This review of the literature on the role of empathy in social interaction in a va
riety of contexts reveals that the development of empathy as a key attribute for information and knowledge professionals may be required for:
• building collaborative working relationships with clients and colleagues; • providing quality client service in information and knowledge work; • promoting social inclusion and cultural literacy in community networking; • promoting general wellbeing for information and knowledge professionals and their clients; • infonnation counseling or coaching for positive change; • stimulating creativity, innovation and generating solutions to problems; • managing tacit knowledge in building social capital and trust among members of learning organizations and communities of practice; and • designing infotmation architecture and managing online communities to support empathie interaction in health-related contexts.
These findings can be linked to Edwards' (2005) concept of relational agency, used as the conceptual framework for this review. In terms of encouraging twoway communication through traditional methods and collaborative technologies, relational agency for infonnation and knowledge professionals can develop a sense of mutual responsibility and shared understanding between professionals and clients. Knowing how to seek support from others and respond to others' needs for support can facilitate all of the above endeavors identified from this literature review as requiring human empathy to be successful. The consideration of shifts and findings from the literature raises questions for educators of information and knowledge management about suitable ways to facilitate the leaming of key interpersonal skills such as empathy for information professionals. As a combination of traditional (face-to-face, telephone, etc.) and virtual communication skills is necessary, this raises a challenge for information and knowledge management educators to equip future information professionals with the necessary transferable attributes. With the proliferation of distance education courses worldwide and the increasing use of online pedagogies, this article asks whether the virtue or skill of empathy can be developed or taught in virtual environments. Can methods of virtual simulation or role play assist in developing both traditional and online interaction skills in information professionals? Discussion in this specific area is relatively new and emerging. Molka-Danielsen. Carter, and Creelman (2009) identify empathy as a key factor in engaging students in a learning experience. In a review of empathie teaching methodologies, the researchers hypothesize that virtual leaming environments such as Second Life have potential for supporting the empathie aspects of the teacher-learner relationship, which may not be possible in non-virtual teaching methodologies. Sidorko (2009) reviews recent studies in both information and educational contexts to consider and present the benefits and limitations of using virtual worlds as a teaching tool in the LIS field. One of the identified benefits is that role playing in collaborative and distributed environments can be easily facilitated using virtual reality software, and that this can be an effective way to develop and encourage empathie interaction between information professionals and clients (such as in a reference or research interview scenario) and also between peers or team members working together.