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eftychia: Me in kilt and poofy shirt, facing away, playing acoustic guitar behind head (Default)
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QotD

posted by [personal profile] eftychia at 07:59am on 2004-05-09

[Again, "errors logging in," quoth the cron daemon at 5:25 this morning. I wonder what's up with that.]

"As information gets passed up an organization hierarchy, from people who do analysis to mid-level manager to high-level leadership, key explanations and supporting information is filtered out. In this context, it is easy to understand how a senior manager might read this PowerPoint slide and not realize that it addresses a life-threatening situation.

"At many points during its investigation, the Board was surprised to receive similar presentation slides from NASA officials in place of technical reports. The Board views the endemic use of PowerPoint briefing slides instead of technical papers as an illustration of the problematic methods of technical communication at NASA."

-- Columbia Accident Investigation Board Report, Vol. 1, p. 191. [quoted by Edward W. Tufte in "Cognitive Style of PowerPoint", Graphics Press, Sept. 2003.]

(From the Quotation of the Day mailing list, 2003-11-15. Submitted to the list by Jeffrey Copeland.)

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There are 3 comments on this entry. (Reply.)
 

(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] thette.livejournal.com at 06:57am on 2004-05-09
A friend of mine started out as a chemist, entered microbiology (and got famous for wondering on the fandom mailing list how to get radioactive mutant mamba poison off his hands), and through fannish contacts ended up a nuclear physicist/chemist.

His reaction to the scientific standard in the nuclear power community? He was chocked.

There was almost no peer-review and no real journals, most assumptions were based on memos or slide printouts, often labeled "not for distribution outside [x]"...
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zenlizard: Because the current occupation is fascist. (Default)

(no subject)

posted by [personal profile] zenlizard at 07:01am on 2004-05-09
"Communication is only possible between equals"
-Robert Anton Wilson, "Illuminatus!"
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siderea: (Default)

(no subject)

posted by [personal profile] siderea at 07:59pm on 2004-05-09
Heh. I have page 191 pinned on the wall by my desk, in a prominent place where passers-by can see it.

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