Why a Future-Oriented Information Science Discipline Should Embrace an "Animal Turn"

Traditionally, the focus of information behavior research has been on information needs conceptualized exclusively from a human point of view, i.e. grounded in the way humans perceive their Umwelt. In this conceptual paper, we argue that the information science discipline would benefit from better understanding how select nonhuman animals, whose environments our design activities transform, perceive their environments. Broadening our understanding thereof would also help us better understand the strengths and limitations of our own ways of perceiving, which has shown to be valuable when researching our own (human) information behavior.