Introduction

ICT for Development (ICT4D) research has evolved significantly in the course of its history. Originally characterised by a technology-transfer vision, positing technology as intrinsically positive and desirable for development, it subsequently entered a phase of problematisation of the very notion of “development”, as well as the ability of ICTs to contribute to it. Against this backdrop, we highlight the need for a paradigm change that sees Critical ICT4D – a vision that constructively problematises the core assumptions of ICT4D research – at the core of theorising, designing, and executing research on ICTs for development. With the idea of Critical ICT4D, we introduce a way of thinking that takes stock of the harmful effects of ICTs on its intended beneficiaries, at the same time developing routes to imagining and building fairer technologies in contexts of structural vulnerability.