In the literature on dialogic; interactive research; “dialogue” tends to be a vague term; a form of empty signifier with a taken-for-granted positive value. There are relatively few attempts to interrogate the concept of dialogue as a social or discursive construction that constitutes knowledge and power in particular fields of practice. The paper takes the first steps towards a systematic empirical analysis of dialogue as a social/discursive construction; drawing on existing attempts that have been made. Dialogue is conceptualised in terms of the negotiation of knowledges; focusing on processes of interaction both with respect to the forms of knowledge and with respect to the actors and the construction of actor-identities and relations including relations of power. The paper first briefly sketches out the terrain of dialogic research communication practices which the wider research project has as its object of analysis. Then; a case-study is outlined of the communication of knowledges in an interactive; practice-oriented research and development initiative; and the early stages of an analysis of the case are sketched out. By a focus on the specific case of practice-oriented research and development consultancy; the aim is to show how empirically-grounded insight can be produced into the discursive construction of dialogue in the interactive communication of research-based knowledge. The paper has a practice orientation not only in the sense that it analyses practice but also in that the aim is that the completed analysis will contribute to the design of new communication practices.
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