This essay offers an analysis of PowerPoint apart from the histrionics of the "'Tis and 'Taint" arguments about its value, and proposes a program of research to move forward our understanding of PowerPoint as an inscriptional system. To that end, the study begins with a discussion of PowerPoint as an inscriptional system that employs both discursive and presentational codes. Concepts drawn from the literature are used to analyze a sample of PowerPoint materials. A research agenda is developed from the implications of theory and the results of the analysis.