Cursive or cursed writing

 

This post is a direct result of my reading with much interest the article, When the running hand dropped out of the race, by Tiny Nair in The Hindu of August 9, 2020. I agree whole heartedly, based on my personal experience, with the strong suggestion that when you put down your thoughts on paper, it stays in your brain (I am not saying exactly where, like in the amygdale and hippocampus) longer than when you use the keyboard. I quickly add that it is my personal experience and I do not disagree with antipodal experiences when expressed by others. I am of the old school.  

This post also refers to an article I read long ago, in 2010 that indicated that perhaps PowerPoint has come to the end of its road [1]. I give below the arresting image from that article

 

When General Stanley A. McChrystal, the then leader of the American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, was shown the above slide in a PowerPoint presentation, he was supposed to have said, perhaps only half in jest, “When we understand that slide, we will have won the war.”

Yes, PowerPoint presentation dominated that era (I use the word “era” most advisedly as I am hoping those times have come to their natural end, and the next era of presenting information usefully, without bells and whistles have begun). I know from personal experience that, as demanded by my boss, if sun light filters through a slide that he has to present, then the slide is no good – the gaps have to be filled in; remember that little Dutch boy who plugged the hole in the dam with his finger!

Woe is me!

It has been decided now in the educational institution I work in that the current semester, the first (oddly called the odd semester!) of the academic year, will be online and faculty members have to prepare presentations of their subjects. The moment the word “presentations” entered the conversation, everyone assumed it must be .ppt. But, as far as I can tell .ppt mode of presentations have not been made mandatory. Apparently this is one of the things that are assumed, and are allowed to be assumed.

However, in my personal conversations with the faculty member who is leading these efforts to convert others from in-class teaching to the online mode (he is doing one heck of a job), he made it clear to me any mode of presentation is acceptable as long as the message cuts across the chasm between the teachers and the students, and students are given additional study material.

Go back a few years, towards the beginning of my employment with this educational institution. To an audience of top level faculty members and also in the highest echelons of the administrative hierarchy, I was called upon to present the efforts of the School of Civil Engineering in adjusting to the current demands on it from society. The preparation of the slides was a team effort (I think, five of us, with major input from yours truly).

I knew what I wanted to say, and in a mock presentation to the faculty of the School, I set out not only what I did want to say but also how I was going to say it. None commented.

In the real presentation, I stressed, repeatedly, that .ppt is merely the make-up. The task is not to remove the make-up, but speak through it, reach into the depths of the subject.   Being a new recruit, not many in the audience knew who I was, except that I was new.

My teammates were effusive in their praise. And, one faculty member, a veteran teacher and at a high position in the School did not mince words when he said that mine was by far the best presentation among all those that were made that day, from all the different Schools of the institution. And, I was taking the status of .ppt one notch down!

But now, .ppt has been turned up a notch in status. I have had my colleagues tell me that they find preparing slides a very difficult task. I agree, but I do not tell them how to overcome it. I know they cannot. Reason? Their skills of communication in English! I cannot say this out loud and expect to retain their friendship!

There is a software I have been made aware of that allows one to make a video of a presentation with a voice-over. My presentation is my class notes, written as neatly in cursive writing by hand as I can, scanned into a .pdf (I think this is more recent than .ppt).

Now comes my problem. While I am scrolling down the screen (my .pdf material on the screen) there are a few times I read out from my notes. And, I have a problem reading my handwriting! Do you see now why I enjoyed today’s article in The Hindu?

But, I continue, stumbling now and then, but overall smoothly enough. What this does now goes back to what I have done earlier. When I write down my notes, I allow no disruptions and let my thought rove smoothly (an oxymoron, rove smoothly? Please excuse) on the subject. My not being able to decipher (yes, my own writing has become a secret code to me!) my notes is because when I present it, my thoughts are roaming elsewhere. I realize it fast enough and get back on to the old paths.

I have found out that my stammering and stuttering, making my brain work hard to recall the old or make new connections to the stream-of-conscious type of narration engenders further new ideas. A benefit that I would never let go.

So, I will continue keeping .ppt more than at arms-length and embrace tighter my handwritten .pdf. If it makes me stumble, so be it. As long as my students see that I am putting forth the effort in real time, that is enough for me.

I could improve my handwriting, of course. But I will not, because my bad handwriting opens up new avenues of thought. A premium I have to forego with a neat handwriting. I am in tune with today’s newspaper article.

Raghuram Ekambaram

REFERENCE

1.     We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint, Elisabeth Bumiller, April 26, 2010, The New York Times.