ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we take stock of a central lesson from the first section of this book. This lesson lies in the present, peculiar position of ICT4D research: on the one hand, it comes from the crisis of central assumptions that the early days of the field upheld and that the present days problematise. On the other, it reflects how the field finds itself in a new position, shaped by adverse digital incorporation and the harmful implications it has on people. In this chapter, I reflect on the status of ICT4D research as a position at the interface: by this I mean, as conceived by Corbridge et al. (2005), a locus of encounter between different realities, be them expressed in people, places, or sets of assumptions. The interface, the literature notes, can be a place of conciliation, as well as one where the encounters that characterise it happen with wit, stealth, and violence. I unpack three dimensions of the interface position of ICT4D work: past-present (where the realm of the present undermines the assumptions of the past), research-practice (where practice acquired a new problematising relevance), and cross-disciplinarity (as a byproduct of the increasing interplay with other disciplines, with a special focus on critical data studies). Having detailed this interface position, the chapter ends with an introduction to the next two sections of this book, where the notions of problematisation and constructiveness are unpacked through multiple illustrations from present-day ICT4D.
