222 Governance and Education
Röling no longer use the concept in many of their writings, and they have in their
university renamed the field of Extension Science as Communication and Innova-
tion Studies. Similarly, Ison and Russell (2000) speak of ‘second-order research
and development’. In many ways we agree with such proposals to move away from
the term ‘extension’. The main reason why we still use the term is that this text is
aimed not just at a small group of academics, but also at a wider group of practi-
tioners in training and management positions of which many still identify strongly
with the term ‘extension’. However, this group is likely to erode, while alternative
audiences who do similar work are likely to expand. Hence, we have chosen to
start with the term ‘extension’ and emphasize the need to change our conception
of it. In view of the above, we propose to define extension as:
a series of professional communicative interventions amid related interactions that is
meant, among others, to develop and/or induce novel patterns of coordination and
adjustment between people, technical devices and natural phenomena, in a direction
that supposedly helps to resolve problematic situations, which may be defined differ-
ently by different actors involved.Or in a more condensed form:
a series of embedded communicative interventions that are meant, among others, to
develop and/or induce innovations which supposedly help to resolve (usually multi-ac-
tor) problematic situations.Let us look more closely at some of the ingredients of this, mainly descriptive,
definition:
1 The definition maintains that extension is a professional activity, practised by
people who are somehow paid and/or rewarded for it. We do not call everyday
communicative interactions, for example, between farmers, ‘extension’, even if
they contribute to innovation.
2 Extension is regarded as an intervention, as it is usually subsidized or paid for by
external agencies (donors, governments, private companies) whose aspirations
for doing so are not the same as those of the supposed beneficiaries. Neverthe-
less, extension can only be effective if there is sufficient overlap or compatibil-
ity between the aspirations of change agents and clients.
3 Extension draws heavily on communication as a strategy for furthering aspira-
tions. Communication is the process through which people exchange mean-
ings (e.g. through the use of information). Thus, extension is an activity that
is geared towards bringing about cognitive changes, used as a trigger for other
forms of change (e.g. human practices, growth of crops, water availability,
regulations). At the same time, the emphasis on ‘communication’ marks a shift
away from a focus on education to a focus on learning.
4 Extension is a process involving a series of communicative interventions and
interactions. It is not a once-only event. People respond to communicative