Cuban Society on the Horizon of Digital Transformation: A View from Mediations to the Social Appropriation of Technology

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/intejcubastud.12.1.0119
• Published date: 01 July 2020
• Date: 01 July 2020
• Pages: 119-134
• Author: Hamlet López García
• Subject Matter: ICT's,computerisation,social appropriation of technology,mediations,TICs,informatización,apropiación social de las tecnologías,mediaciones

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ACADEMIC ARTICLE

CUBAN SOCIETY ON THE HORIZON OF

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: A VIEW

FROM MEDIATIONS TO THE SOCIAL

APPROPRIATION OF TECHNOLOGY

LA SOCIEDAD CUBANA EN EL HORIZONTE

DE LA TRANSFORMACIÓN DIGITAL:

UNA MIRADA DESDE LAS MEDIACIONES

HASTA LA APROPIACIÓN SOCIAL DE LA

TECNOLOGÍA

Hamlet López García1

Instituto Cubano de Investigación Cultural ‘Juan Marinello’, Cuba

Abstract

The appropriation of technologies for information and communication is deeply

related to the economy, institutions, and social history. This article will propose a list

of mediations to explain the characteristics of the computerisation achieved in Cuba

so far, with the help of some examples that illustrate the particularities of the Cuban

1 Hamlet López García. Ph.D. in Social Communication and M.Sc. in Social Psychology

(University of Havana). Researcher in the Instituto Cubano de Investigación Cultural

‘Juan Marinello’ (Cuban Institute of Cultural Research Juan Marinello) and member

of its Scientific Board. Professor of the Communication School (University of Havana).

Member of the CLACSO Work Group ‘Policies and audiovisual production in the

digital era in America Latina’ He has published several scientific articles and book

chapters in the subject areas of digital participation in the culture, computerisation

policies and social appropriation of technologies.

120 ACADEMIC ARTICLE – HAMLET LÓPEZ GARCÍA

InternatIonal Journal of Cuban StudIeS 12.1 Summer 2020

appropriation of ICT’s technology. The analysis will show the relevance of regulatory

frameworks, economic forms of social organisation and public policies when explaining

the social appropriation of digital technology in Cuba. They express the centrality

and weight of the State in Cuban society to determine the limits and forms of

computerisation available to different social actors.

Keywords: ICT’s, computerisation, social appropriation of technology, mediations

Resumen

La apropiación social de las tecnologías para la comunicación y la información está

profundamente relacionada con la economía, las instituciones y la historia social.

El artículo propondrá una lista de mediaciones para explicar las características de la

informatización lograda en Cuba hasta el momento, con la ayuda de algunos ejemplos

que ilustran las particularidades de la apropiación de las tecnologías digitales cubanas. El

análisis va a mostrar la importancia de los órdenes regulatorios, las formas económicas

de la organización social y las políticas públicas a la hora de explicar la apropiación

social de las tecnologías en Cuba. Ellos expresan la centralidad y el peso del Estado

en la sociedad cubana para determinar los límites y las formas de la informatización

disponible para los diferentes actores sociales.

Palabras clave: TICs, informatización, apropiación social de las tecnologías, mediaciones

Introduction

Digital technologies produce changes in social and economic life. But they do

not produce the same changes in all societies. The appropriation of technologies

for information and communication is deeply related to the economy, institu-

tions, and social history. The insertion of ICTs in Latin American economies,

despite their impact on GDP, has failed to overcome the historical problems of

productivity (Katz and Fundación Telefónica 2015: 141). The former Soviet

Union could never develop a national data network, notwithstanding its com-

puter industry and excellent theoretical developments in the field: Power dis-

putes between different ministries condemned it to failure since its first conception

by Soviet scientists in 1955 (Gerovitch 2008: 346). In Cuba, many principles of

its socio-economic model laid out the challenges for ICTs development.

From early on in the beginning of the Cuban Revolution, digital technologies

were identified as an essential component of the new political project. In 1963,

Commander Ernesto Che Guevara, at that time Minister of Industries, in an

intervention declared computing and electronics strategical for the development