Cuba USA
The fifteenth Cuban international trade show and conference, Informática 2013, took place this week. Below, you see a photo of the opening session and a picture taken on the exhibit floor.
I looked around the Informática Web site and found a couple of interesting things. Below, you see the logos of the "diamond" sponsors. Note that four are Chinese (top row) and six Cuban (two universities). This reminded me of a recent post on Chinese tech companies in Cuba.
Informática is a collection of technical conferences on various topics as well as a trade show. (We have already described the health conference) The technical presentations were categorized as follows:
I could not help noticing that the Web site was a bit amateurish. For example, author's photos were sometime distorted -- re-sized without maintaining the original aspect ratio and HTML tags were visible in many of the abstracts. These are minor quibbles, but they are jarring in 2013.
As Muchas Gracias points out in a comment on a recent post, Cubans were required to pay registration fees in CUC this year rather than Cuban pesos. (In the US, conferences often admit people to the exhibit hall only free or at a reduced price -- perhaps that was also the case at Informática).
Informatica 1992
Muchas Gracias' comment also reminded me of my visits to Informática 1992 and 1994. Cuba did not yet have IP connectivity at that time, and the Internet was not well known outside of the technical community. The Internet community was open and friendly to a professor from the US, and I presented papers and met many people. Since I've begun reminiscing, here are some photos that my colleague Joel Snyder took at Informática 1992:
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Cuba USA
Informática 2013 and 1992
The fifteenth Cuban international trade show and conference, Informática 2013, took place this week. Below, you see a photo of the opening session and a picture taken on the exhibit floor.
Informática is a collection of technical conferences on various topics as well as a trade show. (We have already described the health conference) The technical presentations were categorized as follows:
- XV Congreso Internacional de Informática en la Educación “INFOREDU 2013”
- 1er Foro Internacional de TV Digital
- XI Simposio Internacional de Automatización
- VI Congreso Internacional de Tecnologías, Contenidos Multimedia y Realidad Virtual
- I Congreso Integracionista de las Ciencias y las Tecnologías Informáticas, Santiago de Cuba
- IV Simposio Internacional de Electrónica: diseño, aplicaciones, técnicas avanzadas y retos actuales
- VIII Congreso Internacional de Geomática
- IX Congreso Internacional de Informática en Salud
- VI Simposio de Telecomunicaciones
- II Conferencia Internacional de Ciencias Computacionales e Informáticas
- Energía y Medio Ambiente
- IV Simposio Informática y Comunidad
- VI Taller de Calidad en las Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones
- XI Seminario Iberoamericano de Seguridad en las Tecnologías de la Información
- III Taller internacional “Las TIC en la Gestión de las Organizaciones”
I could not help noticing that the Web site was a bit amateurish. For example, author's photos were sometime distorted -- re-sized without maintaining the original aspect ratio and HTML tags were visible in many of the abstracts. These are minor quibbles, but they are jarring in 2013.
As Muchas Gracias points out in a comment on a recent post, Cubans were required to pay registration fees in CUC this year rather than Cuban pesos. (In the US, conferences often admit people to the exhibit hall only free or at a reduced price -- perhaps that was also the case at Informática).
Informatica 1992
Muchas Gracias' comment also reminded me of my visits to Informática 1992 and 1994. Cuba did not yet have IP connectivity at that time, and the Internet was not well known outside of the technical community. The Internet community was open and friendly to a professor from the US, and I presented papers and met many people. Since I've begun reminiscing, here are some photos that my colleague Joel Snyder took at Informática 1992:
Pabexpo -- the site of Informática
Attendees coming for the opening speeches
The stage for the opening
Two rows of dignitaries
Looking down on the exhibit hall
On the exhibit floor
On the exhibit floor
An East German computer
Cuban hardware running Russian software
Russian chips
The Youth Computer Club booth
Ceniai booth
In the Ceniai booth
Relaxing afterward at the Bay of Pigs
- A Conference Cuban Networking Officials And Informal Networkers Should Attend -- Meet Mikrotik
MikroTik is manufacturer of wireless communication systems that ETECSA, the Ministry of Communication, schools, universities, Infomed, etc. should be aware of. They will have a chance to meet MikroTik at a full-day conference in Havana on January 15th....
- A High-level Us Delegation Is In Havana To Discuss Telecommunication And The Internet
I hope Cuba's policy is not shaped by political fear or the desire to protect government/ETECSA revenue and that the US delegation is not trying to influence Cuban politics or maximize the profit of US telecommunication companies. Conrad Tribble,...
- Conference Papers Online
Papers and proceedings from the 21st annual meeting of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE) are now available online. The papers cover a wide range of social, political and economic topics. Two of special interest to this group are...
- Us Army Jeep At The Bay Of Pigs And Networking Pioneers In Cuba
I have done several studies of the Cuban Internet over the years, and my colleague Joel Snyder just found a bunch of pictures he took during a 1992 trip. Here are two -- more later.We took a couple days off from interviews and presentations and went to...
- The Dictator's Dilemma
LageCastro Glasnost which undermined the USSR and other socialist countries consisted in handing over the mass media, one by one, to the enemies of socialism.Raúl Castro October, 1997 One telex can cost twelve dollars [whereas] the same message...