Knowledge behind barriers: IT access as an enabler of Cuban development

Alexeis Garcia-Perez

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

    1 Citation (Scopus)
    139 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    The Cuban economy after the revolution of 1959 had become virtually paralyzed. As most owners and managers of industrial units fled, the operational sustenance of the economy was at risk. Leaders of the Cuban revolution called upon the population to share their knowledge in order to uplift and regenerate a stuttering industrial infrastructure. Half a century later a unique set of circumstances have turned the vast majority of the Cuban workforce into an Internet illiterate population. In such circumstances any call for a second wave of knowledge sharing, application and reuse for the strengthening of the fragile economy of the country is not likely to receive the same response as 50 years ago. There are, however, reasons to believe that benefits of information technologies (IT) will be embraced by Cubans as they become available. This represents an opportunity for Cuba and the world. This paper explores how the principles of IT driven knowledge sharing and reuse can contribute to Cuban development.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)81-88
    JournalInformation Technology for Development
    Volume17
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2011

    Bibliographical note

    This is an electronic version of an article published in Information Technology for Development, 17 (1), pp. 81-88. Information Technology for Development is available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02681102.2010.509713

    Keywords

    • IT and the emergence of the knowledge society
    • international ICT dialogues and discourses: implications for developed and transition economies
    • adoption and diffusion of IT and rate of uptake

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Knowledge behind barriers: IT access as an enabler of Cuban development'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this