10 Years after Tufte's "Cognitive Style of PowerPoint": Synthesizing its Constraining Qualities

Abstract

PowerPoint is a tool that is very often used in organization to visualize knowledge. It is seemingly simple but a complex tool which is not 'neutral' but has enabling and constraining qualities. Despite its pervasiveness, research on PowerPoint is scarce, fragmented and often polemic. Given its omnipresence and importance, a more appropriate understanding of the tool is needed. This paper aims to contribute toward this goal by conducting a literature review on the constraining qualities of PowerPoint in a systematic manner. The results are synthesized into 12 constraining qualities and classified into two levels: the tool itself and the enactment of the tool in the performance. Through the synthesis and description of the constraining qualities and their negative effects, this paper aims to provide guidance to practitioners for the preparation, performance and reception of PowerPoint presentations, with the ultimate goal to select and use this presentation tool more consciously, or to select other tools for knowledge visualization.