Cuba is poor and rich. Education is free up through PhD. Not a typical third world living standard.

Cuba is not bowling alone. * Highly organized society. PCC, FMC, UJC, CDR, CTC, ASCUBI, even baseball games. A lot of social capital. Public feeling reflected this: safe, courteous, relaxed.

*In the U.S., membership in bowling leagues and other social organizations has been falling since the 1960s. Scholar Robert Putnam identified and popularized this phenomenon in his book Bowling Alone.

The Cuban economy is in transition even while the effect of Soviet collapse and US embargo/blockade is very real. From agriculture (sugar) to tourism to "high value added (high tech) products and services." Visible European presence, esp Spain. Cuba is pursuing collaboration, not isolation.

University of Havana LIS Department is a hub, studying the same issues as us but with far fewer resources. Others I met are also on the faculty. I was able to sit in on a doctoral student progress report presented to about 15 faculty and meet several briefly.
 
 

The author and Professor Gloria Ponjuán Dante, Director of the U Havana LIS Department,
with requested books and other items delivered by individuals on the tour.

Computerization. The first sectors to get wired have been the research sectors and the enterprises (e.g. finance); people get computers when their job requires it and as they become available. Internet access (ISP) costs 30 pesos/month ($1.50), although that can be waived. Public computing (education/higher education, libraries, community centers, etc.) is the next priority. Their networks seem slow; email predominates over browsing. But much web development has already begun. Sites are delivered via intranet, along with online databases. There is also Cuba on the web for people outside Cuba. Note: The José Martí National Library posted an announcement of our visit on their site.

Conservation of library and archive collections is a major issue. Unique items are crumbling in university, national, and public libraries. Limited digitization is underway.
 
 

ASCUBI President Marta Terry, right, and a fellow staff person
at the Cuban Association of Librarians (ASCUBI) office.

Their literacy campaign was a national event. I did not find that they had reexamined it as a technology leap.

Reaction to the reports that I brought to Cuba: "This should be policy rather than an experiment. We will study this, we would like to adapt it for our needs." We were invited to present in Havana at an upcoming Information, Knowledge, Society conference, baed on our reports.

Major thrust in public computing: Three Palacios de Computación plus 71 smaller sites nationwide. I visited the Havana palacio: ~60 computers in classrooms and open spaces, free public access, ongoing classes. In addition we found a tourist cybercafe, an artists and writers cybercafe, and computers in business centers in top hotels.
 
 

Three young people at the Havana Palacio Central de Computación,
with the server/network administrator for the facility and for Tinored
(the youth network that is part of Cuba's internet), in blue jacket.
The young men were working on web design and teaching themselves software.

Data Inventory

1. 619 digital photos

2. 9 microcassette tapes (Spanish, mostly with translation):
 
 

Taped remarks by individuals	Remarks to group	Interview
1. Felipe Hernandez Moya, Director, José Martí Provincial Library, Santa Clara	YES
2. Eliades Acosto, Director, José Martí National Library	YES
3. Enrique Suárez Zarabozo, Vice-Director for Organizational Development, IDICT (Institute for Scientific and Technological Information), also UH Library and Information Science faculty	YES	YES
4. Raúl Macias Bravo, Head of Canada Desk, ICAP (Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples)	YES
5. Marta Terry, President, ASCUBI (Cuban Library Association), also UH Library and Information Science faculty	YES	YES
6. Simón Chung Saiz, Director, Havana Palacio Central de Computación		YES
7. Luisa Campos, Director, Museum of Alfabetización (Literacy)		YES

 

Enrique Suárez Zarabozo, Vice Director for Organizational Development at IDICT
(Institute for Scientific and Technological Information), greeting the tour as it arrived
in the Capitolio, where IDICT is located. In the background are Professor Ponjuán
and Raúl, one of IDICT's translators.

3. Electronic data. Records from two databases, one of Fidel Castro's speeches, the other of regulations and laws. Each record is a passage which concerns computers in education. These were retrieved for me by staff at the Information Center of the Ministry of Education

4. Handwritten and electronic notes

5. More than 36 books and journals, including:

UNESCO (1965). Report on the methods and means utilized in Cuba to eliminate illiteracy. La Habana, Cuban National Commission for UNESCO. gift of the Cuban Ministry of Education Information Center.

Ponjuán Dante, G. (1998). Gestión de información en los organizaciones: Principios, conceptos y aplicaciones. Santiago de Chile, Centro de Capacitación en Información Prorectoria (CECAPI), Universidad de Chile. gift of the author.

(1998). ¿Cómo acceder a Internet en Cuba? La Habana, Editora Política. purchased. 2 copies.

(1999). INFO '99: Congreso Internacional de Información, 4 al 8 de octubre, Palacio de las Convenciones de La Habana, Cuba (CD-ROM). gift of the Instituto de Información Cientifica y Tecnológia (IDICT).

(1999-2000). Ciencias de la información. La Habana, Instituto de Información Cientifica y Tecnológica. volumes 30 #2, 3, 4 and 31 #1-2. purchased from IDICT.