Go Lean Commentary
News Flash: The Caribbean member-states are not as advanced as other North American locations (US & Canada) or many Western European countries.
Duh! Obvious, right?!
We (the Caribbean) have not all fully embraced all that is modern, like the internet in its many modes … broadband, Wi-Fi, satellite and mobile utilities. Some countries are worse than others in this regards. In some places, there may be no internet access at all.
The assertion in the book Go Lean…Caribbean, is that any plan to reboot Caribbean economics, security and governance must include promotion and regulation of Internet and Communications Technologies (ICT) as well. This Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to facilitate the growth, stewardship and oversight of ICT and electronic commerce in a regional Single Market.
This ad-supported news VIDEO here reports on one of our worst cases, Cuba:
VIDEO – https://screen.yahoo.com/cuba-expand-internet-access-112000709.html
Posted on October 12, 2015 – Cuba has announced plans to expand internet access by adding Wi-Fi capacity to dozens of state-run internet centers and more than halving the cost that users pay for an hour online.
(Press || PAUSE || to STOP the continuous VIDEO).
Cuba’s lack of ICT infrastructure is understandable, considering the historicity of that island nation. (Though change is imminent!)
What’s frightening though is that ALL of the Caribbean is just a natural disaster away from also “going dark” on the internet. Imagine a hurricane, or an earthquake, or even a volcano! And yet different Caribbean member-states have been affected by these disasters … just recently.
This commentary is therefore a melding of ICT, economics, security and governance. This is a big deal for the Caribbean, as the internet is being pitched in the Go Lean roadmap as an equalizing element for the Caribbean region in competition with the rest of the world. So the internet is slated to deliver more than just email messages, but rather, to deliver the Caribbean’s future.
With the internet as the delivery vehicle, there must now be oversight and promotion for this information super-highway. Too much – as in the future for our children – is at stake.
This Go Lean roadmap calls for the heavy-lifting of building Caribbean communities, of shepherding important aspects of Caribbean life, including telecommunication policies across member-state borders. In fact, the roadmap has these 3 prime directives:
- Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
- Establishment of a security apparatus – including an emergency management apparatus – to protect the resultant economic engines.
- Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines, utilizing a separation-of-powers with member-states.
These prime directives will elevate Caribbean society, above and beyond what any one member-state can do alone. This is the prospect of a unified effort, a leveraged Single Market. This reality was identified early in the Go Lean book (Pages 13 & 14) in the in the following pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence:
xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. … [The] accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.
xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.
So what exactly can be promoted here and now to elevate the Caribbean region’s ICT infrastructure above and beyond what the member-states can do themselves, independently? Or more so, what can be accomplished for ICT infrastructure during times of distress?
This following news article identifies an effort by the social media giant Facebook, to employ internet access by satellite when land-lines are unavailable, or not even installed. See the story here, considering that this solution would be perfect for the Caribbean:
Title: Facebook to launch satellite to expand Internet access in Africa
(Source retrieved October 12, 2015 from: http://news.yahoo.com/facebook-launch-satellite-expand-internet-access-africa-224718015–finance.html)
(Reuters) – Facebook Inc said it would launch a satellite in partnership with France’s Eutelsat Communications to bring Internet access to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
The satellite, part of Facebook’s Internet.org platform to expand internet access mainly via mobile phones, is under construction and will be launched in 2016, the companies said on Monday. (http://on.fb.me/1JPiTZC)
The satellite, called AMOS-6, will cover large parts of West, East and Southern Africa, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post.
“To connect people living in remote regions, traditional connectivity infrastructure is often difficult and inefficient, so we need to invent new technologies,” Zuckerberg said.
The Internet.org platform offers free access to pared-down web services, focused on job listings, agricultural information, healthcare and education, as well as Facebook’s own social network and messaging services.
Growth in the number of people with access to the Internet is slowing, and more than half the world’s population is still offline, the United Nations Broadband Commission said last month.
Facebook has nearly 20 million users in major African markets Nigeria and Kenya, statistics released by it showed last month, with a majority using mobile devices to access their profiles.
The company opened its first African office in Johannesburg in June.
Tech news website The Information reported in June that Facebook had abandoned plans to build a satellite to provide Internet service to continents such as Africa. (http://bit.ly/1JPiVkn)
(Reporting by Sai Sachin R in Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian)
Related: Facebook Will Help To Bring Internet Access To U.N. Refugee Camps, Mark Zuckerberg Says
This issue of internet deployment and governance has been a frequent topic for Go Lean commentaries. Other blog-commentaries on this subject have detailed the full width-and-breath of preparing Caribbean society for the diverse economic, security and governing issues of managing ICT as a utility in this new century. See sample blogs here:
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6385 | Wi-Fi Hot Spots Run By Hackers Are Targeting Tourists |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6341 | The Need for Online Tourism Marketing Stewardship |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5435 | China Internet Policing – Model for Caribbean |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5353 | US Presidential Politics and the Internet |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4793 | Online reviews – like Yelp and Angie’s List – can wield great power for services marketed, solicited and contracted online. |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4381 | Net Neutrality – The need for Caribbean Administration of the Issue. |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4337 | Crony-Capitalism Among the Online Real Estate Industry |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3881 | European and North American Intelligence Agencies to Ramp-up Cyber Security Cooperation |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=906 | Bitcoin e-Payments needs regulatory framework to manage ‘risky’ image |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=308 | Caribbean Communications Infrastructure Program (CARCIP) and the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) urges greater innovation and protection. |
These commentaries demonstrate that there is the need for a technocratic governing body to better facilitate and promote the internet in the Caribbean, for commerce, security and government applications. The CU is designed to provide that governance and promotion. Successful execution of the CU/Go Lean roadmap will result a surge in internet/online activity and transactions; as there is the plan to deploy schemes for e-Commerce (Central Bank adoption of Electronic Payment systems) and a Facebook-style social media network www.myCaribbean.gov; (administered by the regional Caribbean Postal Union).
The Go Lean book details the community ethos, plus the execution of related strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to facilitate this ICT vision. The following is a sample of these specific details from the book:
| Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification | Page 21 |
| Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Choose | Page 21 |
| Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways | Page 21 |
| Community Ethos – Economic Principles – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future | Page 21 |
| Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations | Page 24 |
| Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Return on Investments | Page 24 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future | Page 26 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius | Page 27 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Intellectual Property | Page 29 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development | Page 30 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide | Page 31 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing | Page 35 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good | Page 37 |
| Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States into a Single Market | Page 45 |
| Strategy – Mission – Embrace the Advances of Technology | Page 46 |
| Strategy – Agents of Change – Technology | Page 57 |
| Strategy – Agents of Change – Climate Change | Page 57 |
| Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy | Page 64 |
| Tactical – Separation of Powers – Caribbean Central Bank | Page 73 |
| Tactical – Separation of Powers – Caribbean Postal Union | Page 78 |
| Tactical – Separation of Powers – Communications and Media Authority | Page 79 |
| Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change | Page 101 |
| Implementation – Ways to Deliver | Page 109 |
| Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate to the Caribbean | Page 118 |
| Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region – Cyber-Caribbean | Page 127 |
| Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better | Page 136 |
| Planning – Reasons Why the CU Will Succeed | Page 137 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy | Page 151 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs | Page 152 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Improve Education – Promotion of e-Learning | Page 159 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance – e-Government & e-Delivery Deployments | Page 168 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract – Technology/Efficiencies | Page 170 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Improve Communications – Regulate Cross-Border Broadband and WiFi Modes | Page 186 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology – Intellectual Property Protections | Page 197 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce – e-Payments & Wifi Facilitations | Page 198 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street – Wifi & Mobile Apps: Time and Place | Page 201 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Improve Monopolies – Utilities to Oversee ICT/New Media | Page 202 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Youth – Foster Work Ethic for ICT | Page 227 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living – Broadband for Work-at-Home | Page 234 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Impact Rural Living – Ideal for Satellite Deployment | Page 235 |
While the Go Lean book focuses primarily on economic issues, it also recognizes that technology is paramount.
We must nurture growth in this industry space – Cyber Space – for the Caribbean’s present and future dispositions.
The returns on our investments will be garnered by our children.
For example:
Imagine no need to go abroad to college because access is enabled for any college/university of choice by logging on to the internet.
We must welcome this change!
The Go Lean book describes the effort to create this reality as heavy-lifting, and then urges all to lean-in to this roadmap.
This urging is repeated here again. All Caribbean stakeholders (people, organizations and governments) are urged to lean-in to this roadmap. This is conceivable, believable and achievable. We can do this … and make the region a better place to live, work and play. 🙂
Download the book Go Lean…Caribbean now!