ABSTRACT
The pattern of empirical research is well established and doubtless known to most of the people working in the field of information technology and communication. There is little point in reciting all of the amazing developments taking place that are truly changing the shape of the physical and human environment. In the decision-making process, communications experts and social scientists provide different qualitative inputs. The former provide expertise which tends toward non-ideological, non-political solutions to social problems. This divide between communication research and social scientific studies was not always the case. For many years, especially in the middle of the last century, communication studies were very much a part of sociology and to a lesser extent political science. Connections to older social sciences were seriously weakened over time. The examination of moral issues has just about vanished among no-nonsense technicians.
