-day seminars around the country. Most of my kids are involved with analysis of numeric data, and I had the wonderful opportunity to attend one of his seminars with DS#2. DS#1 would have joined us, except he had a conflict. At the time DS#2 was a professor of engineering at a public university and has a passion for technical training in math and science, so it was quite interesting getting his perspectives and analysis after the seminar. My son is smarter than me; I can keep up with him, but I can't outpace him in most areas.
When DS#2 and I attended his seminar, I was quite intrigued with Tufte's assessment and critique of PowerPoint. That was new information for me, since PowerPoint didn't exist in my earlier intersection with him. I'm not as down on PowerPoint as he is, but his critique was quite helpful for me to get a better understanding of PowerPoint limitations, most notably how it can used to direct thinking instead of to illuminate thinking. His presentation of how PowerPoint was deployed to devastating effect on the pre-launch analysis of the Challenger Space Shuttle was sobering.