We’re getting into the main activity of hurricane season, and things are starting to liven up. There is activity a little less than halfway between the islands and the Cabo Verde islands, which looks favourable to develop into something to watch out for over the next couple of days or so. This is a season I have not been looking forward to for several months.
My week has been filled with working on an upcoming project; although I am behind in what I promised to do, I’m sure I’ll catch up and work on finalising a couple of projects in my new role. I’m encountering organisations with basic digitalisation needs that are not being met by the offer in the market. For example, I’m seeing companies being demoed and offered expensive and sophisticated software to do document management when, in fact, what they need is a simple solution that works the way they work, not the other way around. It reminds me of when SAP started to gain a foothold in large organisations, forcing them to completely change their way of working to be ‘compatible’ with SAP. Sometimes with disastrous results for the company. I feel we’re experiencing a similar situation with the tools on offer. SMSEs in the Caribbean can not afford either the upfront costs, the ongoing development and integration costs or the training budgets required to integrate these tools; they are primarily concerned with turning a profit or just maintaining a turnover. If you work as a reseller, integrator or consultant in the Caribbean, it might be worthwhile evaluating the ‘real’ needs of your clients versus your offering and seeing if there is indeed a gap. There’s an opportunity out there!
Reading
Most of the reading I have been doing and sharing here is through my research and general interest in tech. I thought it might be helpful to share a couple of books I’ve been reading or have finished.
The first is called Number Go Up by Zeke Faux. It charts the batshit crazy world of cryptocurrencies and the associated grifts and frauds that seem to permeate this industry more than we see in Mafia-run casinos. What struck me the most was not the pyramid scheming that goes on; I knew that from the beginning and never got involved in crypto. Or the absolute waste of energy it all is —and I’m not talking about the spilt ink, conferences, YouTube channels, podcasts and all sorts of paraphernalia surrounding this “industry— I’m talking about how it is literally helping the planet to get past a point of no return on climate change for what? A fucking stupid entry in a slow, clunky, foolish database called Blockchain, so one can pretend it is actually worth something (as long as the supply of mugs is long, then the grifters can continue to grift). But it is the way this industry has enabled and continues to enable slavery, murder, rape, and all sorts of other vile behaviour, just to make a little money and to pretend it was made from thin air. I firmly believe that anyone in the industry promoting it has lost their moral compass. Anyway, enough ranting; read the book and find out for yourself just how depraved these people are.
The second book continues my work in Internet Governance. It’s called Digital Empires: The Global Battle to Regulate Technology. The author is Ann Bradford, and it should be recommended reading for anyone getting involved in Internet Governance. The book looks at what are essentially three schools of Internet Governance and governance in the tech industry. One is the US viewpoint, the other is the competing position from China and similarly-run states, and the third is a look at the EU position. I’ve not finished the book yet, but I have learned an awful lot about the subject so far.
I’ll get back to posting some article links here next week.
I’ll be participating in several events over the coming months, culminating in the ARIN Public Policy and Members Meeting in October, where I hope to get elected to serve on the Advisory Committee. Before that, there are several meetings to discuss the Global Digital Compact that I will be following attentively.
Have a great week, and thanks for reading and subscribing.
