Edward Tufte describes how PowerPoint degrades the educational system and any spectrum of communication in his article PowerPoint is Evil. He strongly highlights the point that students use bullets in presentations to convey brief describes of what they say on a certain subject instead of taking time to write a detailed paper. Although, in retrospect, he finds that PowerPoints are not completely harmful, he does proclaim that it diminishes all signs of strong conversations instead of basing a speech on brief fragments on a screen. On the other hand, Peter Norvig in “The Gettysburg PowerPoint Presentation” filled with data originally proposed by Abraham Lincoln appears simple with appropriate data and information that can be clarified by a speech. The PowerPoint is embedded with text, images, and a chart. Although it is a brief presentation with merely six slides, it provides adequate information that could allow the speak to stay on target when giving a speech.

     In essence, the purpose of a PowerPoint is to make presenting information easier by providing brief or key features that are important in a series of slides. In debating whether PowerPoints are beneficial or harbors negative effects, it is solely based on the presenters level of creativity and details that will allow the PowerPoint to be both creative, interesting, and, most importantly impressive. There are a wide variety of themes, color texts, and thanks to the internet, an endless supply of images video clips that will capture the attention of the intended audience. This wonderful tool is a well organized outline.