Very interesting information, Dorothy. Thanks!

fraternal regards

--c.a.

On 3/29/16 16:55, Dorothy K. Gordon wrote:
> Dear Olevie,  
>             For many years Ghana sent students to Cuba to study Computer Science.  They came back with excellent skills. We have two of them at AITI-KACE. The embargo had many different kinds of impact. For instance massive piracy of products that were embargoed and therefore no 'legal' copy could be obtained; and the creation of a robust Island-wide 'intranet' which had locally cached and locally created  content for use in health, education etc. Cuba also has a systematic programme of identifying talented young people for its flagship University of Information Sciences (Universidad de las Ciencias Informáticas, or UCI).  I enjoyed participating in Informatica a few times. I believe part of the objective of the meeting was to help the community stay informed of tech developments globally despite the embargo.  I met RMS at Informatica. So Cuban leadership has anticipated the digital revolution at least in terms of core skills.  I do hope researchers gear up to see how the opening 
 u
p to the internet will impact on this groundwork. Will we see a slew of cuban apps on various app stores? or will innovation be smothered by the availability of solutions from more mature markets especially those which are proclaimed as free but are not open.
> 
> best
> 
> Dorothy K. Gordon
> Director-General
> Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT
> Mobile: 233 265005712
> Direct Line: 233 302 683579
> Website: www.aiti-kace.com.gh
> Encrypt Everything - https://gpgtools.org https://silentcircle.com
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Olévié Kouami" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Tuesday, 29 March, 2016 7:13:41 PM GMT +00:00 Casablanca / Monrovia
> Subject: Re: US dialogue w/ Europe and views on internet access in Cuba
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hi everyone. 
> 
> Excuse me to interfere in this discussion but from my humble point of view, a good integration of any country to the global dynamics of the information society , depends greatly on the political will of decision makers placed at the highest level of ladder in each society. 
> 
> With the example of Cuba , I realize that Africa is not so late we might think in this area. In my country, for example , lives people with technical skills that the country itself has not ... 
> 
> My 2 cents 
> -Olévié- 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2016-03-29 17:00 GMT+00:00 Sam Lanfranco < [log in to unmask] > : 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Renata, 
> 
> Just a short comment here. "Political Will" is a term that can easily be misunderstood. There are structural issues in Cuba, but this is not the place for that discussion. While in Havana I cited the successful Transition Estonia digital/Internet strategy. Estonia stressed that political will includes clarity on the principles to be advanced/protected, as well as abandoning what the Estonians called "legacy thinking" and not just "legacy technology". Myanmar's recent transition from near zero access to over 50% (cell) access was also cited as a strategy for blending the interests of the old telecom system with the new realities of cellular networks. The bottom lines is that Political will has to embrace more than the why and what. Political will also has to embrace open space to explore how to execute the how. It is important to note that the Estonian transition was developed from within and not imported from outside, while benefiting from lessons learned elsewhere. 
> 
> Sam L. 
> 
> 
> Some On 29/03/2016 12:23 PM, Renata Aquino Ribeiro wrote: 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Sam 
> 
> I took a pic of the 2 Cuban representatives here 
> https://twitter.com/renataaquino/status/714848891141808128 
> 
> They were really vocal to the US Ambassador about agreements which would increase internet connectivity in the region so one can see the political will is there (i am assuming they are from government or CS advocates). Dialogue lines were open, the official line by the US govt included lines such as "internet is the democratization of power". 
> 
> When someone from Spain asked about dialogue w/ China and Russia as well for privacy laws (lots of people from banks here and worried about EU on privacy), the ambassador talked about anticipating something on OECD. 
> 
> So political will is all you see here. But, this in ambassador. If that will translate further... 
> 
> 
> 
> All the best 
> 
> 
> Renata 
> 
> 
> 
> 

-- 

Carlos A. Afonso
Instituto Nupef - https://nupef.org.br
CGI.br - http://cgi.br

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