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For other readers: this seems to be an internal google presentation made public to tell engineers to respect users' attention. I guess as a user of the website

by cmehdy 5y ago

For other readers: this seems to be an internal google presentation made public to tell engineers to respect users' attention. I guess as a user of the website it didn't respect my attention enough to make me want to click through the whole thing. I dropped out after twenty or so clicks, having read less and less stuff after a few slides.

chris_wot 5y ago
I’m afraid the same happened for me. I just couldn’t get to the end. It was, uh, distracting me.
MaxBarraclough 5y ago
Agreed. Ironically, the slideshow format is extremely 'low density', and frustrates my ability to quickly read what they have to say. I didn't get all the way through it either.
- novok 5y ago
  It's meant to be clicked through quickly in a live presentation, like a tv show, not the 'book page' style that most people have a harder time with absorbing. It's not a blog article.
  - test_epsilon 5y ago
    Would be kind of clever if it was actually intended to waste time and frustrate people.
- mountainb 5y ago
  It's a great format for reaching functional illiterates, which accurately describes huge portions of the white collar workforce.
  - fmajid 5y ago
    Amen. For more on that, see Edward Tufte's "The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint". It's no wonder Jeff Bezos insists on his subordinates bringing 2-3 page length essays, not slides, to decision meetings. https://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/pi/2016_2017/phil/tufte-powerpoint.pdf https://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/pi/2016_2017/phil/... https://mondaynote.com/bezos-a-ceo-who-can-write-2f368ee36599 https://mondaynote.com/bezos-a-ceo-who-can-write-2f368ee3659...
    - MaxBarraclough 5y ago
      Regarding the first link, which (perhaps ironically) I've only skim-read: much of it seems to be attacking bad slideshows, rather than inherent problems with the format. A slideshow isn't meant to be read in the absence of a speaker giving a presentation. It exists to support the speaker in their presentation. If the intent is to offer a resource which can act as a substitute for attending a presentation, a slideshow is an inappropriate choice. A good lecture typically makes effective use of a slideshow. Lectures are mostly non-interactive, but this needs no apology, contrary to what the article seems to imply. Perhaps other kinds of presentations should be more interactive, but I don't see that non-interactivity is always a failing. Similarly, a good slideshow can make effective use of bullet-points. Bullet-points don't always mean you're skipping over important detail, or that you've failed to properly structure the content. > 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 Right. A slideshow is not a substitute for a proper write-up, it's just a presentation aid. In some contexts you might get away with not doing a formal write-up, but certainly not in a life-and-death context like the one mentioned in the article. > For serious presentations, it will be useful to replace PowerPoint slides with paper handouts showing words, numbers, data graphics, images together. I can see that might work well, but I can see this might degrade into just rewriting a technical paper to fit the flow of the presentation. It might make more sense to just say For more detail, see the formal paper. Certainly a slideshow is not a substitute for a proper paper, but even a handout will presumably lose some of what the full paper has to say. If the full information is already there in the paper, why not refer people to it?
      - 5y ago
epivosism 5y ago
The enforced ~500ms loading time between slides is a killer. Why not preload and display them immediately?
- emaro 5y ago
  On mobile, the slides switched instantly. On Firefox Desktop it's like from hell.
  - epivosism 5y ago
    Weird, how does that work? Is the mobile browser simulating the click and then noticing the next image to be loaded? Maybe the js is simple enough to prove that it's safe to do so, but wow.
  - leereeves 5y ago
    For me, using Firefox on a Mac, the slides also switched instantly.
  - neogodless 5y ago
    On Firefox for Windows 10 - instant slide transitions. Ryzen 7 2700X, 32GB, 300/300 mbps connection.
- anonydsfsfs 5y ago
  There isn't a fixed 500ms loading time. It advances slides by changing the background image of the central "pic" element. This is the JS to advance the slide: function increment(){ if(imgNum < 141){ imgNum++; }else{ imgNum = 1; } url = "url('img/vrg_google_doc_final_vrs03-"+imgNum+".jpg')"; document.getElementById('pic').style.backgroundImage=url; } The reason you see a flicker is because it takes time to load the next image, and until it loads you're going to see the black background. As you mentioned, the preloading images would solve this.
- waterhouse 5y ago
  I resorted to holding the up-arrow key to trigger loading of a bunch of slides, then holding down-arrow to get back to where I was, and finally getting a smooth transition experience.
ssivark 5y ago
And it broke the back button! There seems to be no way to go back a slide if you forwarded by tapping accidentally!!!
- david_allison 5y ago
  The left arrow key does this
  - ssivark 5y ago
    On mobile. (Firefox on iOS, in case it matters)
jrochkind1 5y ago
That was my reaction. Terrible UI with grainy graphics, took a long time to get to the point. Talk about wasting time! I gave up about 20 slides in too.
- bqui 5y ago
  "Terrible UI", is that a concern for you ? this world should go to shit, that man put himself in a uncomfortable situation to give the world a preview.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
perihelions 5y ago
If anyone wants the plain text transcription of the slides, this site appears to have that: https://digitalwellbeing.org/googles-internal-digital-wellbeing-presentation-transcript-and-slides/ https://digitalwellbeing.org/googles-internal-digital-wellbe... >"A Call to Minimize Distraction and Respect Users’ Attention." >"by Tristan Harris." >"I’m concerned about how we’re making the world more distracted. And my goal with this presentation is to create a movement at Google to create a new design ethic that aims to minimise distraction and I’d like to get your help."
- hinkley 5y ago
  Wait, isn't Tristan Harris pseudo-famous for walking/running away from Google and starting a tech ethics company? He's one of the stars of the Social Dilemma, right?
  - eloisius 5y ago
    He's the founder of the Center for Human Technology[1] [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_Harris https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_Harris
- musicale 5y ago
  That is so much better. Slide shows like this are an annoyingly distracting waste of people's time and attention! Like a simple list of 10 items which is made into ten web pages that you have to click through individually - wasting your time and attention to trick you into viewing more advertising.
lolive 5y ago
Aka Death By PowerPoint

by cmehdy 5y ago

chris_wot 5y ago

I’m afraid the same happened for me. I just couldn’t get to the end. It was, uh, distracting me.

MaxBarraclough 5y ago

Agreed. Ironically, the slideshow format is extremely 'low density', and frustrates my ability to quickly read what they have to say. I didn't get all the way through it either.

novok 5y ago
It's meant to be clicked through quickly in a live presentation, like a tv show, not the 'book page' style that most people have a harder time with absorbing. It's not a blog article.
- test_epsilon 5y ago
  Would be kind of clever if it was actually intended to waste time and frustrate people.
mountainb 5y ago
It's a great format for reaching functional illiterates, which accurately describes huge portions of the white collar workforce.
- fmajid 5y ago
  Amen. For more on that, see Edward Tufte's "The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint". It's no wonder Jeff Bezos insists on his subordinates bringing 2-3 page length essays, not slides, to decision meetings. https://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/pi/2016_2017/phil/tufte-powerpoint.pdf https://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/pi/2016_2017/phil/... https://mondaynote.com/bezos-a-ceo-who-can-write-2f368ee36599 https://mondaynote.com/bezos-a-ceo-who-can-write-2f368ee3659...
  - MaxBarraclough 5y ago
    Regarding the first link, which (perhaps ironically) I've only skim-read: much of it seems to be attacking bad slideshows, rather than inherent problems with the format. A slideshow isn't meant to be read in the absence of a speaker giving a presentation. It exists to support the speaker in their presentation. If the intent is to offer a resource which can act as a substitute for attending a presentation, a slideshow is an inappropriate choice. A good lecture typically makes effective use of a slideshow. Lectures are mostly non-interactive, but this needs no apology, contrary to what the article seems to imply. Perhaps other kinds of presentations should be more interactive, but I don't see that non-interactivity is always a failing. Similarly, a good slideshow can make effective use of bullet-points. Bullet-points don't always mean you're skipping over important detail, or that you've failed to properly structure the content. > 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 Right. A slideshow is not a substitute for a proper write-up, it's just a presentation aid. In some contexts you might get away with not doing a formal write-up, but certainly not in a life-and-death context like the one mentioned in the article. > For serious presentations, it will be useful to replace PowerPoint slides with paper handouts showing words, numbers, data graphics, images together. I can see that might work well, but I can see this might degrade into just rewriting a technical paper to fit the flow of the presentation. It might make more sense to just say For more detail, see the formal paper. Certainly a slideshow is not a substitute for a proper paper, but even a handout will presumably lose some of what the full paper has to say. If the full information is already there in the paper, why not refer people to it?
    - 5y ago

epivosism 5y ago

The enforced ~500ms loading time between slides is a killer. Why not preload and display them immediately?

emaro 5y ago
On mobile, the slides switched instantly. On Firefox Desktop it's like from hell.
- epivosism 5y ago
  Weird, how does that work? Is the mobile browser simulating the click and then noticing the next image to be loaded? Maybe the js is simple enough to prove that it's safe to do so, but wow.
- leereeves 5y ago
  For me, using Firefox on a Mac, the slides also switched instantly.
- neogodless 5y ago
  On Firefox for Windows 10 - instant slide transitions. Ryzen 7 2700X, 32GB, 300/300 mbps connection.
anonydsfsfs 5y ago
There isn't a fixed 500ms loading time. It advances slides by changing the background image of the central "pic" element. This is the JS to advance the slide: function increment(){ if(imgNum < 141){ imgNum++; }else{ imgNum = 1; } url = "url('img/vrg_google_doc_final_vrs03-"+imgNum+".jpg')"; document.getElementById('pic').style.backgroundImage=url; } The reason you see a flicker is because it takes time to load the next image, and until it loads you're going to see the black background. As you mentioned, the preloading images would solve this.
waterhouse 5y ago
I resorted to holding the up-arrow key to trigger loading of a bunch of slides, then holding down-arrow to get back to where I was, and finally getting a smooth transition experience.

ssivark 5y ago

And it broke the back button! There seems to be no way to go back a slide if you forwarded by tapping accidentally!!!

david_allison 5y ago
The left arrow key does this
- ssivark 5y ago
  On mobile. (Firefox on iOS, in case it matters)

jrochkind1 5y ago

That was my reaction. Terrible UI with grainy graphics, took a long time to get to the point. Talk about wasting time! I gave up about 20 slides in too.

bqui 5y ago
"Terrible UI", is that a concern for you ? this world should go to shit, that man put himself in a uncomfortable situation to give the world a preview.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

perihelions 5y ago

If anyone wants the plain text transcription of the slides, this site appears to have that: https://digitalwellbeing.org/googles-internal-digital-wellbeing-presentation-transcript-and-slides/ https://digitalwellbeing.org/googles-internal-digital-wellbe... >"A Call to Minimize Distraction and Respect Users’ Attention." >"by Tristan Harris." >"I’m concerned about how we’re making the world more distracted. And my goal with this presentation is to create a movement at Google to create a new design ethic that aims to minimise distraction and I’d like to get your help."

hinkley 5y ago
Wait, isn't Tristan Harris pseudo-famous for walking/running away from Google and starting a tech ethics company? He's one of the stars of the Social Dilemma, right?
- eloisius 5y ago
  He's the founder of the Center for Human Technology[1] [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_Harris https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_Harris
musicale 5y ago
That is so much better. Slide shows like this are an annoyingly distracting waste of people's time and attention! Like a simple list of 10 items which is made into ten web pages that you have to click through individually - wasting your time and attention to trick you into viewing more advertising.

lolive 5y ago

Aka Death By PowerPoint