Toward Reflective Dialogue based Inquiring Systems

This paper explores the notion of an inquiring system based on reflective dialogue. The term “reflective dialogue” draws from “dialogue” as used by J. Krishnamurti, noted philosopher and David Bohm, eminent physicist and philosopher. A reflective dialogue offers an inquiry approach in which self-awareness, intuition, reflection, and listening are key elements; where participants are observing their own thinking processes, biases, self-image, motivation, beliefs, and conditioning while having a dialogue about the issues at hand. Such an approach shines light on the inquirers themselves in their relationship to the inquiry. In this paper, we describe the characteristics of a reflective dialogue based inquiring system. We explore the role of information technology in supporting a dialogue based inquiry and raise questions for further exploration and research.