Professor Andy Dearden of  Sheffield Hallam University, will present the Department of Computer Science colloquium, with a talk entitled, " Theories of Change in ICTD".

ICTD (at least in its interventionist flavours) is about trying to effect positive changes in the world. Project proposals are often quite explicit about the impact that they are seeking to achieve, but details of how the planned interventions will lead to the intended impacts are more sketchy. In this talk I compare a number of ICT for Agriculture projects and consider the implicit theories of change that appear to underpin their approaches. The comparison may help ICTD actors to examine their own theories of change in more detail.
 

Andy Dearden is Professor of Interactive Systems Design in the Communication & Computing Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University. His work explores the interplay of participatory technology design and participatory approaches to development