The current historical moment is marked by the gradual transition from a print culture to a digital new media culture, and this shift carries material effects for how education research contexts are perceived and represented. This discussion uses the concept of materiality to demonstrate how the conceptualization of inquiry through digital representations can be theorized through the histories and discourses of multiple media, computer technologies, research methodologies, epistemological positions, new literacies, and current social and cultural contexts to highlight emerging concerns in education research. Paying attention to the design of materiality encourages scholars to reflect on how inscription technologies influence the ways in which research is conducted and communicated. (Contains 22 notes.)