Informational balance

Abstract

Evoking both activity and stillness, balance has been a concept of interest within academic research for centuries. In recent decades, the concept of balance has also garnered attention within information science. This conceptual paper is based upon a synthesis of selected articles and themes concerning the subject of balance as well as an analysis of recent writings from the field of information science. It draws in particular from work regarding the construct of informational balance. Information scientists have analysed the shifting balance of scientific information flows between nations as well as the balance of intellectual trade between information science and its cognate disciplines. Studies have also examined strategies to identify and implement balanced, scalable and sustainable online instruction within information institutions, and investigated issues of work-life balance among information professionals and scientists. The construct of informational balance has emerged as a particularly noteworthy application of the concept of balance, and subsequent to its origin it has been taken up by a number of additional information scientists. In shining a light on informational balance this paper aspires to lay the groundwork for fresh elaboration of the construct and for future innovative research in this area.