Disempowering Technologies: Innovation, Interests and Impact of Mobile Gambling

例如，通过使用移动电话转账，信息和通信技术(信通技术)为世界各地的社区带来了重大的发展益处。“技术修复”的假设也受到了强烈的批评。然而，人们对信息和通信技术的潜在负面影响以及技术后果的复杂性给予的关注要少得多，这些技术后果可能会从旨在支持发展的创新中产生有害后果。赌博公司从信息和通信技术的创新中获得了压倒性的好处：移动技术提高了赌博的可及性，使其超越了实体赌场，进入了个人生活的所有领域。在撒哈拉以南非洲，移动电话在十年前带来了巨大的发展前景，近年来，该行业大幅扩张。在非洲最发达的市场之一肯尼亚，大约有200万人使用移动博彩产品，最近的一项研究发现，数字博彩是年轻城市人口中第二大最常见的交易。这个行业是由M-Pesa这样的移动货币品牌实现的，M-Pesa是数字时代最广为人知的发展干预措施之一，它承诺通过提供低成本的汇款、资金存储和支付，通过金融包容来帮助缓解贫困。今天，有证据表明，一些肯尼亚人过度借入移动信贷赌博，导致经济困难，在某些情况下，还被排除在经济之外。《DisemPower Technologies》旨在揭示肯尼亚内罗毕移动博彩业中共同和不同的利益。利用参与者网络理论，本研究采取了一种解释的方法，旨在通过跟踪移动博彩应用程序创建和传播过程中涉及的参与者，以及研究最终用户的动机来跟踪和绘制兴趣地图。该项目将在内罗毕与三大类利益攸关方--客户、公司和评论员--进行初步研究，以便更好地了解推动使用的既得利益，并检查个人、家庭和社区层面的负面影响。总体目标是找出如何通过体制、公司和技术干预来保护和加强弱势用户的福祉和机构。在描绘内罗毕围绕移动技术和博彩应用创新出现的复杂社会技术系统时，这项研究有助于我们理解信息和通信技术在社会中的矛盾影响及其对发展的影响，探索ICT4D“黑暗面”的复杂性

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have brought significant development benefits to communities around the world through, for example, the use of mobile phones for money transfers. The assumption of a 'technological fix' has also been significantly criticised. However, much less attention has been paid to the potentially negative aspects of ICTs, and the complexity of technological consequences that can see harmful outcomes emerge from innovations intended to support development. Gambling companies have overwhelmingly benefited from innovation in ICTs: mobile technology has enhanced the accessibility of gambling, moving it beyond physical casinos and into all realms of personal life. In Sub-Saharan Africa, where mobile telephony brought great development promise a decade ago, the industry has expanded dramatically in recent years. In Kenya, one of the most developed African markets, around two million people use mobile gambling products and a recent study found that digital betting was the second most occurring transaction amongst the young, urban population. This industry was made possible by mobile money brands like M-Pesa, one of the most publicised development interventions of the digital age, which promised to help alleviate poverty through financial inclusion by providing low cost remittances, money storage and payments. Today, there is evidence that some Kenyans are overborrowing mobile credit to gamble, resulting in hardship and in some cases, financial exclusion. 'Disempowering Technologies' seeks to unpack the common and contrasting interests at play in the mobile gambling industry in Nairobi, Kenya. Using actor-network theory, this research takes an interpretivist approach and aims to track and map interests by "following the actors" involved in the creation and diffusion of mobile gambling apps, as well as researching the motivations of the end users. The project will conduct primary research in Nairobi with three broad categories of stakeholder - customers, companies and commentators - in order to better understand the vested interests driving use and to examine the negative effects at the personal, household, and community level. The overarching objective is to find out how the wellbeing and agency of vulnerable users can be protected and enhanced through institutional, corporate and technological interventions. In mapping the complex socio-technical system emerging around innovations in mobile technology and gambling apps in Nairobi, the research contributes to our understanding of the paradoxical effects of ICTs in societies and their implications for development, exploring the complexity of the 'dark side' of ICT4D