Writing and Agency in Asynchronous Computer-Mediated Conferencing as a Learning Technology

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I would argue overall that asynchronous computer mediated conferencing, if facilitated properly, despite its being essentially a text-based medium, will provide a positive contribution to the realization of the Socratic ideal of learning by co-operative knowledge construction which takes seriously the autonomy of learners. This paper is an explanation of the philosophical underpinnings of my position, which requires critical analyses of the Platonic, the post-structuralist and the Sartrean views of writing. I argue that, whilst Derrida provides an illuminating critique of Plato’s Socrates's objection to writing, and Barthes provides a complementary and clarificatory case why we should regard texts rather than their authors as bearers of meaning, Socrates's stance that writing (in the context, at least, of learning) is nonetheless lifeless holds up unless we adopt a Sartrean view of writing as action.