Initial Posting Due: Tue, Dec 12 at (Canvas Link)
Readings
For the last week, I am sure people will be focused on Design Challenge 3. The readings are light. A blog post and watching a video.
Presentations
I’m not sure how much of my rant on presentations I’ll give in class this year. But helping you think about presentations is something I like to do in this class (and all grad classes).
Before reading my notes, here are some caveats (note: this is taken from the 2012 class):
- The goals and standard for presentation really vary across venue/discipline. What we value in computer science (in particular the areas I work in) are quite different than in other disciplines. It’s hard for me to discuss this without value judgement (since I am bred to believe in the “CS way”), but I also plead ignorance to the practices in other area. I’d like to use this as a chance to learn about others.
- I don’t consider myself to be a great presenter. Do as I say, not as I do. The upside of this, is that it means I think about how to be better at it.
- A lecture is not the same as a talk, so what you see in class is quite different than what you would see in one of my talks.
- Even within a particular style/venue/type of talk, there is a wide range of opinions on what is good talk, what the goals should be, …
- The “right answer” depends not only on the situation, but on the person. But that will be one of the biggest lessons I hope you get. I may not speak to your specific case, but hopefully, you can see how the general lessons apply.
- As you might guess, I have strong opinions. But you don’t have to guess at what they are, since I’ve written them down.
Given that…
My real goal is to get you to think about what might make for a good presentation, and to form your own strong opinions – even if they are different than mine.
Given that, read my posting about presentations. Yes, it’s from a 2011 class – but I think if I were updating it, it wouldn’t be much different.
Video Presentations
Hans Rosling is a famous presenter – talking about social issues around the world in venues like TED, etc. He was famous for presenting data in a compelling way to make his points for a broad audience. Sadly, he died this year. But his influence is significant (both on presentating data and on the world in general).
If you haven’t seen a Rosling talk, you need to experience one. If you have seen one, you probably won’t mind watching another.
There are lots of videos of rosling presentations – here’s one I have handy, or here’s another one.
The actual point of Rosling is not his visualizations (he does use standard visualization effectively – often with animation), but rather as a way to talk about presentations.
Online Discussion
Initial Posting Due: Tue, Dec 12 at (Canvas Link)
For the two required postings:
-
For my rant on presentations: My viewpoint is a little bit skewed toward CS academic talks – but I think the main lessons apply broadly. Comment on how this relates to you. If you’re outside of CS, how do the standards of your field differ? If you’re within CS, how does this relate to talks you’ve seen or other advice you’ve been given.
-
For the Rosling video you watched: Say which video you watched (give a link, especially if it’s not one of the two I gave). Say why you think he’s good (or not), but also comment on why he is often used as an example for presentation style. What can you learn from him (positive or negative)?
