Voices from the Field: Engaging in and Reflecting on ICT4D Fieldwork

Fieldwork offers the opportunity to obtain a first-hand experience of the world lived by research participants. This observation makes fieldwork particularly important in information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) research since ICT4D participants often live on the margins of society. Although conducting fieldwork is a common practice in the ICT4D area, it is rare to find thoughtful accounts of the propitious and problematic situations the researcher encounters. Most published ICT4D studies conform to a pre-established script where the explanation of fieldwork, if any, presents a succinct, sterile description that reports the data collection procedures. In this piece, I argue for the importance of engaged fieldwork and reflect upon my colleagues’ and my ICTD fieldwork experience. I claim that the perceptive ICT4D researcher can derive insightful theoretical lessons from the material collected in the field and revel in seeing how their findings can contribute to bringing about development for their participants.