This paper examines the possibility of technology supporting and facilitating the organization and development of knowledge in a particular field through critical discourse. The following three examples of discourse-structuring technologies have been investigated to determine whether selected software might support critical discourse to capture the knowledge required to structure academic debate: (1) sense making in meetings (QuestMap - Compendium); (2) journal peer review (Digital Document Discourse Environment); and (3) scholarly debate (ScholOnto). The three systems are compared according to the following criteria: supports collective activities; represents discourse as...; functions as a collective memory resource; geographical spread; participatory design and evolution of the discourse structuring scheme; facilitation/mediation; integration with existing practices; significant computational added value; and integration with existing technical infrastructure. It is envisaged that the technologies will provide a tool to aid the development of a conceptual framework for instructional design theory development. (Contains 15 references.) (Author/MES)