The case for interdisciplinarity: Lessons from the field

Abstract

This paper identifies certain impediments that engineers encounter when creating and deploying humanitarian technologies, which we argue can be addressed by the adoption of shared vocabulary across disciplines, a commitment to “demand-side” development, and an awareness of myriad social factors that may not be obvious but underlie every development intervention. Understanding the limitations to our ingenuity and good intention is the key to filling the gaps in domain-specific areas. This paper presents examples of avoidable failures as well as actionable strategies for appropriate, sustainable community development from the standpoint of an engineer and social scientist team.