Visualizing an information technology project: The role of powerpoint presentations over time

• Changes in visual representations over the course of an IT project are analyzed using data from a longitudinal field study.
• In early project stages, powerpoint visual representations are highly abstract, and used for conscription.
• In later project stages, visuals become more concrete and are used for inscription.
• Powerpoint visuals are well-suited to representing complex, abstract, and ever-changing IT projects.

Using longitudinal field data, this paper examines the changing role of visual powerpoint media over the course of a large, multi-year information systems project in a regional U.S. bank. Existing research has generally focused on visual representation of relatively static objects in medical, scientific and engineering contexts, but projects are an inherently dynamic collection of activities—distributed over time and space—that progress through a beginning, middle and end. This analysis of the visual presentation material used in an IT project highlights the abstract nature of the referent (the project). The dominant presentation technology in use in this project was the powerpoint presentation; this paper analyzes the changes in the presentations over time, and inscription and conscription at different stages of the project.