Tag: New Media

Conscientizing on VIDEO: Advocating for Empathy

Posted on July 31, 2020 in Ethos, Social

Go Lean Commentary

There are positives and negatives in all life experiences; good things to continue and bad things to cease-and-desist.

Yes, there are the negative traits that members of society should avoid while there are positive traits that these ones should be encouraged to pursue.

Which are which?

Every adult has the moral compass to ascertain good and bad; yet still, many times we need to be reminded to double-down on those good traits for the Greater Good. Think Charitable campaigns! Think appealing to people’s Better Nature. Think empathy …

Doubling-down, Greater Good, Charitable Campaigns, Better Nature …

… there is a trend here; there is currency and urgency as well. These are the dynamics of an active campaign ongoing in the Caribbean member-state of the Bahamas right now, branded:

BahamasKind…
The #BahamasKind Campaign is a community program launched to encourage community solidarity and social cohesion. The program’s aim is to promote positive relationships between all persons in our communities, to diminish xenophobia and stigma. …

This is a program launched during the COVID-19 pandemic … to promote positive relationships between all persons in our communities, fostering compassion, empathy, [humanity, diversity] and unity. – Source: Retrieved July 30, 2020 from: https://www.facebook.com/KindBahama

See a related news article in the Appendix below.

This is a genuine effort to appeal to the Better Nature of Bahamians to double-down on traits that promote the Greater Good.

Stakeholders for the movement behind the 2013 book Go Lean … Caribbean got to witness this campaign … and participate in it. This was “par for the course” as we have done this conscientizing before using electronic media. Our previous effort – documented in a previous Go Lean blog-commentary from July 13, 2017 – was on a Radio Talk Show; this time the medium is a TV Show for Facebook VIDEO’s.

“Conscientizing”?!

… it is not an everyday word; but it does have an ever-effective definition:

Conscientize (verb) – to make somebody/yourself aware of important social or political issues. – Oxford Dictionary.

The conscientizing theme this time, with the Go Lean movement’s participation, was on Empathy.

This is one of 5 shows, 4-of-5; they were all moderated by Bahamas Kind host “Howard Grant Jr.”. This is the full series; (you are encouraged to consume all the VIDEO’s):

  1. Topic: “Humanity” with guests Dr. Christopher Curry and Dr. Ian Strachan.
  2. Topic: “Compassion” with Pastor Edward St. Fleur and Pastor Mario Moxey
  3. Topic: “Diversity” with Dr. Nicolette Bethel and Activist Chris Davis
  4. Topic “Empathy” with Activist Alicia Wallace and Go Lean stakeholder “Robb Sawyer”
    VIDEO – #BahamasKind | Episode 4. Empathy – https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2614088355497195
  5. Topic: “Unity” with Activists Erin Brown and Dr. Christopher Curry

These truly are fine qualities to foster: Humanity, Compassion, Diversity, Empathy and Unity. Unfortunately we do not have enough manifestation of these in our communities today. We need a change; we must change.

But is this “pie-in-the-sky”? Is it truly reasonable to expect such changes, that the people and institutions in one Caribbean community after another will develop and deploy more and more of these fine qualities in society?

Yes, we can …

The Go Lean book identified that our Caribbean attitudes needed to change, that we have to double-down on many qualities – including these ones identified here. The book provides 370 pages of instructions on how to foster these community attributes – how to forge change; consider this direct quotation (Page 20):

Forging Change – A Roadmap
…
Change is not easy …

Just ask anyone attempting to quit smoking. Not only are there physiological challenges, but psychological ones as well, to the extent that it can be stated with no uncertainty that “change begins in the head”. In psycho-therapy the approach to forge change for an individual is defined as “starting in the head (thoughts, visions), penetrating the heart (feelings, motivations) and then finally manifesting in the hands (actions). This same body analogy is what is purported in this book for how the Caribbean is to embrace change – following this systematic flow:

  • Head Plans, models and constitutions
  • Heart Community Ethos
  • Hands Actions, Reboots, and Turn-arounds

Leaning in and going lean for Caribbean regional integration hereto requires engaging all three body parts, figuratively speaking, none more important than the heart. The people of the Caribbean must change their feelings about elements of their society – elements that are in place and elements missing. This is referred to as “Community Ethos”, defined as:

noun – (www.Dictionary.com) 

  1. the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people or period: In the Greek ethos the individual was highly valued.  
  2. the character or disposition of a community, group, person, etc.

The foregoing VIDEO series presented advocates and activists longing to reform and transform their Bahamian homeland. Where as, these people “labor in the fields to harvest” change in the Bahamas, our Go Lean…Caribbean movement seeks to reform and transform the whole region – “raise the tide and all the boats in the harbor are elevated”.

The last time we conscientized – on the radio – the location was in Florida, as we were appealing to the Caribbean Diaspora in the audience market. Now, this time, we are in the Caribbean, appealing to Caribbean people directly. Our quest is to direct the audience to the Go Lean book as a published guidebook – 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions – on “how” to adopt the new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.

Empathy was our focus in the foregoing FB VIDEO …

This is not our first time conscientizing on the subject or implication of Empathy – the ability to understand and share the feelings of another – consider these previous Go Lean blog-commentaries that elaborated on this subject and some lessons learned:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=20105 Lack of Empathy can cause the Wrong Ethos to rise
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=19215 Some people are more disciplined & empathic to thrive – Is that so bad?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17135 Lack of Empathy for Puerto Rico: Speaks to “true status” with America
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13664 Sexual Harassment Accusers – They have always needed “Empathy”
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10532 Its Bad to abuse someone for resemblance – stereotype – to enemies
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10201 Obama disbanded the Bad Policy of Wet Foot / Dry Foot – No Empathy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5964 Movie Review: ‘Tomorrowland’ – ‘Feed the right wolf’ for Empathy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5238 Prisoners for Profit – Justice tied to Empathy – #ManifestJustice

The foregoing VIDEO stressed the need for empathy, justice and progress. Without these important ingredients in the societal recipe, bad things happen – people flee and the community suffers.

Let do better NOW! It takes a little bit of effort to show kindness to others, the way we would like for them to show kindness towards us.

We must not “sit still” in our participation in society. We must step up, step in and step forward. We must commit to the heavy-lifting to reform and transform our communities.  This is how we will make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

About the Book
The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

  • Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
  • Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
  • Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Who We Are
The movement behind the Go Lean book – a non-partisan, apolitical, religiously-neutral Community Development Foundation chartered for the purpose of empowering and re-booting economic engines – stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.

xiv.  Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

—————–

Appendix – #BahamasKind initiative targets xenophobia

By: Sloan Smith, ZNS Eyewitness News

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The International Organization for Migration Bahamas is expected to launch a campaign in collaboration with IsraAid and Church World Services to help sensitize Bahamians and reduce stigmas of Haitian migrants.

The #BahamasKind will seek to foster increased community solidarity, encourage compassion and empathy, and reduce xenophobia and stigmas of Haitian migrants in The Bahamas, according to the IOM.

In its latest situational report, the organization said it intends to host eight activities to improve intra-communal trust, sensitize communities, and enhance cooperation.

The activities will include weekly journalistic talks with influencers on prime media channels, online activation, and physical activation of the Bahamian population.

Additionally, wall paintings on kindness subjects will be posted in schools and public squares, further solidifying the message of kindness in The Bahamas.

IOM Bahamas was established shortly after Hurricane Dorian barrelled its way through Grand Bahama and Abaco last year.

Dorian pounded the two islands between September 1-3, claiming the lives of a confirmed 74 people — and displacing thousands, many of whom resided in Haitian shantytown communities in Abaco.

The Category 5 storm destroyed the two largest of the six shantytowns on the island – The Mudd and the Peas.

The organization has been providing aid to the government in a number of areas and has also been assisting the migrant Haitian community.

IOM Bahamas is currently working with the Ministry of Health surveillance unit to develop a comprehensive risk assessment to determine risks of Hurricanes and transmittable diseases like COVID-19 in the informal settlements in New Providence, Abaco, Exuma, Long Island, and Eleuthera.

The Ministry of Health trusts that this project can help to mitigate the impact risks of a COVID19 outbreak or natural disaster in the informal, according to the organization.

In May, the international body released a comprehensive assessment of the preparedness of emergency shelters on Grand Bahama and Abaco Islands for the 2020 Hurricane Season.

The report warns that the islands ravaged by Dorian still do not have adequate shelter capacity for the upcoming season and put forth several recommendations for forward movement.

IOM Bahamas has also partnered with the Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) to help to clear more than 23.000m3 of debris from private homes, streets, yards, and public spaces.

The organization will also engage in supporting up to 40 families with the repair of their homes.

Additionally, the organization began repairs to the Bahamas Elite Sports Academy who accepted 16 displaced migrant children.

The organization has launched similar initiatives in countries worldwide.

Source: Posted June 4, 2020; retrieved July 30, 2020 from: https://ewnews.com/bahamaskind-initiative-to-help-reduce-xenophobia-in-the-bahamas

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Black Image – Beyond Slavery: 1884 Berlin Conference

Posted on July 29, 2020 in Ethos, Government, Planning, Social

Go Lean Commentary

There is no doubt, the Slave Trade and the institution of Slavery – installed by the dominant European cultures – were degrading to Black Image.

But Slavery was not the beginning nor the end of this degradation, or devalued appreciation of Black Image to the European world.

As related in this commentary series, the degradation started in 1491 when Pope Innocent VIII authorized Slavery and the Slave Trade. Most European powers ended their slavery institutions by mid-1800’s (i.e. UK: 1838; France: 1848; Netherlands: 1848; US: 1865). Yet in 1884, the Europeans were at it again; not with a new round of slavery but rather a new round of degradation:

The Scramble for Africa.

So rather than oppressing, suppressing and repressing African-descended people in the New World, the malicious actions went to the source, the motherland for Africans: Africa. See the Appendix VIDEO below and this excerpt from a previous Go Lean commentary about Black Nationalist Marcus Garvey:

There was a constant, efficient and emphatic “grab” for the assets and capital of Africa – human capital included. Garvey’s assessment was 100 years after the formal Slave Trade ended in 1807. Yes, the European nations had divided up all of the African continent for their own empire-building and economic manifestations; see the encyclopedic reference here:

The Scramble for Africa was the occupation, division, and colonization of African territory by European powers during the period of New Imperialism, between 1881 and 1914. It is also called the Partition of Africa and by some the Conquest of Africa. In 1870, only 10 percent of Africa was under formal European control; by 1914 it had increased to almost 90 percent of the continent, with only Ethiopia (Abyssinia) and Liberia still being independent. [Liberia was an American “Moral Protectorate”]. With the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in 1936, only Liberia remained independent. There were multiple motivations including the quest for national prestige, tensions between pairs of European powers, religious missionary zeal and internal African native politics.

The Berlin Conference of 1884, which regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa, is usually referred to as the ultimate point of the scramble for Africa.[1] Consequent to the political and economic rivalries among the European empires in the last quarter of the 19th century, the partitioning, or splitting up of Africa was how the Europeans avoided warring amongst themselves over Africa.[2] The later years of the 19th century saw the transition from “informal imperialism” by military influence and economic dominance, to direct rule, bringing out colonial imperialism.[3]
Source: Wikipedia – retrieved February 5, 2019 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramble_for_Africa

This is the continuation of this Teaching Series for July 2020 on Black Image; this is entry 5-of-6 from the movement behind the 2013 book, Go Lean…Caribbean. Every month, this movement presents a series on issues germane to Caribbean life, history and prospects. This entry asserts that the normal and default setting for the European community ethos (attitude, disposition and/or driving spirit) towards African people is one of exploitation, unless the exploiters are met with a stronger opposing force.

(Remember: The Republic of Haiti, gaining independence  in 1804, only after the well-trained Black Haitian Revolutionary forces executed 4,000 European citizens for constantly trying to enslave them).  🙁

It is no wonder Black Image as seen by the Euro-centric world is only that of “Less Than”.

We should never be surprised by this actuality. We should simply expect it. This theme is embedded throughout the month’s series. The full catalog on Black Image for this month is presented as follows:

  1. Black Image: Corporate Reboots
  2. Black Image: Pluralism is the Goal
  3. Black Image: Colorism – The Stain of Whiteness – Encore
  4. Black Image: Slavery in History – Lessons from the Bible
  5. Black Image: Beyond Slavery: 1884 Berlin Conference
  6. Black Image: The N-Word 101

The Go Lean book, serving as a roadmap for the introduction of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), asserts that Caribbean stakeholders must Grow Up and handle their affairs themselves, rather than looking towards some “Overseas Masters” to manage our affairs for us. This must be the resolve, not just for governance, but for economics and security provisions as well.

Consider communications and media networks and how Caribbean people had been judged by foreign or Euro-centric standards:.

If the media networks in the region are owned by foreign entities, then foreign standards are still “the rule”.

No more!

Change has come to the world and to the Caribbean region. The advent of Internet Communications Technologies (ICT) now has voluminous options for media to be delivered without the large footprint … or investment. Now anyone can easily publish VIDEO’s and Music files to the internet and sell them to the public – models abounds: i.e. pay-per-play, or subscription.

There is the opportunity for Caribbean stakeholders to convene, consolidate and confederate the region for their own optimized broadcast and streaming networks. This was the lesson learned from the Berlin Conference of 1884; that if we do not have a “seat at the table”, then we are only “on the menu”. For the “1884 Table”, the menu was the land, people, resources and capital of the African continent – they divvied up the assets with no fights or battles. For the “Caribbean Table”, the menu is the eyeballs and consciousness of Caribbean people or Black Image.

Imagine the deployment of a new Caribbean Network! Not like ABC, NBC or CBS (in the US), but rather like the WWE Network or World Wrestling Entertainment. In a previous blog-commentary this definition was presented:

This is better! (Every mobile/smart-phone owner walks around with an advanced digital video camera in their pocket). We are now able to have a network without the “network”. Many models abound on the world-wide-web. Previously, this commentary identified one such network (ESPN-W); now the focus is on another, the WWE Network, associated with the World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. This network is delivered via the internet-streaming only (and On-Demand with limited Cable TV systems).

We have so many examples-business models; think: WWE, ESPN-W, YouTube and Netflix …

Let’s do our own Image Building Network; and let’s do that now.

This focus, building a regional Caribbean Network, has been a mission for this Go Lean movement from the beginning of this movement. This theme has been elaborated in many previous blog-commentaries; consider this sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=19546 Big Hairy Audacious Goal – Caribbean Media: Learning from Netflix et al
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17822 Caribbean Youtuber providing a Role Model with Expanded Audiences
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17250 Way Forward – Caribbean ‘Single Market’ for Media
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14224 How the Youth are Consuming Media Today – Digitally
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4381 Net Neutrality: It matters here … in the Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2171 Sports Role Model – Turn On the SEC Network

A positive image is not automatic …

… for people of African heritage from their European counterparts. We must be deliberate and technocratic in our efforts for Caribbean Image management.

Yes, we can …

Black Image has endured a lot … over the years, before, during and after the bad old days of slavery. But we now know what to do; we know how and when we must act. Most importantly, we must do it ourselves. We must have a seat at the table.

As reported in every entry of this series during July 2020, we must message the truth, if not to the whole world, then at least here in the Caribbean. This is how we can make our regional homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

About the Book
The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

  • Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
  • Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
  • Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Who We Are
The movement behind the Go Lean book – a non-partisan, apolitical, religiously-neutral Community Development Foundation chartered for the purpose of empowering and re-booting economic engines – stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 14):

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.

xiv.  Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

xxiii. Whereas many countries in our region are dependent Overseas Territory of imperial powers, the systems of governance can be instituted on a regional and local basis, rather than requiring oversight or accountability from distant masters far removed from their subjects of administration. The Federation must facilitate success in autonomous rule by sharing tools, systems and teamwork within the geographical region.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

xxx. Whereas the effects of globalization can be felt in every aspect of Caribbean life, from the acquisition of food and clothing, to the ubiquity of ICT, the region cannot only consume, it is imperative that our lands also produce and add to the international community, even if doing so requires some sacrifice and subsidy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

—————————–

Appendix VIDEO – The Berlin Conference (1884 – 1885) – https://youtu.be/vO3-SNpCbSo

Logic Owl
The history of the Berlin Conference and the colonial scramble for Africa during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, as countries like Great Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy and more fight for African colonies. At the expense of the African people across the continent.

Links:
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opi…
https://www.britannica.com/event/Berl…
https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/reso…

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BHAG – Caribbean Media: Learning from Netflix et al

Posted on March 29, 2020 in Economics, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

All stakeholders in America – and other countries – must act now to “flatten the curve” with this Coronavirus crisis:

There is the role for doctors, nurses and other clinicians in the delivery of medical best practices; then there is also the role for the general public. Yes, the Public Health prescription for America to get past this Coronavirus crisis is abbreviated to these 3 words:

Netflix and chill …

Yep, it is that simple; the country needs to Shelter-in-Place and practice Social Distancing, so the best option is to stay home and occupy your time with streaming video and other online media.

That is it! That is the heavy-lifting that Americans need to do to sustain their economy. (Overall, “Hollywood” has been severely impacted by this COVID-19 pandemic – see Appendix VIDEO).

Netflix, as the market leader – as of April 2019 … over 148 million paid subscriptions worldwide, including 60 million in the United States, and over 154 million subscriptions total including free trials [12]  – is being presented here as a “metonym“ …

[Metonym = a word, name, or expression used as a substitute for something else with which it is closely associated; like Wall Street for American Capital Markets or Hollywood for American Movie-TV-Game industries].

… an icon that symbolizes the rest of the media industry delivered by Internet & Communications Technologies (ICT). While Netflix is #1 – as a financial opportunity, early adaptors have seen an amazing 15,460% return on their investment – there are other streaming sites that deliver the same functionality. According to Wikipedia, this whole industry is referred to as:

Over-the-top media service
An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a streaming media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms, the companies that traditionally act as a controller or distributor of such content.[1]

The term is most synonymous with subscription-based video-on-demand (SVoD) services that offer access to film and television content (including existing series acquired from other producers, as well as original content produced specifically for the service). Examples include:

Amazon Music, Apple TV+, Disney+, Google Play Movies & TV, HBO Max, Hulu, iTunes, Netflix, Prime Video, SiriusXM, and YouTube Premium.

OTT also encompasses a wave of “skinny” television services that offer access to live streams of linear specialty channels, similar to a traditional satellite or cable TV provider, but streamed over the public Internet, rather than a closed, private network with proprietary equipment such as set-top boxes.

Over-the-top services are typically accessed via websites on personal computers, as well as via apps on mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablets), digital media players (including video game consoles), or televisions with integrated Smart TV platforms.

Due to the public assimilation of these OTT services, the traditional American television networks have responded to the competition – for public eyeballs – with streaming products of their own. Consider these two examples:

  • Peacock (NBC) –  an upcoming American over-the-top subscription video on demand streaming service by NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Named after the logo of NBC, the service is set to launch on July 15, 2020, with early availability for Xfinity customers starting on April 15, 2020.[1][2][3]
    … [The new service will feature] content from its entertainment brands. It was also announced that the service would be free and ad-supported for customers of NBCUniversal pay-TV, Comcast, and eventually Sky; viewers without a pay-TV subscription or viewers who do not want advertisements can also subscribe to an ad-free version of the service. … [The service will] also include new original programming.

There is a lesson in this directive for us in the Caribbean; we must design, develop and deploy our own Caribbean streaming network, our own Netflix. This is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) for Caribbean society; we must do what America has done with Netflix and do it better. The extra effort is tied to the fact that we are more pluralistic with a multilingual society. The Caribbean solution must accommodate 4 languages: Dutch, English, French and Spanish so as to cover the 42 million in the 30 member-states.

No one language is to be considered the default or preferred over the others.

Every month, the movement behind the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean presents a Teaching Series on a subject germane to Caribbean life. For this March 2020, our focus is on BHAG efforts that are too big for any one member-state alone. This is the final entry for this series, 6-of-6, which addresses live-work-play activities for all economic engines in society: economic, security and governance.

The full catalog of the series for this month – under the BHAG theme – is listed as follows:

  1. BHAG – The Audacity of Hope – Yes, we can!
  2. BHAG – Regional Currency – In God We Trust
  3. BHAG – Infrastructure Spending … finally funding Toll Roads
  4. BHAG – One Voice – Foreign Policy and Diplomatic Stance
  5. BHAG – Outreach to the World – Why Not a Profit Center
  6. BHAG – Netflix, Hulu, CBS, Peacock è Caribbean Media

In addition to the 42 million people in the Caribbean member-states, there is also the Diaspora, estimated in some circles to be 20 – 26 million people; (the disparity is due to the status of first generation “legacies”; only “some” identify with the homeland). Any network that emerges from this Caribbean effort would have the Diaspora included in the target market. This is a familiar theme for this movement behind the Go Lean book. In addition to the direct references to Internet & Communications Technologies (ICT) in the 2013 book, there have been a number of previous Go Lean commentaries that elaborated on this theme of deploying a new ICT-based Caribbean network; consider this sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17822 Caribbean Youtuber providing a Role Model with Expanded Audiences
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17250 Way Forward – Caribbean ‘Single Market’ for Media
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15858 Network Mandates for a New Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14224 How the Youth are Consuming Media Today
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13321 Making a ‘Pluralistic Democracy’ – Multilingual Realities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6464 Sports Role Model – ‘WWE Network’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3244 Sports Role Model – espnW.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2171 Sports Role Model – Turn On the SEC Network

In the Go Lean book and these previous blog-commentaries, this movement asserts that the market organizations and community investments to garner economic benefits of ICT is within reach of our people, with the proper technocracy. As related in a previous blog-commentary, the eco-system for streaming videos – i.e. Netflix, Hulu, WWE, ESPN-W, Amazon Prime, etc. – is inclusive of the roadmap’s quest to make the Caribbean region a better place to live, work and play.

Yes, we can …

… build our own Caribbean streaming network. We have the successful model to emulate in the deliveries of the company Amazon. They are an e-Commerce company that processes fulfilment services and ICT media services as well. We have previously (October 1, 2018) elaborated on this Amazon role model:

Amazon: ‘What I want to be when I grow up’
This one company is worth US$1 Trillion. The whole Caribbean’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is [far] less; it is our plan to elevate the economic engines in the region to get the economy’s output up to $800 Billion.

Amazon is a model for e-Commerce, logistics, media and innovation. This is the role model we want for our Caribbean Postal Union and the aligning online portal, www.myCaribbean.gov. It is good to have a roadmap to follow to duplicate the successful journey of Amazon.

This commentary concludes this March 2020 series on our Big Hairy Audacious Goals for the Caribbean. Many people are able to consume Netflix and other streaming services now, though the networks and programming is not really intended for us in the Caribbean. It is time now to design, develop and deploy our own. This will be a good investment for the future of media (TV and Movies) and ICT in our region.

This vision of our own streaming network is conceivable, believable and achievable. We urged all Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap. This is how we make our homeland a better place to live, work and play.  🙂

About the Book
The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

  • Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
  • Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
  • Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Who We Are
The movement behind the Go Lean book – a non-partisan, apolitical, religiously-neutral Community Development Foundation chartered for the purpose of empowering and re-booting economic engines – stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 14):

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv.  Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

xx. Whereas the results of our decades of migration created a vibrant Diaspora in foreign lands, the Federation must organize interactions with this population into structured markets. Thus allowing foreign consumption of domestic products, services and media, which is a positive trade impact. These economic activities must not be exploited by others’ profiteering but rather harnessed by Federation resources for efficient repatriations.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

xxviii. Whereas intellectual property can easily traverse national borders, the rights and privileges of intellectual property must be respected at home and abroad. The Federation must install protections to ensure that no abuse of these rights go with impunity, and to ensure that foreign authorities enforce the rights of the intellectual property registered in our region.

xxx. Whereas the effects of globalization can be felt in every aspect of Caribbean life, from the acquisition of food and clothing, to the ubiquity of ICT, the region cannot only consume, it is imperative that our lands also produce and add to the international community, even if doing so requires some sacrifice and subsidy.

xxxii. Whereas the cultural arts and music of the region are germane to the quality of Caribbean life, and the international appreciation of Caribbean life, the Federation must implement the support systems to teach, encourage, incentivize, monetize and promote the related industries for arts and music in domestic and foreign markets. These endeavors will make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

——————

Appendix VIDEO – Coronavirus – Covid-19: film industry counting the cost of ongoing crisis – https://youtu.be/h-ZW6OU6tIU

FRANCE 24 English

Posted March 26, 2020 – The film industry, like many others, is affected by the coronavirus pandemic. FRANCE 24’s culture editor Eve Jackson tells us more.

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‘Tipsy Bartender’ – Revisited: Still growing – Encore

Posted on June 30, 2019 in Economics, Implementation, Industries, Social

It’s been 3 years; we thought we’d check back in.

When we last visited the ‘Tipsy Bartender’ YouTube Star Skyy John, he had just surpassed the 1 Million Subscriber mark. As of June 27, 2019, his subscriber totals register at …

3,716,528

Wow! New Media charges forward!

… while in the meanwhile, Old Media retrenches:

Title: Traditional TV Still Sinking in Stream of Digital Video
Sub-Title: Nielsen Total Audience report shows 68% of homes have connected devices
By:
Traditional TV watching continues to wane, especially among younger consumers, as more homes get connected devices and streaming services. …

See full Article here: https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/traditional-tv-still-sinking-in-stream-of-digital-video – posted March 19, 2019; retrieved June 27, 2019

Since it is 3 years to the day, now is a good time to Encore that original blog-commentary on – ‘Tipsy Bartender’ from June 30, 2016. See it here-now:

—————-

Go Lean Commentary – YouTube Millionaire: ‘Tipsy Bartender’

“Out with the old; in with the new” …

… media that is.

The transformation to new media has taken hold. More and more people are consuming electronic media; so much so that it is becoming the mainstay for communications and entertainment.

This reference to electronic media conveys visual images; that means television, yes  …

CU Blog - YouTube Millionaires - TipsyBartender - Photo 2… but today, there is also the ubiquity of the internet, with its many video streaming services. The “new” in new media refers more to this medium than it does TV.

This is the change that has come to the world … and the Caribbean.

The book Go Lean … Caribbean advocates for the Caribbean region to better prepare to exploit the agents of change affecting the world. The book specifically identified technology and globalization among those agents (Page 57). It then declares that the region needs to move to the corner of preparation and opportunity.

Here – this commentary – is an example of the full manifestation of this “corner”. Identifying how – and why – networks can emerge without the need for investment into network infrastructure. The old adage is “where there’s a will, there’s a way”; but now there is only the need for the “will”, as the “way” is already in place, ubiquitous and fully accepted.

The Go Lean book relates how we are now able to have a network without the “network”. Many models abound on the world-wide-web. Previously, this commentary identified the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and ESPN-W; now the focus is the platform of YouTube, and the millionaires that have emerged. The YouTube network is delivered via the internet-streaming only.

This platform allows for nimble individuals and enterprises, the “fast and the furious”, to exploit the tenets of Internet Communications Technologies (ICT). So this platform – or even a homegrown duplicate as in the www.myCaribbean.gov portal defined in the Go Lean book – demonstrates how we in the Caribbean can elevate our eco-systems of ICT, entertainment, television, and economics.

This commentary presents the profile of one member of the Caribbean Diaspora – Bahamas – who serves as a role model for his exploitation of YouTube videos: Skyy John.

CU Blog - YouTube Millionaires - TipsyBartender - Photo 1

DATE OF BIRTH: January 2, 1978

BIRTHPLACE: Nassau, Bahamas

AGE: 38 years old

ABOUT
Host and creator of the YouTube channel Tipsy Bartender, the number one bartending show in the world. On the show, he makes crazy, colorful drinks.

BEFORE FAME
Before moving to America, he was a bank teller by day, a Dominos pizza delivery guy by night, and a fisherman on weekends. He is also a former member of the Bahamian military (Defence Force).

TRIVIA
He has acted in co-starring roles on television series, including The New Adventures of Old Christine, Cold Case, The Shield, The Young & Restless. He has also appeared in movies: Dorm Daze 2 (2006), Street Eyes (2015) and Whitey Goes to Compton (2011).
Source: Retrieved June 29, 2016 from http://www.famousbirthdays.com/people/skyy-john.html

See a full interview from Tubefilter in the following article. Tubefilter is a curator of online videos from industry news, web series reviews, events, and an Awards Show. They published a web series on YouTube Millionaires. See the full article here:

Title: YouTube Millionaires: TipsyBartender Is “Here To Have Fun And Make Cocktails”
By: Sam Gutelle

Welcome to YouTube Millionaires, where we profile channels that have recently crossed the one million subscriber mark. There are channels crossing this threshold every week, and each has a story to tell about YouTube success. Read previous installments of YouTube Millionaires here.

Skyy John has successfully brought the party to YouTube. The 37-year-old Bahamian has found online success thanks to TipsyBartender, a channel on which he teaches viewers how to craft a variety of mixed drinks. John’s videos tend to have several elements in common: They feature colorful beverages, feature attractive women as John’s assistants, and convey a fun-loving atmosphere. This formula has proven to be a hit with the online audience. TipsyBartender, which is partnered with the Tastemade network, now has more than 1.4 million subscribers. Here’s what John had to say about that:

Tubefilter: How does it feel to have one million subscribers? What do you have to say to your fans?

Skyy John: It feels amazing, humbling and empowering when you think of that many people supporting what you do.

I would like to tell each one of them that I love you, and you’re all very special to me. To celebrate hitting one million subscribers, I set up a meet and greet at a local bar. I bought everyone drinks and shots all night because it’s the least I could do to show my appreciation.

TF: How did you get started on YouTube?

SJ: In the early days of YouTube I had an idea for a talk show – I shot a really low budget pilot of it and posted it online. The response was good, so I kept making videos where I’d go around and interview people. As a means of diversifying my content, since I was a bartender, I’d show people how to make one or two cocktails. A friend of mine, Monroe, said “Hey, why don’t you start a bartending channel?” I said, “That’s a good idea,” and TipsyBartender was born.

TF: What made you decide to include women in all your videos?

SJ: When you come to the TipsyBartender channel and you watch an episode, yes I always have an attractive female cohost, and to the new viewer who thinks they’re there for looks, it’s much deeper than that. Behind the scenes, the show has been primarily powered by women, in terms of working out the format, designing the style of thumbnails, choosing the drinks that we make – it’s all been women. Without that very important female touch, the TipsyBartender show that you see today would not exist. I’d like to give a special thanks to Marjane and Emma, the two that really helped me create what you see today. TipsyBartender will always be home to women from all over the world who don’t get a chance in any other medium.

TF: When you create your videos, how do you balance entertaining your audience with conveying your recipes?

SJ: We maintain a very delicate balance between entertainment and education. We keep our recipes simple, which allows us to focus on the entertainment more. Our goal is to learn and have fun while doing it. We are, after all, a party channel.

TF: What in your mind is the most important component of a good cocktail?

SJ: The most important component of a good cocktail is you – the person that I’m serving. You have to like what I’m giving you. The easiest way to accomplish that is to build a cocktail using some ingredients that you already enjoy. You like Kool Aid? I’ll build around that. If you like ice cream, I’ll build around ice cream. You like Gatorade? I’ll build around that. Whatever you like, I’ll use – and that mentality is what makes me a pariah in the world of mixology because most mixologists feel that they know better than you what you should be drinking. They’ll give you a cocktail with aged whiskey, organic basil, handcrafted bitters, ice from the Alps, and tell you that “Hey, this is the most perfect best greatest drink ever!” What if that person you’re serving it to doesn’t like any of that s**t? Only you know what you like. You’re drinking the drink, I’m just working with you – i’m not a mixologist. I’m here to have fun and make cocktails. Drinking is supposed to be enjoyable, not feel like a damn chemistry exam.

TF: There don’t seem to be a ton of drinks channels on YouTube. Why do you think it’s not a more common category?

SJ: Because it’s very difficult to do. Drink-making is not that exciting because it’s very difficult to present it in an interesting format. Luckily, we’ve been able to get it right and to keep people interested, and every day we strive to continue doing what we’re doing and make our audience grow.

TF: What is your favorite cocktail you’ve made on your channel?

SJ: There are too many to list. Some of the favorite drinks I made were the rainbow shots, because that was difficult to learn how to do. Definitely some of the jungle juices because they’re pretty crazy, and believe it or not it requires a lot of math and planning to make the appropriate amounts in large quantities. Some of the jello shots we’ve made for sure. My favorites would probably have to be ice cream drinks or drinks based around rum, especially coconut rum.

TF: When you’re out bartending, do you ever get recognized as “that guy from the Internet”?

SJ: All the time – but I don’t bartend in a bar anymore. I actually got fired because of TipsyBartender. I was spending so much time on the show, so much time editing that I needed to get my shifts covered. Working in L.A. you got people covering shifts all the time, so it wasn’t really a problem at first. I was called into work for a meeting and they said I hadn’t been there in a few months – I said “I’ll get back to work, don’t worry I got you,” –  but I didn’t realize that they were monitoring me. They discovered that in four months following our meeting, I only worked once. So I got the call saying “Go mix drinks man, we’ll handle the bar.”

TF: What’s next for your channel? Any fun plans?

SJ: TipsyBartender morphed into a truly global brand where we have tons of fans all over the world, primarily because we focused on Facebook, where videos are very easily shared. We’re now approaching 7 million fans that are highly engaged in what we do. Our Facebook engagement is higher than that of all the biggest liquor brands around the world combined! Our next step for us is to take our cocktails and products around the world. We’re also in the developing stages of creating a Kickstarter to fund our first bar in L.A.
Source: Tube Filter Online Magazine – Posted February 5, 2015; retrieved June 28, 2016 from: http://www.tubefilter.com/2015/02/05/tipsy-bartender-skyy-john-drinks-youtube-millionaires/

—————–

Alternative Interview: http://affairstoday.co.uk/interview-tipsy-bartender/

—————–

VIDEO – How to make Rainbow Shots! – Tipsy Bartender – http://youtu.be/MoVZoCmkdjY

Published on Nov 17, 2011 – Subscribe to Tipsy Bartender: http://bit.ly/1krKA4R
The prettiest shots ever…RAINBOW SHOTS! These are the best looking rainbow shots ever!
OUR VLOG CHANNEL: http://www.youtube.com/TipsyVlogs

Is YouTube a successful business model for Skyy John? Yes indeed. See here as to the estimate of how much money he was making in 2011, long before he crossed the million-subscriber threshold; (1.4 million as of February 2015):

“How much money does Tipsy Bartender make?”
Skyy John is the Bahamian guy who runs the YouTube channel called Tipsy Bartender. He has an estimated net worth of $500,000. …

See the full article here: https://naibuzz.com/much-money-tipsy-bartender-makes-youtube/

The actuality of YouTube and the role model of Skyy John is a lesson for the Caribbean; there is heavy-lifting required to transform society. The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), a technocratic federal government to administer and optimize the economic/security/governing engines of the region’s 30 member-states. In addition, there is the vision for the Caribbean Postal Union (CPU), the focus of which is to coordinate regional mail plus the www.myCaribbean.gov portal to offer email and social media functionality for all Caribbean stakeholders: 42 million residents, 10 million in the Diaspora and even the 80 million tourists-visitors.

The Go Lean roadmap accepts the precept that one person can make a difference in society. What’s more, that one person does not have to be a genius – in the way society measures genius – they only need to be committed and disciplined. That is the example of Skyy John, committed and disciplined in the occupation of bartending, not exactly a STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), but impactful nonetheless.

Bartending is more art than science.

This Go Lean economic empowerment roadmap strategizes to create a Single Media Market to leverage the population of the entire region, an audience of 42 million people across 30 member-states and 4 languages consuming cutting-edge ICT offerings. YouTube provides a great role model for the CU‘s executions; making the regional implementation of social media and internet streaming, www.myCaribbean.gov, economically viable. This means jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities.

At the outset, the roadmap recognizes the need for ICT development and job creation with these statements in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 13 & 14):

xxi. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

xxvi. Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries… . In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries like tourism, fisheries and lotteries – impacting the region with more jobs.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

xxviii. Whereas intellectual property can easily traverse national borders, the rights and privileges of intellectual property must be respected at home and abroad. The Federation must install protections to ensure that no abuse of these rights go with impunity, and to ensure that foreign authorities enforce the rights of the intellectual property registered in our region.

In the Go Lean book and previous blogs, the Go Lean movement asserted that the market organizations and community investments to garner economic benefits of ICT are within reach, with the proper technocracy. The eco-system for streaming videos is inclusive of the roadmap’s quest to make the Caribbean region a better place to live, work and play.

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean to lean-in to the following community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies detailed in the book Go Lean…Caribbean to deliver the solutions to elevate the Caribbean region through ICT:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – All Choices Involve Costs Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Respond to Incentives Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Choices Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Voluntary Trade Creates Wealth Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – The Consequence of Choice Lie in Future Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier Page 22
Community Ethos – Lean Operations Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments – ROI Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship Page 28
Community Ethos – Promote Intellectual Property Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good Page 37
Strategy – Agents of Change – Technology Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy Page 64
Tactical – How to Grow the Economy to $800 Billion – Trade and Globalization Page 70
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Postal Services Page 78
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Interstate Commerce Administration Page 79
Implementation – Year 1 / Assemble Phase – Establish CPU Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change – Group Purchase Organizations (GPO) Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Optimize Mail Service & the myCaribbean.gov Marketplace Page 108
Implementation – Ways to Deliver Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media Page 111
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization Page 119
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean – # 8 Cyber-Caribbean Page 127
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street Page 201
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Hollywood Page 203
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage Page 218

The Go Lean book asserts that the region can be a better place to live, work and play; that the economy can be grown methodically by embracing progressive strategies in ICT and video streaming. This point was further detailed in these previous blogs:

UberEverything in Africa – Model for ICT and Logistics
Zuckerberg’s Philanthropy Project Makes Investment for ICT Education
Transformations: Caribbean Postal Union – Delivering the Future
The Future of Money
How to address high consumer prices
Truth in Commerce – Learning from Yelp
Net Neutrality: It matters here … in the Caribbean
Role Model Jack Ma brings Alibaba Social Media Portal to America
Where the Jobs Are – Computers Reshaping Global Job Market
Amazon’s new FIRE Smartphone
Grenada PM Urges CARICOM on ICT

This Go Lean roadmap is committed to availing the economic opportunities of ICT but the roadmap is bigger than just videos; its a concerted effort to elevate all of Caribbean society. The CU is the vehicle for this goal, this is detailed by the following 3 prime directives:

  • Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
  • Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
  • Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

This Go Lean roadmap looks for the opportunities to foster interest that may exists in specific endeavors, and then explore the business opportunities around servicing that demand. This is the example that the ‘Tipsy Bartender’ (Skyy John) provides for his Caribbean neighbors – though he now lives in Los Angeles, California. Oh, how much better to foster these passions right here at home in the Caribbean region.

This quest is conceivable, believable and achievable, but it is not easy; it is heavy-lifting. This is the quest of Go Lean/CU roadmap, to do the heavy-lifting to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Way Forward – Caribbean ‘Single Market’ for Media

Posted on April 17, 2019 in Economics, Ethos, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

The host asked American media icon Oprah Winfrey this BIG Question at the promotional event for Apple on March 25, 2019:

“Why are you here?”
Ms. Winfrey: “They are in a Billion pockets …”

———
VIDEO – Oprah to return to TV as part of Apple TV+ – https://youtu.be/8PdJvXfw76k

CNBC Television
Published on Mar 25, 2019 – Oprah Winfrey takes the stage at Apple’s Steve Jobs Theater to announce her inclusion in the company’s new streaming service, Apple TV+.

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This is the reality of the Apple eco-system: 1 billion is 1 billion. The Way Forward for the television-media-video industry is this simple undeniable fact:

Numbers matter.

Numbers matter and size matters … when it comes to media!

This theme has been exhaustingly covered in many previous commentaries by the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean. Consider this sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15858 Network Mandates for a New Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14224 How the Youth are Consuming Media Today
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13474 Future Focused – Radio is Dead … Almost
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8813 Lessons from China – Size Does Matter … for Hollywood
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8328 YouTube Millionaire: ‘Tipsy Bartender’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6464 Sports Role Model – ‘WWE Network’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4381 Net Neutrality: It Matters in the Caribbean too
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3244 Sports Role Model – espnW.

The Caribbean media markets (TV, radio and newspaper) should expect this same change in our region. The devices – computers, tablets, smartphones – will supplant traditional media: TV, radio, newspapers, books, etc..

This eventuality was anticipated in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The roadmap is designed to elevate Caribbean society and the book relates that media – Internet Communications Technologies (ICT) actually – is a BIG element in this elevation quest.

Apple’s devices also proliferate in the Caribbean; (though no where close to 1 billion units). We therefore have the opportunity to prepare our media offerings for direct-to-consumers via their devices. This is already the Go Lean strategy for the new social media site: www.myCaribbean.gov. As related in a previous blog-commentary:

Change has come to the world and to the Caribbean region. The advent of Internet Communications Technologies (ICT) now has voluminous options for media to be delivered without the large footprint … or investment. Now anyone can easily publish VIDEO’s and Music files to the internet and sell them to the public – models abounds: i.e. pay-per-play, or subscription.

Apple – see their strategies and options in the Appendix below – is not the only game in town…

… there is also Google, and sometimes Amazon.

All in all, devices abound; no need for expensive satellites and broadcast towers.

This is the Way Forward for Caribbean media. We must be ready for this New Media eco-system.

This commentary continues this recent series – April 2019 – for the Way Forward for our Caribbean region and individual member-states. In fact, we just recently completed a 4-part series as follows:

  1. Way Forward: Puerto Rico learns its “status” with America
  2. Way Forward: Virgin Islands – America’s youngest colony
  3. Way Forward: Bahamas – “Solutions White Paper” – An Inadequate Plan
  4. Way Forward: Jamaica: The need to reconcile the Past
    ——–
  5. Way Forward: Caribbean Media Strategy & Deliveries

This entire series asserts that “no man is an island” and that “no island is an island”, therefore the full Caribbean region – all 30 member-states and 42 million people – need to combine, collaborate and confederate to form a Single Market for media and other economic activities. Our failure to do so in the past have imperiled our economic, security and governmental engines.

(With no viable Single Market, our people fled and left in exile to other Single Market destinations: US, Canada and EU countries).

We should now be ready for the challenge and change in our Caribbean society; we must be ready to reform and transform, despite the heavy-lifting. We should be up to the task, because the rest of the world is counting the devices – 1 billion for Apple.

We must also count … and be counted. Otherwise our Caribbean people will just be Less Than.

This quest – of the Go Lean/CU roadmap – for the Caribbean Way Forward is conceivable, believable and achievable. We must do the heavy-lifting ourselves to forge our Single Media Market and thereafter make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

About the Book
The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

  • Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
  • Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
  • Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Who We Are
The movement behind the Go Lean book – a non-partisan, apolitical, religiously-neutral Community Development Foundation chartered for the purpose of empowering and re-booting economic engines – stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 14):

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

xxviii. Whereas intellectual property can easily traverse national borders, the rights and privileges of intellectual property must be respected at home and abroad. The Federation must install protections to ensure that no abuse of these rights go with impunity, and to ensure that foreign authorities enforce the rights of the intellectual property registered in our region.

xxx. Whereas the effects of globalization can be felt in every aspect of Caribbean life, from the acquisition of food and clothing, to the ubiquity of ICT, the region cannot only consume, it is imperative that our lands also produce and add to the international community, even if doing so requires some sacrifice and subsidy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation. 

—————

Appendix –  Apple TV app vs. Apple TV Channels vs. Apple TV Plus: What’s the difference?

Apple has three new ways to get you watching more TV shows and movies. Unfortunately they all have very similar names, and all start with “Apple TV.”

On March 25 in Cupertino, Apple CEO Tim Cook finally took the wraps off his company’s latest “service” ambitions. It was an Apple event without any new gadgets. Instead we saw a news and magazine aggregation app, a subscription gaming play and an Apple credit card.

Most of the event focused on streaming TV shows and movies, however, culminating in Apple’s new television service with original shows from stars like Jenifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Kumail Nanjiani and producers like J.J. Abrams and Oprah Winfrey. It’s called Apple TV Plus.

But Apple also talked about updates to its new TV app, which includes a new Channels option. So what’s actually new and what do we know? Here’s a cheat sheet.

Apple TV app

Introduced in 2016, this app for the Apple TV streamer as well as iPhones and iPadsprovides a single place to browse, discover and resume watching TV shows and movies from apps like Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, ESPN, PlayStation Vue and many more. It shows individual episodes and movies but doesn’t let you watch them from within the Apple TV app itself. Instead you’ll select one and get bounced out to the app in question (such as Hulu for The Handmaid’s Tale) to begin or resume watching.

An updated version of the app, coming in May 2019, will integrate purchases from iTunes TV shows and movies, as well as provide suggestions for more TV shows and movies to watch. Apple says the app will also come to smart TVs from Samsung this spring, as well as Sony, LG and Vizio TVs and Roku and Amazon Fire TV streamers and TVs in the future. It would also be available to MacOS computers this fall.

More: Apple TV app coming to Macs, smart TVs in 2019

Apple TV Channels

This is an all-new addition to the Apple TV app that allows subscribers to add content from a variety of partners, including HBO, Showtime, Epix, Starz, Britbox and more. You subscribe within the TV app, with no additional apps, accounts or passwords required. The same goes for watching content: Instead of being bounced out to the HBO Now app, for example, you can watch your Game of Thrones episode within the Apple TV app itself. Users can also share Apple TV channels subscriptions via Apple’s Family Sharing feature.

The service sounds similar to Amazon’s Prime Channels service, available now. Apple didn’t announce pricing, but one report says services like HBO will be discounted.

More: Apple TV Channel’s streaming service is here and wants to run the show

Apple TV Plus

Coming this fall, this is a separate TV streaming service that will be home to original TV shows, movies and documentaries exclusive to Apple. Apple has a multiyear partnership deal with Oprah and deals with Reese Witherspoon, J.J. Abrams and dozens of others. The company has spent more than $1 billion budget and has committed to 30 shows and a handful of movies. They include Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories series, The Morning Show starring Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell about workplace relationships and Little America, which features stories that center around immigrants. Pricing for an Apple TV Plus subscription was not announced.

More: Apple introduces Apple TV Plus for its original shows

Source: Posted March 29, 2019; retrieved April 8 2019 from: https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-tv-app-vs-apple-tv-channels-vs-apple-tv-plus-whats-the-difference/

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Network Mandates for a New Caribbean

Posted on September 26, 2018 in Economics, Ethos, Industries, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Golden Rule: “He who has the gold, makes the rules” …

When it comes to media industry (movies, film, fashion modeling), there are some other relevant idioms; consider this list:

  • Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.
  • Fake it until you can make it.
  • A face out of “Central Casting”.

All of these idioms help us to appreciate that in the media industry you must look the part. So if you have facial or grooming features that are different – zag while everyone else zig – you may not be selected for promotion and production. (Think: Dreadlocks, Afros and Braids).

This is sad! “Look the part”? What part, as determined by who? Obviously, there is an adjudicator as to Good/Bad, Yes/No. Who is that? That’s the opening idiom, the Golden Rule. In the media industry that adjudicator is the producer, director, promoter or media company executive. (See Appendix VIDEO for background on one big Broadcast & Media company).

So at times, even though “you are home”, you may have to act foreign. This is definitely the sad narrative taking place in this story below, when a Caribbean model/beauty queen had been scolded for looking too … “Caribbean”. See the full story here:

Title: Caribbean Next Top Model contestant wants apology from Wendy

ASPIRING international model Gabriella Bernard feels she deserves an apology from former Miss Universe and executive producer of the Caribbean Next Top Model competition, Wendy Fitzwilliam, after she was given an ultimatum on the television show- relax her natural hair or go home.

The particular episode was filmed in Jamaica last year and aired on television in February.

An excerpt featuring Bernard’s experience was posted to Facebook yesterday.

The majority of persons who commented on the video criticised Fitzwilliam for her response to the model’s stance.

Bernard, 24, told the Express via telephone on Thursday that she and other contestants had to undergo a makeover for the segment.

She said Fitzwilliam had the final say in what each girl’s look should be.

“For my look they wanted my hair relaxed,” she said.

In the video, Bernard was seen pleading with a hairdresser not to chemically process her curly tresses as she had spent the last three years growing it.

“I’m ok with texturizing my hair once my curls stay intact. You need to understand my hair is my identity,” she begged.

Bernard told the Express that the show’s producers, judges and hairdresser were nonchalant about how she felt.

“A lot more happened which you didn’t see in the video. But basically I was trying to reason with them but they were like it was no big deal, it’s just hair,” she said, adding that she was told that she could either relax her hair or leave the show.

Bernard’s hair was relaxed and she remained in the competition.

Towards the end of the video she appeared before Fitzwilliam and two other judges- international photographer Pedro Virgil and Caribbean fashion expert Socrates McKinney.

Before critiquing the model’s makeover photograph, Fitzwilliam scolded her for her “naughty” and “unprofessional” behaviour.

Bernard apologised, but explained that she previously had her hair relaxed for 15 years. She said when she transitioned to again wearing her hair natural she began loving herself more.

“We live in a world where the media tells us that we need to have straight hair to be accepted,” Bernard emphasised.

Fitzwilliam said she understood the young lady’s point, as she too had made the transition.

“However, as a young and upcoming model, as a young and upcoming attorney facing the judges and senior counsel, you have to be professional.

Shutting down my salon, creating that mayhem, when there were so many other young women to get done and to look fabulous as well, it’s a loud non-starter,” Fitzwilliam said.

Why didn’t she leave?

Asked why she did not stand her ground and bow out of the competition instead of having her hair relaxed, Bernard explained that she weighed her options and felt that she had reached too far in the competition to turn back.

“I had a conversation with myself and I said if I go home what am I going home to? Because I left my job to go on the show. I put in my application the Thursday and by the following Thursday I was flying out. I told myself that I had already reached this far and this was something that I wanted so much,” she said.

Bernard placed third in the competition.

She said she had always looked up to the former beauty queen and was disappointed by her approach and response.

Bernard has turned her experience on the show into a 20-minute documentary called Black Hair.

The documentary will be shown at the 2018 Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival, from today until Tuesday.

She said she was also lined up for several modelling jobs and competitions.

As for her hair: “Monday actually marks the one year anniversary that I cut my hair and to me it’s growing beautifully.”

Fitzwilliam did not respond to calls from the Express, but she told the Newsday that she had no comment on the issue.

Source: The Daily Express – posted September 20, 2018; retrieved September 25, 2018 from: https://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/caribbean-next-top-model-contestant-wants-apology-from-wendy/article_48563808-bd29-11e8-8047-577ec8f9d0e1.html

While this is an issue of image, the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean asserts that Caribbean people can prosper where they are planted in the Caribbean homeland. At home, they do not have to adapt or comply with any foreign standards. They are home! At a bare minimum, Caribbean beauty should be recognized in the eyes of Caribbean beholders.

At a bare minimum! (For the record, the model in the foregoing article is undeniably beautiful, with her natural hair grooming).

But truth be told, if the media networks in the region are owned by foreign entities, then foreign standards are still “the rule”.

No more!

Change has come to the world and to the Caribbean region. The advent of Internet Communications Technologies (ICT) now has voluminous options for media to be delivered without the large footprint … or investment. Now anyone can easily publish VIDEO’s and Music files to the internet and sell them to the public – models abounds: i.e. pay-per-play, or subscription.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), a technocratic federal government to administer and optimize the economic-security-governing engines of the region’s 30 member-states. Embedded in this roadmap is the plan for the Caribbean Postal Union (CPU) whose focus is  to coordinate the regional mail eco-system plus the www.myCaribbean.gov portal to offer email and social media functionality for all Caribbean stakeholders: 42 million residents, visitors (up to 80 million), trading partners and the 10 million people in the Diaspora.

All of these numbers constitute a media market. Therefore …

… “ICT is the great equalizer” – Go Lean book (Page 198).

The book explains that the CU treaty will forge electronic commerce industries to allow Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to be the great equalizer in economic battles with the rest of the world; this model holds the promise of “leveling the playing field” between small … and large … .

Imagine the deployment of a new Caribbean Network! Not like ABC or NBC (in the US) nor the BBC in England, but rather like the WWE. In a previous blog-commentary it was related that:

This is better! (Every mobile/smart-phone owner walks around with an advanced digital video camera in their pocket). We are now able to have a network without the “network”. Many models abound on the world-wide-web. Previously, this commentary identified one such network (ESPN-W); now the focus is on another, the WWE Network, associated with the World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. This network is delivered via the internet-streaming only (and On-Demand with limited Cable TV systems).

We have so many examples-business models; think: WWE, ESPN-W, YouTube and Netflix …

… surely, we can deploy our own digital, streaming network as well, one just for the Caribbean region … so that we can better exploit the Agents of Change affecting the world – and reset image standards The Go Lean book specifically identifies technology and globalization among the transformations affecting our world (Page 57); it then declares that our region cannot only consume – we must produce – so we need to move to the corner of preparation and opportunity.

We need Caribbean stakeholders to own Caribbean media! We can then impose our own standards and remove restrictions that denigrate our lifestyles. So this issue is bigger than just image; this is having the means by which to control our destiny. Despite all the benefits for our image, this is an economic issue first and foremost. With the Agent of Change of globalization, we now have a product that the rest of the world wants to consume: our culture. Digital media allows us to disseminate that culture electronically, with a small investment footprint.

This is about supply and demand – a basic precept in the study of Economics. The transformation to new media has taken hold. More and more people are consuming electronic media; so much so that it is becoming the mainstay for communications and entertainment. This reference to electronic media does not only convey the visual images of television; there is also the ubiquity of the internet, with its many video streaming services.

Even TV networks are perplexed as to what video streaming will do to their medium. See this summary of a New York Times Business News article here and a related VIDEO:

General Electric wants to sell NBC because of rising losses … [as] a testament to the uncertain future of mainstream media, as the Internet has fractured audiences and few viable business models have emerged for the distribution of content online.

Source: Posted November 30, 2009; retrieved September 26, 2018 from: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/business/media/01deal.html
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VIDEO – The Future Of TV On The Internet, Streaming Services, Subscribership | Squawk Box | CNBC – https://youtu.be/VcKBwSzZArk

CNBC
Published on Dec 1, 2016 – Larry Haverty, Gabelli Multimedia Trust, and Porter Bibb, Mediatech Capital Partners, discuss the changing media landscape as well as the fight for viewers and subscribers. » Subscribe to CNBC: http://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC

About CNBC: From ‘Wall Street’ to ‘Main Street’ to award winning original documentaries and Reality TV series, CNBC has you covered. Experience special sneak peeks of your favorite shows, exclusive video and more.

Connect with CNBC News Online Get the latest news: http://www.cnbc.com/

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The Future Of TV On The Internet, Streaming Services, Subscribership | Squawk Box | CNBC

This is the change that has come to the world … and the Caribbean.

The book Go Lean … Caribbean advocates for the Caribbean region to better prepare for this changing world and to better exploit the Agents of Change affecting us. With ICT, we are now able to have a network without the “network”. Many of the aforementioned online models have shown us that any platform that is nimble and focused can succeed with only a moderate level of investment. So a Caribbean homegrown network-portal, www.myCaribbean.gov, can be impactful and help to elevate our regional eco-systems for ICT, entertainment and television.

While this effort to forge a new Caribbean network is heavy-lifting, it is only the politics that is hard – consensus-building, consolidation and confederation – the technology is easy. This politics, to create a regional Single Media Market, is the purpose of the Go Lean roadmap.

At the outset, the roadmap recognizes the need to develop the homegrown ICT eco-system … with these statements in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 14):

xv. Whereas the business of the Federation and the commercial interest in the region cannot prosper without an efficient facilitation of postal services, the Caribbean Union must allow for the integration of the existing mail operations of the governments of the member-states into a consolidated Caribbean Postal Union, allowing for the adoption of best practices and technical advances to deliver foreign/domestic mail in the region.

xx. Whereas the results of our decades of migration created a vibrant Diaspora in foreign lands, the Federation must organize interactions with this population into structured markets. Thus allowing foreign consumption of domestic products, services and media, which is a positive trade impact. These economic activities must not be exploited by others’ profiteering but rather harnessed by Federation resources for efficient repatriations.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

xxviii. Whereas intellectual property can easily traverse national borders, the rights and privileges of intellectual property must be respected at home and abroad. The Federation must install protections to ensure that no abuse of these rights go with impunity, and to ensure that foreign authorities enforce the rights of the intellectual property registered in our region.

xxx. Whereas the effects of globalization can be felt in every aspect of Caribbean life, from the acquisition of food and clothing, to the ubiquity of ICT, the region cannot only consume, it is imperative that our lands also produce and add to the international community, even if doing so requires some sacrifice and subsidy.

xxxii. Whereas the cultural arts and music of the region are germane to the quality of Caribbean life, and the international appreciation of Caribbean life, the Federation must implement the support systems to teach, encourage, incentivize, monetize and promote the related industries for arts and music in domestic and foreign markets. These endeavors will make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play.

In the Go Lean book and previous blogs, the Go Lean movement asserted that the market organizations and community investments to garner economic benefits of ICT is within reach, with the proper technocracy. As related in a previous blog-commentary, the eco-system for streaming videos – i.e. YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, WWE, ESPN-W, Amazon Prime, etc. – is inclusive of the roadmap’s quest to make the Caribbean region a better place to live, work and play.

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap. There in are the details of the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies that are to be adopted and executed to deliver the ICT solutions for the Caribbean region. Within its 370-pages, the Go Lean book re-affirms the mantra that ICT can be the great equalizer so that small nation-states can compete against large nation-states.

Once we – Caribbean stakeholders – control our network, then we control the standard – what is acceptable, what is NOT. Our declaration: Natural hair, for African-descended people, is Good!

The Go Lean roadmap conveys that we can deploy our own media enterprises to satisfy our own media demands – and maybe even satisfy some of the world’s demand. Yes, Hollywood could be virtual, not just in Hollywood, California, but anywhere; think: iHollywood. Consider how the book related the advocacy for improving the Hollywood-like landscape – the term “Hollywood” is a metonym referring to the overall American Motion Picture (film and television) industry – in the Caribbean; see these summaries, excerpts and headlines from this one page in the book on Page 203 entitled:

10 Ways to Impact Hollywood

1 Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market
This treaty allows for the unification of the region into one market, thereby creating a single economy of 30 member-states, 42 million people and a GDP of over $800 Billion, (circa 2010). With its Los Angeles Trade Mission Office, the CU will empower the economic engines of the region to impact the movie/TV/media industries. One CU mission is to impact globalization by not just consuming media products, but creating it as well. As such, the eco-systems are to be fostered, starting with promoting Hollywood movie studios to film/spend more in the CU region – a function of the CU Department of Commerce. Then the CU will incentivize a local industry by building/supporting facilities, guiding artists, brokering funding and distribution. The CU must assume the role of rating movies for the region.
2 Image Management
Many times Hollywood portrays a “negative” depiction of Caribbean life, culture and people. The CU will have the scale and “muscle” (diplomatic and economic) to effectuate negotiations to better manage the region’s image. When movies are banned that have negative community portrayal, it is normally considered suppressing free speech; but when movies are labeled Rated R or NC-17, then such designations suppresses sales with violating freedoms. Thus ratings have clout.
3 Bollywood
Bollywood is the term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai (Bombay), India. The term is often used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema industry, a metonym. Bollywood is the largest film producer in India and one of the largest centers of film production in the world – (See Appendix ZR on Page 346). Bollywood is a good example of developing and fostering a nascent film industry – the CU can use this as a model.
4 Underwater Filming
5 Respect for Intellectual Property
6 Caribbean Music Soundtracks
7 Movie/TV Studios Production and Sharing
The CU will promote cooperatives for many industrial endeavors, including movie and TV studios. The physical buildings can be jointly owned and time-shared. Many times in Hollywood (California), the same studio is used to produce shows for one network or another. For example, the Bob Barker Studio is used to film the TV Game Show The Price Is Right (for CBS), Real Time with Bill Maher (for HBO), a Soap Opera (for ABC) and sound stages for independent movies.
8 Digital Broadcast (Spectrum) Regulations
The CU will regulate and oversee services that cross national borders of the member-states. This includes broadcast rights (spectrum auctions). While each state have previously regulated TV and radio rights inside their borders, the unification of the single market will require a regional perspective. The value of broadcast rights will also be heightened because of the enlarged market (see Appendix IB), once the multi-language SAP feature is mandated.
9 e-Payments
10 Internet Streaming
The Caribbean Central Bank settlement of electronic payments will provide the payment mechanisms for domestic and foreign media to be downloaded legally. This is not the case now, as each Caribbean nation is too small to negotiate individual-independent solutions. But with a unified population base of 42 million, the CU brings a huge economic clout.

The Go Lean book asserts that the region can be a better place to live, work and play; that the economy can be grown methodically by embracing progressive strategies in ICT and video streaming. This point was further detailed in these previous blogs:

How the Youth are Consuming Media Today – Digitally
YouTube Millionaire: ‘Tipsy Bartender’
UberEverything in Africa – Model for ICT and Logistics
Transformations: Caribbean Postal Union – Delivering the Future
The Future of Money – Necessary for Media Purchases
Truth in Commerce – Learning from Yelp for managing e-Commerce
Net Neutrality: It matters here … in the Caribbean
Amazon’s new FIRE Smartphone – Doubling down on ICT
Grenada PM Urges CARICOM on ICT

This Go Lean roadmap is committed to availing the economic opportunities of ICT but the roadmap is bigger than just media; it’s a concerted effort to elevate all of Caribbean society. The CU is the vehicle for this goal, this is detailed by the following 3 prime directives:

  • Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
  • Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
  • Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

This Go Lean roadmap looks for the opportunities to foster economic growth in the Caribbean and foster good image of our Caribbean people. A Caribbean beauty reflecting her Caribbean heritage is good! While the rest of the world may not grant us that recognition, it will be up to them to change their perceptions. We cannot change the world – yet, but in time – but we can change our Caribbean society; we can reform and transform.

It is heavy-lifting, but we are up to the task. Let’s get started! In time, the rest of the world will conform and embrace this undeniable truth, that the Caribbean is the greatest address on the planet … and that Caribbean people are not Less Than.

This quest is conceivable, believable and achievable. This is the quest of Go Lean/CU roadmap, to do the heavy-lifting to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

———————

Appendix VIDEO – The History of Comcast NBCUniversal – https://youtu.be/aXmTwvLTWRE

Cow Missing
Published on Jul 24, 2017 – In the early years of the twentieth century, NBC and Universal began creating their extraordinary legacies in the exciting new worlds of motion picture production and distribution, location-based entertainment, and radio and television production and broadcasting. Today, as one company under the ownership of Comcast, NBCUniversal continues to build on this legacy of quality and innovation. …

 

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‘Freedom of Speech’ has consequences

Posted on September 5, 2018 in Government, Industries, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

Freedom of Speech is not so absolute!

There are consequences to speech – think: defamation, libel and slander – and so there is the need for some curtailment. One cannot just say anything they want about a person or product and not expect some consequences. There is the classic “Fire in a Crowded Theater” scenario.

The intent is the key.

If one says “fire”, knowing full well that there is no fire, he-she may only want to rile people up and make them stampede; then there may be legal consequences. One can be charged with inciting a riot, willful disregard to safety, depraved indifference or manslaughter.

This is serious … in the physical world.

How about the virtual world?

Same rules … and consequences apply. Now we have medical doctors and clinicians on guard about negative comments-reviews-ratings from patients and customers. See the VIDEO & news story of this threat here:

VIDEO – Surgeon: Online posts were part of patient’s ‘obsession over 10 years’ – https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/health/2018/07/16/surgeon-online-posts-were-part-patients-obsession-over-10-years/788794002/

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Title: Doctors, hospitals sue patients who post negative comments, reviews on social media

By: Jayne O’Donnell and Ken Alltucker

CLEVELAND – Retired Air Force Colonel David Antoon agreed to pay $100 to settle what were felony charges for emailing his former Cleveland Clinic surgeon articles the doctor found threatening and posting a list on Yelp of all the surgeries the urologist had scheduled at the same time as the one that left Antoon incontinent and impotent a decade ago.

He faced up to a year in prison.

Antoon’s 10-year crusade against the Cleveland Clinic and his urologist is unusual for its length and intensity, as is the extent to which Cleveland Clinic urologist Jihad Kaouk was able to convince police and prosecutors to advocate on his behalf.

Antoon’s plea deal last week came as others in the medical community aggressively combat negative social media posts, casting a pall over one of the few ways prospective patients can get unvarnished opinions of doctors.

Among recent cases:

  • Cleveland physician Bahman Guyuron sued a former patient for defamation for posting negative reviews on Yelp and other sites about her nose job. Guyuron’s attorney Steve Friedman says that although the First Amendment protects patients’ rights to post their opinions, “our position is she did far beyond that (and) deliberately made false factual statements.”  A settlement mediation is slated for early August, and a trial is set for late August if no agreement is reached.
  • Jazz singer Sherry Petta used her own website and doctor-rating sites to criticize a Scottsdale, Arizona, medical practice over her nasal tip surgery, laser treatment and other procedures. Her doctors, Albert Carlotti and Michelle Cabret-Carlotti, successfully sued for defamation. They won a $12 million jury award that was vacated on appeal. Petta claimed the court judgment forced her to sell a house and file bankruptcy. The parties would not discuss the case and jointly asked for it to be dismissed in 2016 but declined to explain why.
  • A Michigan hospital sued an elderly patient’s two daughters and a granddaughter over a Facebook post and for picketing in front of the hospital they said mistreated the late Eleanor Pound. The operator of Kalkaska Memorial Health Center sued Aliza Morse, Carol Pound and Diane Pound for defamation, tortious interference and invasion of privacy.

Petta’s attorney, Ryan Lorenz, says consumers need to know there can be consequences if they post factually incorrect information. Lorenz, who has represented both consumers and businesses on cases involving online comments, says consumers are allowed to offer opinions that do not address factual points.

“Make sure what you are saying is true – it has to be truthful,” he says.

“It would be great if the regulators of hospitals and doctors were more diligent about responding to harm to patients, but they’re not, so people have turned to other people,” says Lisa McGiffert, former head of Consumer Reports’ Safe Patient Project. “This is what happens when your system of oversight is failing patients.”

As doctors and hospitals throw their considerable resources behind legal fights, some patients face huge legal bills for posting critiques and other consumers face their own challenges trying to get a straight story.

Experts say doctors take on extra risk when they resort to suing a patient.

Doctors typically can’t successfully sue third-party websites such as Yelp that allow consumer comments, but they can sue patients over reviews.

Even so, “you can win (a case) and still not win,” says Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University’s law school.

Goldman, who has tracked about two dozen cases of doctors suing patients over online reviews, says physicians rarely win the cases and sometimes must pay the patients’ legal fees.

Physician-patient confidentiality rules complicate options for doctors, Goldman says, but they can respond to factually incorrect reviews if the patient agrees to waive confidentiality and publicly discuss the case.

The comments challenged legally are typically those that were left online. Many medical review sites will remove posts they deem offensive or threatening to doctors, as many of Antoon’s or other Kaouk patients’ were. Yelp removes reviews only if they violate the consumer website’s terms of service.

Patients should first bring up complaints directly to the doctor or other medical provider, says Edward Hopkins, an attorney who represented Carlotti, Cabret-Carlotti and their medical practice for part of the case. Other options could include reporting a doctor to state oversight agencies, consulting with an attorney or filing complaints with a state attorneys’ general office.

Advocacy or obsession?

By the time he was arrested last December, Antoon had tried most every option with very little success.

Along the way, Antoon became a patient advocate – volunteering with Consumer Reports’ Safe Patient Project and HealthWatch USA – and advising others who say they were harmed by Kaouk and the Cleveland Clinic.

Cleveland Clinic, one of the top-rated hospitals in the country, has an aggressive legal department. Kaouk and the clinic prevailed in malpractice and fraud cases filed by Antoon and other patients who claimed they were harmed.

Matthew Donnelly, Cleveland Clinic’s deputy chief legal officer, attended Antoon’s criminal hearing in November.

To Kaouk, a decade of negative reviews on social media led to what he considered an escalation when Antoon sent him several emails, including one with a link to an article about a Chinese crackdown on research fraud that could include the death penalty if people were injured or killed.

The day before Antoon posted on Yelp in November, Kaouk was granted a civil stalking protective order against Antoon, which barred him from contacting the doctor.

“What would be next – showing up at my door?” Kaouk said in court. “That’s what we feared.”

In his posts and emails, Antoon documented alleged issues, including Kaouk and the urology department’s lack of credentials to use the robotic device in his surgery. He sent records to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), claiming they showed Kaouk was not present in the operating room during his surgery despite his insistence that only Kaouk could perform the surgery.

The Ohio Medical Board closed its investigation into Kaouk after five years without reprimanding him in any way. Antoon’s complaints to CMS temporarily put the hospital’s $1 billion annual Medicare reimbursement at risk.

Antoon’s claims were rejected, and Kaouk was not held liable for the surgery that left Antoon impotent and incontinent.

Along with more than $40,000 defending himself against the criminal charges, Antoon spent almost two days in jail. He had to post $50,000 bond in Shaker Heights and again in Cleveland’s Cuyahoga County after the case was transferred there.

It’s common “for someone in a position of wealth, power and money to go after someone like David to silence critics,” says Antoon’s attorney, Don Malarcik. “That happens often and it happened here.”

Hospitals, including the Cleveland Clinic, combat negative comments with their own rating systems, which let them “control their message,” McGiffert says.

Some comments posted by Antoon and Dan Galliano, another patient who claimed he was injured, disappeared from the websites RateMDs and Vitals, as shown in screenshots Antoon took right after they were posted.

Cleveland Clinic spokeswoman Eileen Sheil says it posts all the government-required satisfaction survey responses patients fill out about doctors on its ratings site, once at least 30 are received. Comments aren’t edited.

Sheil says Cleveland Clinic will request comments to be removed from other sites when they violate the sites’ terms of service.

RateMDs did not respond to requests for comment. Vitals spokeswoman Rosie Mattio says the site has a care team that will investigate reviews it is contacted about.

“While we will not pull down a necessarily negative review, we will remove the review if we find that it violates our terms and includes material that is threatening, racist or vulgar,” Mattio says.

Navigating Yelp

On Yelp, business owners can flag a review to be removed for violation of Yelp’s terms of services. Yelp reviews flagged comments and removes those that include hate speech or a conflict of interest or that are not based on a commenter’s firsthand experience.

The website doesn’t intervene over factual disputes, Yelp spokeswoman Hannah Cheesman says. Instead, it classifies consumer reviews as “recommended” or “not currently recommended” based on an automated software review.

If Yelp’s software detects multiple reviews from the same IP address or biased reviews from a competitor or disgruntled employee, it puts the comment in the not-recommended category. Consumers can still view such reviews by clicking on another page, but those comments are not factors in Yelp’s five-star rating system.

McGiffert has long advocated for a federal database where people could report medical errors and infections. Unless that happens, online review sites – including hospitals’ own and ones that will remove some reviews doctors object to – are among the only places patients can find physician reviews.

Doctors such as Kaouk suggest they are the ones who are disadvantaged.

“It is something that if anybody would look just by Googling my name online, you would see what he has written about me,”  Kaouk says of Antoon.

O’Donnell reported from Cleveland and McLean, Virginia. Alltucker reported from McLean.
Source: USA Today Daily Newspaper – Published July 18, 2018; Retrieved September 5, 2018
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/07/18/doctors-hospitals-sue-patients-posting-negative-online-comments/763981002/ 

Can they – medical doctors and clinicians who shun negative comments-reviews-ratings – or should they regulate other people’s opinions? This is a BIG deal to contend with, as this issue reflects the current state of Internet Communications Technologies (ICT).

This is the world of New Media; the internet has supplanted all Old Media options, we need to settle this debate sooner, rather than later. While the debate in the foregoing article may be an American drama, the issue is with the World Wide Web.

This is a familiar theme for the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free. Previously this site has presented blog-commentaries that highlight the need for better Internet Stewardship in the Caribbean Cloud. Those submissions presented some comprehensive ideas. See here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14811 “Loose Lips Sink Ships” – Leaders Undermine College Enrollment

Freedom of Speech exercised wrongly could result in less economic activity. This is what is happening in the US, under President Trump, fewer international students are considering, applying and attending American universities. This is a lesson learn for the dangers of Hate Speech.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11224 “Loose Lips Sink Ships” – Leaders Undermine Tourism

Freedom of Speech exercised wrongly could result in less tourism. If leaders make Hate Speech, then fewer people may want to come visit. This is what is happening in the US, under President Trump.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10052 Fake News? Welcome to America

With tabloid journalism and Fake News, the American eco-system features Freedom of False Speech; so mis-information is easily spread. This distortion of truth is not the model for us in the Caribbean.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5435 China Internet Policing – Model for Caribbean

Someone needs to be watching the e-Store. China’s approach is that they actually “police” the internet within their borders. A bridge too far? Perhaps, but there is no debate that there is some need to regulate speech on the internet. It cannot just be the Wild Wild West.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5353 POTUS and the Internet
The President of the United States started using the internet as a freeform communications to his citizens – this turned ugly fast; hate speech proceeded immediately towards Obama.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4793 Truth in Commerce – Learning from Yelp

The e-Commerce site for rating retailers, Yelp, has often been hijacked by Bad Actors to undermine businesses for their own nefarious motives or just out of depraved indifference.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4673 Review “Merchants of Doubt” Documentary

There is a professional industry whose purpose is to conduct disinformation campaigns, plant seeds of doubt and even declare outright lies as dissenting views. These are Bad Actors.

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. Internet & Communications Technology is expected to be a major factor in this roadmap – ‘the great equalizer’. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

  • Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs. ICT strategies, tactics and implementations are paramount in delivering economic empowerments.
  • Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety, ensure justice institutions and protect the resultant economic engines. ICT strategies, tactics and implementations are important in optimizing security provisions, imagine intelligence gathering and analyzing systems.
  • Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies. E-Government will be the hallmark of the CU technocracy, so ICT strategies, tactics and implementations are paramount in delivering better governance.

The requisite investments to deploy the latest-greatest strategies, tactics and implementations in the art and science of ICT are too big for any one Caribbean member-state alone. So the Go Lean book stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 14):

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research-development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society. One advocacy presented in the book – 10 Ways to Improve Communications (Page 186) – focuses on the “art and science” of media (communications). The following tidbits are retrieved from that page:

# 3 – Media Industrial Complex
The CU will oversee the radio spectrum used for radio, television and satellite communications. The radio spectrum must be regulated on a regional level, because the islands are so close to each other and foreign states, that there must be coordination of the common resource pool – the spectrum is limited. This FCC-style (USA) oversight will also extend to internet broadband (wireless & wire-line) governance. With the CU’s financial reforms, the emergence of card-based and e-payment systems will allow for the full exploitation of the media business models. Also, the CU, through licensing, can mandate a certain amount of programming of the educational, inspirational and public service variety.

The Bottom Line on Old Media versus New Media
The internet and mobile communications has changed the modern world; many industries that once flourished (music retailers, travel agencies, book sales, line telephone companies), now flounder. Media distribution via the internet or mobile devices are referred to as “new media”, while old distribution channels like newspapers, magazines, TV and radio are referred to as “old media”. The mainstream (“old”) media is pivotal for “freedom of the press” as they are effective at standing up to big institutions like governments and corporations. The art of “good” journalism requires the deeper pockets that mainstream media bring to the market, but old media is dying financially. New media, on the other hand, is an aggregation of mainstream media. With the ubiquity of new media devices, people have freer, easier access and more options to news and information. On the plus side, there is now a greater diversity of ideas and viewpoints, on the minus side, with too many options, people tend to isolate their news consumption to only the views they want to hear. As new media matures, it is expected that it will take over the social responsibilities of old media, adopt the best practices of journalism, like fact checking (with the ease of information retrieval online), and finally return the industry to financial viability.

In summary, there are 2 Take-aways from this commentary:

(1) While there is  “Freedom of Speech”, there is no freedom from the consequences of speech.

(2) While there is “Freedom of the Press”, if the press is profit-oriented then popularity may be a greater priority than truth.

These dictate that there must be a stronger need for accuracy, integrity and professionalism in the age of New Media – disinformation can cause a lot of harm, fast.

There are lessons for the Caribbean to learn from other lands – America, China, and others. China is heavy-handed with their policing of media outlets, including online. This is definitely a bridge too far … for us in the Caribbean! India, though has a great model of a Chief Grievance Officer.

The Caribbean, sitting on the border with the United States of America allows us to look-listen-learn from the American experience. Our conclusion: We do not want to be America … we want to be better.

Yes, we can … get this right, and make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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How the Youth are Consuming Media Today

Posted on February 12, 2018 in Economics, Industries, Social

Go Lean Commentary

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

People have always consumed media; the technology may change, but the consumption continues; see the flow of methods throughout history:

  • Scrolls
  • Books
  • Telegraphs
  • Newspapers/Magazines
  • Electronic Media: Radio, Television, Phonographs, etc.
  • Digital Media: Internet & Communications Technologies

Today, young people are consuming media as digital, but the ancient Bible prophecy still applies; maybe even more than ever right now:

Beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body. – Ecclesiastes 12:12; The New American Standard Bible

So though technology may change, the consumption of media always continue: music is being played, stories are being told (on the screen), books are being read, hours upon hours are being spent (by each individual consumer). Only now, this consumption is transpiring with a digital transformation.

So make that e-Books, not just books.

… and make that music streamed and not just played.

… and make that a small screen (smartphones) and not just screen.

The world has changed, is changing now and will continue to change. Technology is an Agent of Change. For the Caribbean, this is not just a matter of “keeping up with the Joneses”; the problem now is that the “Joneses” have a competitive advantage; they are “eating our lunch”. Those best equipped to contend with this Agent of Change, our most educated ones, are abandoning us more and more as each day goes by. One report relates an average of 70 percent of the tertiary educated population fleeing. The abandonment is a direct result of our failure to compete.

See this Variety news article here relating the digital transformation for the music industry:

Title: With 70 Million Subscribers and a Risky IPO Strategy, Is Spotify Too Big to Fail?

By: Jem Aswad and Janko Roettgers

Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood has served as the home of Spotify’s U.S. headquarters since 2010, but not for much longer.

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Vesa Moilanen/REX/Shutterstock (7529625p)
Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek
Slush event, Helsinki, Finland – 30 Nov 2016
Slush is the focal point for startups and tech talent to meet with top-tier international investors, executives and media

Later this year, the streaming music company plans to move most of its 1,200 New York-based employees into 14 floors at 4 World Trade Center in the rejuvenated Financial District. As part of the deal for the 15-year lease, New York is granting an $11 million rent reduction in exchange for keeping more than 800 jobs in the state and adding 1,000 more employees.

But Spotify will make its presence felt in Lower Manhattan in 2018 in more ways than one. Sometime in the coming months at the New York Stock Exchange, just blocks away from its new home, the company will embark on what’s known as a direct listing, an unconventional initial public offering method that has never before been attempted on such a large scale.

Spotify and Wall Street aren’t the only ones that will be anxiously watching; count the music industry in as well. Its fortunes are largely bound with Spotify, which is becoming the industry’s top music distributor. Should the Sweden-based firm’s bold move backfire, its partners at the major record labels will feel the pain too.

“Just think about their depth of influence in the world,” says Capitol Music Group chairman-CEO Steve Barnett of Spotify. “[A recent Nielsen] report noted that Americans are spending more than 32 hours a week listening to music — up from [23.5] hours in two years. That tells you, for all the mistakes the industry made over a long period of time, things have been corrected.”

…

Spotify may draw some inspiration from Amazon, which lost hundreds of millions of dollars in its first few years as a public company, but investors stuck with the stock because the e-tailer reliably grew its business every quarter. On the other hand, Twitter and Snapchat stumbled not because of their monetary losses but primarily because of stalling user growth.
…
See the remainder of this article here: http://variety.com/2018/music/features/spotify-ipo-wall-street-music-industry-1202674266/ posted January 22, 2018; retrieved February 12, 2018.

In a previous Go Lean commentary, it was detailed how educational institutions are turning to tablets rather than textbooks. It is cheaper, faster to market and more engaging for young people. This is the point! Young people are more receptive to the efficiency of emerging (electronic) media outlets than the older generations. But that is the market that counts. Remember:

  • Young people are the ones that buy music
  • Young people go to the movies every weekend
  • Young people spur new trends
  • Young people will watch TV programming for young and older audiences, while older ones would not watch young programming; i.e. cartoons.

In addition to the efficiency of electronic or New Media, there is also the matter of effectiveness. Old Media has historically been a source for abuse and bullying, especially for young participants. New Media now allows for better options: direct-to-consumer deliveries and the bypass of the middle-man. The past Crony-Capitalism of media middle-men has often been the source of societal dysfunction. So the hope is that the effectiveness of New Media will bring more media productions.  This hope is realized! See this VIDEO here depicting the completion from direct-to-consumer streaming and the resultant decline on traditional television, Old Media:

VIDEO – The Real Reason Behind The Big Bang Theory’s Ratings Drop – https://youtu.be/aHvJkaGdY6A

Published on January 10, 2018 – After more than a decade as a CBS primetime mainstay, The Big Bang Theory remains one of the most popular shows on TV. However, fewer and fewer people are regularly tuning in to see what the most famous fictional nerds in the world are up to each week. So how come Big Bang isn’t popping the way it used to? Let’s explore …

TV ratings are down overall | 0:21
It’s hard to stream | 1:02
Blame football | 1:48
It’s part of a dying breed | 2:51
It’s a different show | 3:35
It’s inevitable | 4:19
Read more here → http://www.nickiswift.com/102976/real…

As related in the foregoing VIDEO, the Number One scripted television show is still Number One, but the audience is smaller, for television in general. Change is afoot!

So the media industry has moved forward, but with economic success “bad actors” always emerge. This consistent theme is presented by the movement behind the book Go Lean… Caribbean (Page 23). The book calls for the Caribbean to take its own lead in being “on guard” for bad actors and Crony-Capitalistic abuses. This means not being an American parasite.

As related in a previous commentary, the Go Lean movement asserts that the Caribbean region must not allow the US to take the lead for our own nation-building, that American capitalistic interest tends to highjack policies intended for the Greater Good. The recommendation in the roadmap is the key strategy of leveraging the needs of all 42 million people (4 languages) and become an American protégé, not parasite.

This Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), to manage this change for New Media. We especially want to engage Caribbean young people with this foray into New Media. The youth of the Caribbean is the future of the Caribbean. The CU/Go Lean roadmap has 3 future-focused prime directives:

  • Optimization of the economic engines – and the educational apparatus – in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
  • Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
  • Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The Go Lean roadmap provides turn-by-turn directions on how to leverage the full Caribbean population, that’s a media market of 42 million people – in 4 languages. This roadmap is presented as a planning tool, pronouncing the collaborative benefits of a Single Market. This agenda was pronounced early in the book in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12 & 14):

viii.  Whereas the population size is too small to foster good negotiations for products and commodities from international vendors, the Federation must allow the unification of the region as one purchasing agent, thereby garnering better terms and discounts.

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xxi. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

The Go Lean book presents a roadmap for a confederation of the 30 Caribbean member-states doing the heavy-lifting of optimizing economic and media policies. Within its 370-pages, the Go Lean book details future-focused policies; and other ethos to adopt, plus the executions of strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to impact the media landscape in the region.

The Go Lean roadmap calls for bridging the Digital Divide, deploying a homegrown Social Media network and fostering technology in general. In addition to just communicating with 42 million people, we must do so in 4 general languages (Dutch, English, French and Spanish). So, the plan is for the CU to steer policy and capital to digital delivery and New Media.

Websites, music streaming, tablets and e-Books should be all the rage.

The foregoing news article and VIDEO relate to topics that should be of serious concern for Caribbean planners. We want to foster New Media and propel forward for the Caribbean’s best interest. No, we do not want to be parasites of America; we want to be better.

Many of these issues have been addressed in previous Go Lean blog-commentaries; consider this sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13474 Future Focused – Radio is Dead … Almost
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13321 Making a ‘Pluralistic Democracy’ – Multilingual Realities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10750 Less and Less People Reading Newspapers
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9751 Where the Jobs Are – Animation and Game Design
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8328 YouTube Millionaire: ‘Tipsy Bartender’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2126 Where the Jobs Are – Computers Reshaping Global Job Market
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1698 STEM Jobs Are Filling Slowly
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=459 CXC and UK textbook publisher hosting CCSLC workshops in Barbados – Previewing e-Books

In general, the Go Lean book and movement projects a Cyber Caribbean (Page 127):

Forge electronic commerce industries so that the internet communications technology (ICT) can be a great equalizer in economic battles of global trade. This includes e-Government (outsourcing and in-sourcing for member-states systems) and e-Delivery, Postal Electronic Last Leg mail, e-Learning and wireline/wireless/satellite initiatives.

Strategically, the Go Lean roadmap posits that  we must compete as a homeland. We must keep our young people excited about their future prospect here in the region. To succeed in the competition of the global marketplace, our region must not only consume but rather also create, produce, and distribute intellectual property. We must be technocratic!

These are hallmarks of the CU technocracy: policies that reflect a future-focus.

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and school administrations, to lean-in for the changes described in the book Go Lean…Caribbean. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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ENCORE: Its Time to Watch the SuperBowl … and Commercials … Again

Posted on February 3, 2018 in Economics, Industries, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

It’s SuperBowl time again. This year the BIG game is being played on February 4, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota between the New England Patriots (again) and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Expect BIG happenings and BIG fanfare and a BIG audience. And hopefully an exciting game.

Also, with that BIG audience, expect BIG TV commercials, and a BIG price tag for those ads … (NBC will charge an average of $5 million for a 30-second spot).

See here below, an ENCORE of the blog-commentary from January 29, 2015 detailing the economic impact of SuperBowl commercials. The business model is still the same, so we can expect that the TV spots will try even harder to solicit and entertain us this year … again.

————

CU Blog - Watch the SuperBowl ... Commercials - Photo 2The publishers of the book Go Lean…Caribbean encourages you to watch the Big Game on Sunday (February 1, 2015), Super Bowl XLIX from Phoenix –area, Arizona, between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. Pull for your favorite team and enjoy the half-time show (Katy Perry). It’s all free! It’s being paid for by the advertisers.

So as to complete the full economic cycle, be sure to watch the commercials; because this is Big Money; Big Stakes and a Big Deal. The 2014 version, Super Bowl XLVIII on FOX Broadcast Network was the most watched television program in US history with 111.5 million viewers.[15][16] The Super Bowl half-time show featuring Bruno Mars was the most watched ever with 115.3 million viewers.[15][16] Now, it’s not just TV, but “second- screen” (computers, tablets & mobile devices) as well; this is now tweet-along-with-us programming; notice the #BestBuds Twitter identifier in the following Ad:

VIDEO – http://youtu.be/EIUSkKTUftU  – 2015 Budweiser Clydesdale Beer Run

Published on Jan 23, 2015 – It’s time for your Super Bowl beer run. Don’t disappoint a Clydesdale. Choose Budweiser for you and your #BestBuds on epic Super Bowl weekend!

For $4.5 million per 30 second ad, an advertiser had better get the “maximum bang for the buck”; but 30 seconds is still only 30 seconds. Enter the “second-screen”; now advertisers can stretch the attention of their audience by directing them to internet websites, Twitter followings and even YouTube videos and Facebook videos.

See these related stories, (sourced mostly from Variety.com – Hollywood & Entertainment Business Magazine; (retrieved 01-29-2015):

1. WATCH: Super Bowl 2015 Commercials

Audiences no longer need to wait until the Big Game to watch Super Bowl commercials, with an increasing number of marketers opting to release their spots days before kickoff. This year is no different, with Budweiser, Budweiser, Bud Light, Kia, Mercedes-Benz USA, T-Mobile, Victoria’s Secret, BMW, even Paramount with “Hot Tub Time Machine 2,” among those having already posted their ads online [on sites like YouTube].

The reason? The high cost to play the Super Bowl promo blitz is one. At around $4.5 million per 30 second ad, buying time during the match up between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots is at record levels. NBC is airing the game February 1.

2. Super Bowl Ads: NBC Turns to Tumblr to Post Spots After They Air on TV

NBC Sports has launched a new Super Bowl page on Yahoo’s [social media site] Tumblr that the programmer will use to feature Super Bowl XLIX’s TV ads immediately after they air on NBC on Sunday, February 1.

The new NBC Sports Tumblr page, accessible via NBCSports.com/Ads, will be populated with original content ahead of Super Bowl Sunday created by the NBC Sports’ marketing media team, as well as from re-blogging NFL-related Tumblr posts. On game day, the page will convert into a hub for Super Bowl TV ads.

3. NBCU Will Use Super Bowl XLIX Free Live-Stream to Promote Pay-TV Online Services

NBCUniversal will launch an 11-hour free digital video stream — centered around live coverage of this year’s Super Bowl — in a bid to get users to log in to its “TV Everywhere” (TVE) services across its broadcast and cable portfolio the rest of the year.

The Peacock’s “Super Stream Sunday” event will include NBC’s presentation of the Super Bowl, as well as the halftime show toplined by Katy Perry. The live-stream will kick off at 12 p.m. ET on Feb. 1 with NBC’s pregame coverage and concludes with an airing of a new episode of primetime drama “The Blacklist” at approximately 10 p.m. ET.

Ordinarily, access to the NBC Sports Live Extra and NBC.com content requires users to log in using credentials from participating [Pay] TV providers. The free promo is aimed at driving usage of TVE, to ensure those subscribers keep paying for television service.

“We are leveraging the massive digital reach of the Super Bowl to help raise overall awareness of TV Everywhere by allowing consumers to explore our vast TVE offering with this special one-day-only access,” said Alison Moore, GM and Exec VP of TV Everywhere for NBCU.

NBC does not have NFL live-streaming rights on smartphone devices, which the league has granted exclusively to Verizon Wireless. As such, the “Super Stream Sunday” content will be available on tablets and desktop computers.

4. Facebook may be the big winner of this year’s Super Bowl

For  retailer Freshpet, a new ad campaign video was released to both YouTube and Facebook this past December. It quickly went viral. That wasn’t that surprising. The surprising part was the disparity between views on YouTube compared to Facebook.  On YouTube, the video has racked up around 7.5 million views so far. On Facebook, the figure is 20 million. “It was fairly eye-opening,” he says. “Things are evolving really quickly.”

With stats like that, this might be the first year in which views of Super Bowl ads on Facebook eclipse those of YouTube.

No wonder then that many advertisers in the big game are looking to go Facebook native.

Show-business has changed. Sports has changed. TV has changed…

… there is now time-shifted viewing (DVR) and on-demand platforms offering an alphabetical menu of shows.

These changes are where this commentary relates to the Caribbean. The changing TV landscape affects the Caribbean region as well, or at least it should. This book Go Lean… Caribbean, serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The roadmap has 3 prime directives:

  • Optimization of economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
  • Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines and marshal against economic crimes.
  • Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

CU Blog - Watch the SuperBowl ... Commercials - Photo 1The roadmap recognizes and fosters more sports business in the region. The genius qualifiers – athletic talent – of many Caribbean men and women are already heightened. The goal now is foster the local eco-system in the homeland so that those with talent would not have to flee the region to garner the business returns on their athletic investments. This Go Lean economic empowerment roadmap strategizes to create a Single Media Market to leverage the value of broadcast rights for the entire region, utilizing all the advantages of cutting edge ICT offerings. The result: an audience of 42 million people across 30 member-states and 4 languages, facilitating television, cable, satellite and internet streaming wherever economically viable.

Early in the book, the benefits of sports and technology empowerment is pronounced in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 13 & 14), with these opening statements:

xiii.      Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

xiv.      Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

xv.      Whereas intellectual property can easily traverse national borders, the rights and privileges of intellectual property must be respected at home and abroad. The Federation must install protections to ensure that no abuse of these rights go with impunity, and to ensure that foreign authorities enforce the rights of the intellectual property registered in our region.

xxxi.      Whereas sports have been a source of great pride for the Caribbean region, the economic returns from these ventures have not been evenly distributed as in other societies. The Federation must therefore facilitate the eco-systems and vertical industries of sports as a business, recreation, national pastime and even sports tourism – modeling the Olympics.

The region has the eco-system of free broadcast television, and the infrastructure for internet streaming. So the issues being tracked for this year’s Super Bowl have bearing in the execution of this roadmap.

The Go Lean roadmap was developed with the community ethos in mind to forge change and build up the communities around the sports world, plus the execution of related strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to make the change permanent. The following is a sample of these specific details from the book:

Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways Page 21
Community Ethos – Return on Investments Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius Page 27
Community Ethos – Promote Intellectual Property Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good Page 37
Strategic – Vision – Consolidating the Region in to a   Single Market Page 45
Strategic – Staffing – Sporting Events at Fairgrounds Page 55
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Sports & Culture Administration Page 81
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Fairgrounds Administration Page 83
Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities – Fairgrounds Page 105
Implementation – Ways to Deliver Page 109
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – #5 Four Languages in Unison / #8 Cyber Caribbean Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Education – Sports Academies to Foster Talent Page 159
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Local Government – Parks & Recreation Page 169
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Events Page 191
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Fairgrounds Page 192
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology – Intellectual Property Protections Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Empower Women Page 226
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Youth Page 227
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Sports Page 229
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living – Sports Leagues Page 234

This commentary previously featured subjects related to developing the eco-systems of the sports business, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3999 Breaking New Ground in the Changing Show-business Eco-System
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3641 ‘We Built This City on ‘ …Show-business
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3414 Levi’s® Stadium: A Team Effort for the Big Business of Sports
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3244 Sports Role Model – Broadcasting / Internet Streaming: espnW.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2222 Sports Role Model – Playing For Pride … And More
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2171 Sports Role Model – Turn On the SEC Network
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2152 Sports Role Model – US versus the World
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1446 Caribbean Players in the 2014 World Cup
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1341 Sports Role Model – College World Series Time
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1148 Sports Bubble – Franchise values in basketball
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1092 Aereo – Model for the Future of TV Blending with the Internet
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1020 Sports Revolutionary: Advocate Jeffrey Webb
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=318 Collegiate Sports in the Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273 10 Things We Want from the US – # 10: Sports Professionalism
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=60 Could the Caribbean Host the Olympic Games?

The Go Lean book focuses primarily on economic issues, but it recognizes that sports and its attendant functions can build up a community, nation and region. But the quest to re-build, re-boot and re-tool the Caribbean will be more than just kids-play, it must model the Super Bowl and act like a Big Business.

The Go Lean roadmap describes the heavy-lifting activities for the many people, organizations and governments to accomplish this goal. But the goal is conceivable, believable and achievable. We can make the region a better place to live, work and play.

🙂

Download the free e-book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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Future Focused – e-Government Portal 101

Posted on November 15, 2017 in Government, Implementation

Go Lean Commentary

It is really important to transform the Caribbean for the future. It will require rebooting all societal engines: economics, security and governance.

In the course of this series of blog-commentaries on the Caribbean Future, we have addressed the economic issues, particularly related to education; we have addressed homeland security and we have addressed media (radio). This final submission is Part 5 of 5 in this series and it contemplates a preview of the future of government engagement. The full series is catalogued as follows:

  1. Future Focused – Personal Development and the Internet
  2. Future Focused – College, Caribbean Style
  3. Future Focused – Radio is Dead
  4. Future Focused – Policing the Police
  5. Future Focused – e-Government Portal 101

The Caribbean status quo is dire. But our future can be so much better. This is the power of hope!

The subject of hope has been a consistent subject for this movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free. In a previous commentary, it was related that “Hope and Change” is vital to engage the young people in society. Without change, young people will demand it! This is because a vital ingredient of youth is hope, if they see no hope, then they will just disengage and abandon their community. That blog included  this excerpt:

There are some protest movements – around the world  – in recent times where young people have engaged to get attention, to foment their prospects for Hope and Change:

  • Arab Spring – Young people in one Arab & North African country after another stood-up in protest of their status quo.
  • Occupy Wall Street – Young people in the US complained in enduring street protests outside Wall Street.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean … chronicled the rise of these protest movements. It showed how people at the grass-roots level are able to effect change on the policies and priorities of their country. This is the bottoms-up strategy for forging change; there is also the top-down strategy: getting the political leaders to propose new legislation. Both approaches could be effective in the quest to elevate the 30 member-states in the Caribbean region. The State of our Caribbean Union is that we are in need; we must reform and transform our region; it is not optional; it must be done in order to offer “Hope and Change” to the young people of the Caribbean. [Otherwise,] the book states in the opening (Page 3):

    Our youth, the next generation, may not be inspired to participate in the future workings of their country; they may measure success only by their exodus from their Caribbean homeland.

So without hope, we have no children – they will leave; without children, we have no future!

This is an important discussion. We must forge change in Caribbean society to dissuade our young people from leaving. This is what the Go Lean book presents, a workable roadmap to effect change in all societal engines. In fact, the roadmap features these 3 Future Focused prime directives:

  • Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
  • Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
  • Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

In each Caribbean member-state, the government is the largest employer! So we must engage governing processes in order to foster change. How can we improve Caribbean governance so as to bring change to our society?

Among the strategies, tactics and implementations in the Go Lean roadmap, is the deployment of e-Government services, systems and solutions. The Go Lean book explains how this implementation can streamline operations – lean, no heavy bureaucracy – for every level of government: municipal, state and the CU federal level. A type of computing implementation can leverage productivity against a very small level of staffing. See how a lean structure is portrayed in the book (Page 51):

A lot of office automation and data processing can be provided in-house by [for] member-state governments by [the CU] simply installing / supporting computer mainframe/midrange systems, servers, and client workstations; plus supplementing infrastructural needs like power and mobile communications. The CU’s delivery of ICT [(Internet & Communications Technologies)] systems, e-Government, contact center and in-source services (i.e. property tax systems [and www.myCaribbean.gov]) can put the burden on systems continuity at the federal level and not the member-states. (This is the model of Canada with the federal delivery of provincial systems and services – some Provincial / Territorial presence / governance is completely “virtual”).

The Go Lean book presents the plan to deploy many e-Government provisions so as to deliver on the ICT promise. This is what it means to be Lean – maximize value while minimizing waste. The book references the roles and responsibilities of these e-Government models in many iterations; this shows the Future Focus of the Go Lean roadmap; see a sample here:

  • 10 Ways to Close the Digital Divide (Page 31)
    #9 – Smart Phones & Mobile Apps
    There are business drivers for the further development of mobile applications. With the proliferation of smart-phones, consumers have a computer in their pocket that is more powerful than mainframe computers from the 1970’s. Mobile applications allow for the coordination of “time and place” to convert internet browsing to real-time purchasing. The CU will capitalize on this growth and even deploy mobile apps of our own (i.e. appointments processing, bar codes) for myCaribbean.gov portal and e-government deliveries.
  • 10 Ways to Improve Sharing (Page 35)
    #2 – Data / Social Network
    The CU will deploy a MyCaribbean.gov web portal (including mobile) to allow every citizen access to e-Delivery of government services. The CU … will thereafter spearhead the effort to capture as much raw data as possible from the portal and other e-Government data repositories throughout the region. This will allow the sharing of economic, census, trade, consumption, macro performance and sociological data.
  • Separation of Powers (Page 74)
    A3 – Treasury Department: Union Revenue Administration
    The CU deployment of e-Government services for federal and member-state government functionality will allow economies of scale for all stakeholders. This is envisioned for property records-tax assessment-collections, income taxes, auto registrations, vital records, human resources-payroll, back-office (accounting), and regulatory-compliance-audit functionality. In addition, a lot of government services will be delivered electronically: email, cash disbursements on a card-based benefits card, ACH and electronic funds transfer measure for expenditures and revenue collections.
  • 10 Ways to Improve Mail Service (Page 108)
    #10 – Post Office Buildings with e-Government Kiosks
    Post Office (PO) facilities will have kiosks and access booths so that citizens can interact with different CU and State governmental agencies. (Similar to processing passports at US Post Offices). Time slots will have to be reserved or rationed. All CU e-Government interactions can be delivered via the web (e-Delivery) or at PO …
  • 10 Ways to Deliver (Page 109)
    #9 – Big Data Analysis
    The CU’s embrace of e-Government and e-Delivery models allows for a lot of data to be collected and analyzed so as to measure many aspects of Caribbean life, including: trade, economic, consumption, societal values and macro-performance, and media consumption. This way, “course adjustments” can be made to strategic and tactical pursuits.
  • 10 Ways to Impact Social Media (Page 111)
    #6 – Contact Center for e-Government Services
    The CU will deliver government services with the embrace of Internet & Communication Technologies (ICT). Caribbean stakeholders can interact with CU government (plus CU-enabled member-states) via web, social media and phone portals. When in-personal attention is needed, video conferencing options (Skype, Google+) will be a supplemental tool.
  • 10 Ways to Impact Elections (Page 116)
    #6 – e-Government – Registration
    The CU will allow for economies-of-scale with local government by deploying e-Government services. This is envisioned for voter registration and vital records system processing. While the CU does not have responsibility for local elections, the member-states can in-source the processing to the CU to enjoy the cost savings, & service optimizations.
  • 10 Big Ideas (Page 127)
    #8 – Cyber Caribbean
    Forge electronic commerce industries so that the internet communications technology (ICT) can be a great equalizer in economic battles of global trade. This includes e-Government (outsourcing and in-sourcing for member-states systems) and e-Delivery, Postal Electronic Last Leg mail, e-Learning and wireline/wireless/satellite initiatives.
  • 10 Ways to Measure Progress (Page 146)
    #7 – myCaribbean.gov Portal
    The www.myCaribbean.gov web/mobile portal will allow every citizen access to e-Delivery of government services. The Commerce Department will thereafter spearhead the effort to capture as much raw data as possible from the portal and other e-Government data repositories throughout the region. This allows for more consumption and sociological data.

The future – with the deployments of electronic government systems – is now! See the sample example of the US State of Florida here; most interactions with that government can be consumed via their http://www.myflorida.com/ portal:

< Click to Enlarge >

The technology is ready and the need is acute, so Caribbean people must get ready and deploy e-Government now.

It is easier than one may think – see a sample VIDEO demonstration here; instead of software, imagine this Perceptive Customer Portal for Government Services:

VIDEO – A Guide to Using the New Perceptive Software Customer Portal – https://youtu.be/40WDRhoQ6fY

Lexmark Enterprise Software

Published on Feb 16, 2015 – The new Perceptive Software Customer Portal is a single sign-on, one-stop shop for the Community, Cases, Knowledgebase, Product Documentation, Technical Overviews and more. This handy demo demonstrates how to navigate the new portal and its features to maximize your Perceptive experience and investment.

There would be no need to engage advanced computer programmers to launch the www.myCaribbean.gov portal. Complete software packages can be bought “off the shelf”; see an article on software package options in the Appendix below.

e-Government had been discussed in previous blog-commentaries, depicting the Future Focus of the CU/Go Lean roadmap:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13321 ICT Model: Making a Pluralistic Democracy and Multilingual Society
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7991 Transformations: Caribbean Postal Union – Delivering the Future
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=888 How to Re-invent Government in a Digital Image – Book Review

Let’s do this; this e-Governmental transformation! Let’s do all of these Future Focused activities detailed in this 5-part series:

  1. Future Focused – Personal Development and the Internet
  2. Future Focused – College, Caribbean Style
  3. Future Focused – Radio is Dead
  4. Future Focused – Policing the Police
  5. Future Focused – e-Government Portal 101

This is the kind of Future Focused efforts that are needed to reform and transform Caribbean governments and society in general. We must transform our governments, and create the new CU Trade Federation – a federal government – now. We urge all stakeholders to lean-in to this CU/Go Lean roadmap to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

————-

Appendix – What is Portal Software?
By: Cathy Reisenwitz in IT Management

Y’all know what a portal looks like.

A portal provides selective access to information and people. It features, at a minimum, built-in content management functionality including document management and search.

Here are some things you might want to put behind your portal:

  • E-mail
  • Customer relationship management (CRM) tools
  • Company/organization information/news
  • Workgroups
  • Electronic bulletin boards
  • Group chat
  • Calendars

Here is an overview of what portal software is, what it does, where it’s going, and what to ask your vendors.

Portal software vs alternative kinds of software
Some people use intranet software for portal functionality. But portal software often offers more options, automation functionality, organization help, and interactivity, according to SearchCIO.

Many IT departments are looking accomplish their portal goals without using traditional portal software.  Similarly, vendors are abandoning the “portal” terminology. “The term ‘portal’ is outdated and holds negative associations for the many organizations where the portal initiatives have failed, or grown old or stale,” according to Gartner researchers Jim Murphy and Gene Phifer, writing in Elevate Your Horizontal Portal to a Digital Experience Platform.

“In addition, ‘portal’ lacks any appeal to an increasingly business- (versus IT-)savvy audience.” In Build an Enduring Portal Strategy for a Wave of Change on the Web Murphy points out that a “portal” doesn’t offer any inherent business value itself. Plus, many vendors don’t want to compete with established portal players.

More and more portal software vendors are using qualitative terms such as “experience” and “engagement” to describe their products, according to Murphy and Phifer.

Some organizations use web content management systems (WCMs), social platforms, and e-commerce platforms to create portals. “A WCM product is often a better choice as the anchor technology for an enterprise portal,” Murphy and Phifer write. Others use and extend other software, including ERP or CRM. The rest build their portal platforms using a multiple open-source tools and components. Murphy and Phifer recommend a digital experience platform.

Gartner no longer includes portal software in its Hype Cycles. The Hype Cycle for Human-Machine Interface, 2016 includes digital experience platform (DXP) frameworks, which evolved from portals and WCM. The change from portal to DXP began in 2009, when software vendors began to offer platforms for creating the digital experience because “traditional approaches for creating web, portal and mobile assets were not meeting end-user or IT needs.”

Whatever you want to call it, there’s still demand for an easy, reliable, authoritative, and accessible way to store and access relevant information to support decisions and activities.

Who’s buying portal software?
Many “digital experience” and “engagement” vendors are reaching out to chief marketing officers, heavily promoting the marketing use case because digital marketing is making the investments in digital experience.

The two types of portal software
Gartner categorizes portal software into “lean” and “robust.”

Murphy and Phifer contrast lean portals with comprehensive, robust suites. Lean portals can often pay for themselves with increased efficiencies faster than portal products from larger, more-established vendors. “While organizations adopting traditional, heavyweight portals or emerging UXPs may take years to avail themselves of even 20% of the full range of capabilities, organizations adopting lean portals employ 80% of the functionality they need within months,” Murphy and Phifer write.

However, if you’ve got complex, legacy systems in place that must integrate with your portal, you may not be able to go lean.

…

Popular portal software vendors

According to SearchCIO, Corechange, Epicentric, Hummingbird, and Plumtree are leading portal softwares.

The Hype Cycle for Human-Machine Interface, 2016 lists Adobe, Backbase, IBM, Liferay, Microsoft, Oracle, Oxcyon, Salesforce, SAP, and Sitecore as sample vendors in the DXP space.

…

Source: Posted December 14, 2016; retrieved November 14, 2017 from: https://blog.capterra.com/what-is-portal-software/

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