The Role of the Client in Informing Science

It is the assertion of this paper that Informing Science (IS) framework (Cohen, 2009) gives insufficient attention to role of the client, a failing traced to the framework’s derivation from the Shannon-Weaver model of communication (Shannon & Weaver, 1949). The IS framework ignores developments in information and communication technology (ICT) and human rights and the resulting emergence of a communicative consciousness. This communicative consciousness forms the context for a new professional/client relationship based on a human right to communicate that embodies the right not only to be informed but also to inform. It is proposed this client informing should begin with the initial phase of any informing process research and development. Making a distinction between unilateral informing and interactive communicating, this paper calls for an open model of IS research and development involving a collaborative communicative relationship between professional and client in opposition to the IS framework of the passive, fragile client.