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End of Assignment Reflections - Jonathan White

I wanted to share my thoughts on the experience of putting myself in Che's shoes as a strategic thinker. I very much enjoyed this assignment and the opportunity it presented to find out more about a specific strategic leader, understanding their mindset and life story, and transferring their strategic vision to the use of modern Information Systems from the 21st century. Our group held regular brainstorming sessions in which we would iterate through a timeline of Che's life and suggest creative ideas of how IS could have been used to his advantage in those different situations.

Overall I enjoyed the element of creativity this assignment encouraged and the chance to apply what we learned in an interactive group-think activity. I also enjoyed being a news presenter in a couple of videos I made for this blog - my fellow blogger David assured me that if my degree doesn't work out, I have a career in investigative journalism!

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End of Assignment Reflections - Jamison Engels

Considering this project is coming to a close tomorrow, I wanted to post a short reflection on it. Overall I really enjoyed this project and the alternative learning style it implemented. Che to me was always just a face on t-shirts and I never really knew his background and the history around him beyond the “that communist guy”. Having to think about Che in a modern sense gave me a much greater understanding of both my motives and strategy. Even though Che was around during a relatively technologically advance time period, it is interesting to think about how something as simple as a smart phone could have affected his whole life. It really emphasizes the tactical advantages of powerful information systems for any leader.  Especially since Che pioneered the modern tactics and strategy behind guerilla warfare, Che really had to utilize the information systems he had at the time to their fullest potential. Outside the scope of the research, I did really enjoy maintaining a blog and interacting with other members on the site. Our blog is open to the world and we actually got a few random followers who also post Che related content which is find funny. Furthermore, this style of learning works incredibly well during these times of remote learning. Having to post something once per week on a platform people actually use over a boring blackboard post is more engaging in my opinion. Thats just my 2cents though! 

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PODCAST: A Day in the Life with Che

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Che & An "Influencer Marketing" Strategy

In 1966, Che Guevara began his attempt to incite the people of Bolivia to revolt against their government - with little success however. What if Che had harnessed the power of Youtube, Instagram, and Facebook influencers for this failed movement, in his final years?

The Digital Marketing Institute explains how these new wave of influencers are now "more relatable than traditional celebrities" and marketers are paying significant attention (20 Surprising Influencer Marketing Statistics | DMI, 2021). In a "Think with Google" report from 2016, a startling statistic revealed that 7 in 10 users on the Youtube platform say that YouTube influencers "change and shape culture" (O’Neil-Hart and Blumenstein, 2016). This suggests that using this "influencer marketing" may have been ideal for peddling Che's ideology and vision. Leveraging such a powerful marketing tactic could have been exactly what Che would have needed in the failed 1966-1967 Bolivian revolt.

So where would Che have started? What recommended tactics would he use? Here are 3 top tips on how he could have strategically leveraged Influencer Marketing on Social Media information systems.

1. Choosing The Most Popular Platforms

Over 84% of the Latin American population are active social media users (Carrasquilla, 2019), but which platforms are they on? On which platforms should Che strategically leverage influencers to gain support for the Bolivian revolution?

According to Colibri, the top platforms actively used in South America are Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, and Twitter (Carrasquilla, 2019). However, Facebook takes the lead significantly, and therefore the majority of Che's efforts should be directed towards using influencers on that platform — approx 380 million Latin American citizens use Facebook.

2. Choosing The Most Strategic Platform

What evidence is there to suggest that Che's efforts to influence would prove fruitful? It seems that Facebook might be just ideal - in 2008 a Colombian Facebook page was setup to mobilise a demonstration against the the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in the Venezuelan capital (Facebook Used to Mobilize Against FARC, 2021). Over 2,000 protestors turned out, demonstrating the influential power individuals can have in the area of politics when influenced online. Che could strike deals with Facebook Bolivian influencers to encourage and provoke their audiences to rise up and take action.

3. Choosing The Most Strategic Influencers

Hootsuite recommends that it's critical to "work only with social media influencers whose vision aligns with your own" (Newberry, 2019). Che would need to do careful research to contact and contract Bolivian influencers of a similar viewpoint to his own. They would then create posts, videos and stories in line with the narrative Che is seeking to promote in Bolivia. He would need to select and pay influencers based on 3 key principles:

Reach - what number of people he could potentially reach through that influencer’s fan base?

Relevance - what content is the influencer producing already? How are Che's strategic objectives relevant?

Return - what would the return on investment be? Is the influencer an individual that could begin to convince followers of a certain viewpoint or worldview (specifically Che's)?

Using these 3 key ingredients for running an influencer campaign, Che could influence individuals in the Bolivian population who are undecided or apathetic about the prospects of revolt. If this strategic use of Information Systems existed in the 1960s, would Che's story have changed its course for the better? One thing is for sure - he would have likely garnered a greater base of support to help the revolt in Bolivia, in which they were greatly outnumbered.

Author: Jonathan White

References

Carrasquilla, A., 2019. Social Media Usage in Latin America: A Marketer's Handbook. [online] Colibri Content. Available at: https://www.colibricontent.com/social-media-latin-america/ [Accessed 16 March 2021].

Digital Marketing Institute. 2021. 20 Surprising Influencer Marketing Statistics | DMI. [online] Available at: https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/20-influencer-marketing-statistics-that-will-surprise-you [Accessed 16 March 2021].

Newberry, C., 2019. Influencer Marketing in 2019: How to Work With Social Media Influencers. [online] Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard. Available at: https://blog.hootsuite.com/influencer-marketing/ [Accessed 16 March 2021].

Npr.org. 2021. Facebook Used to Mobilize Against FARC. [online] Available at: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18689653?storyId=18689653&t=1615896578887 [Accessed 16 March 2021].

O’Neil-Hart, C. and Blumenstein, H., 2016. Why YouTube Stars Are More Influential Than Traditional Celebrities. [online] Think with Google. Available at: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-strategies/video/youtube-stars-influence/ [Accessed 16 March 2021].

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Che and Smart Contracts

               After the Cuban Revolution, the new communist government needed to create new trade deals with the world. Cuba’s political leaning to the left and revolutionary nature also meant that its choice in trading partners were few and far between. Castro sent Che, his head of finance, around the world to make these new trade deals. Che traveled from Mexico, to Greece, to Indonesia. While Che became a folk hero and celebrity during his travels, the Castro brothers took the time to cement their own power and vision in Cuba. The amount of time and effort it took Che to create trade deals with the world eventually became the reason he went back to supporting guerilla revolutions… he had no country left to go back to!

               There are many new technologies that would have mitigated the time and cost of talking to other dignitaries. Obviously, communication technology from email to international phoning would of course make the creation of agreements and deals easier. But an even more interesting tool here would be “smart contracts”. A smart contract is a programmable transaction which automatically executes the terms of the agreement once criteria is met. This blockchain innovation has the potential to render traditional contracts ineffective. Furthermore, if leaders of the past had access to this kind of technology, trade would have been transformed at its very base!

               The central benefit of smart contracts is the decentralization of trust. Similar to the decentralization concept of cryptocurrency, the benefits of smart contracts is that neither party is in control of the contract. It is a simple “If…then…” statement in programmer’s language. Both the fulfillment and reward of the contract are designed to be completed, sent, and contract updated automatically. For example, a contract might say:

If(clicks_on_button == 100){

               Send(15ETH, to=clicker_address, from=clicked_address)

}else{

               Nothing

}

               This very simple example displays how a program contract structure can be an efficient way to form trade agreements and contracts. Furthermore, the lack of middlemen, lawyers, etc mean that smart contracts can be much more cost efficient.

               This kind of contact would be very popular and helpful for Che, not just making his life easier, but also adopts the benefits of a cryptocurrency talked about in previous posts. Another benefit of smart contracts is their transparency. When Che returned to Cuba after this trip, he did not like the kind of corruption shown not only by the Castros, but other communist countries as well. He saw even the Soviet Union as “forgetting Marx”, and this is part of the reason he turned back to supporting extremist revolution in places like the Congo and Bolivia, leading to his eventual death. More transparent, easier ways of creating contracts and deals could have potentially avoided this.

-          Liam Collins

https://blockgeeks.com/guides/smart-contracts/

https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2018/05/26/an-introduction-to-smart-contracts-and-their-potential-and-inherent-limitations/

https://www.mhc.ie/latest/blog/smart-contracts-the-future-of-blockchain

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Che and Ireland

               In 2017, An Post released a postage stamp, the artwork of which was the famous Che poster. This raised eyebrows around the world, and garnered a fair amount of criticism, especially from the American Cuban Ex-Pat community. Why did An Post do this? What is Che’s connection to Ireland?

               As we discussed way back in November in this blog, Che grew up in Argentina. What we did not mention, however, was that Che’s father was Ernesto Guevara Lynch, an engineer of Irish descent! He father is even quoted as saying “in my son’s veins flowed the blood of Irish rebels” (which quote is also on the stamp). Lynch’s family fled to Argentina during Cromwell’s era. Che visited Limerick during his world travels, as a homage to his ancestral home.

               While the descent is all well and good, perhaps the more apt reasoning for the stamp is Jim Fitzpatrick. Not as well known as Che for sure, but Fitzpatrick may be the most influential person in terms of promoting Che. He made the extremely iconic print of Che, shown below. This poster of Che is ubiquitous with Latin American independence and the promotion of Communism and is very likely one of the most well know images throughout history.

               While Che and his legacy may be debated, the alignment with Irish history and involvement of Irish influence is definitely apparent, and worthy of recognition.

    -Liam Collins

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/what-is-ireland-doing-putting-che-guevara-on-a-stamp-1.3249319

https://www.thejournal.ie/che-guevara-irish-roots-3754700-Dec2017/

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Che and Online publishing and distribution

Throughout his political life, Che published several books which he used to spread his ideas about socialism to his supporters. These titles include “The motorcycle diaries” “Guerrilla Warfare”and “Reminiscences of the Cuban revolutionary war”. This literature enables Guevara to get his ideologies and experiences across to his followers and it allows the greater public to gain empathy and appreciation for his cause. At the time it would have cost a considerable amount of money to be able to get a book published and made available on a worldwide scale. Also many established publishers may have refused to publish any of his works, due to his political views. Guevara’s writings have sold more after his death than during his life, so it is clear there is a high demand for knowledge and anecdotes from him.

Nowadays there are many online platforms and methods which could allow Che to spread the message from his books around the world, while handling the publishing and distribution of his content. Che could even get started in the world of podcasting which would allow him to build a following and spread his ideas to a wider audience, also allowing him to build a more personal relationship with his followers.

           (Dick Smith, 2021)                            (goodreads, 2021)

E-books/E-commerce

There are many websites which offer e-books to be published and made available for sale. Popular websites include smashwords, Amazon kindle direct publishing, Apple iBooks author and Barnes & Noble press (Murray, 2019). The website chosen would depend on how much royalties you wish to receive and the target audience that could be exposed to your book. Another option could be for Guevara to sell the product himself on a platform such as Patreon, which would involve users subscribing to him to receive content for a monthly fee, or else his own e-commerce site. However to run his own online shop, he would have to spend more of his own funds on maintenance costs, marketing and if he chooses to offer physical copies as well as ebooks, pay for printing and postage.

  Podcasting

If Guevara wished to start up a podcast it would help if he utilised a podcast hosting service to allow his podcast episodes to be stored and made available for distribution on major media platforms. Some podcast hosting services available include BuzzSprout, Captivate and Resonate (Winn , 2021). The main factors to consider when selecting a hosting service to use would be how much he would be willing to pay and how much storage he will need. For example, while Resonate starts at $25 per month and many competitors offer prices nearly half the amount, Resonate offers unlimited storage and bandwidth (Winn, 2021).

There are many mainstream platforms available to share podcasts such as Spotify, Apple podcasts, Youtube and Soundcloud which can be used to distribute podcasts to a wider audience.If Che could develop a large enough following, he could attract sponsorship opportunities for his podcast. This could allow him to monetize his podcast and make some income from offering discount codes of sponsored products or services to listeners, who by following Guevara’s link would allow him to receive a commission on the sale. Guevara could even offer up his attendance to make appearances as a guest on other podcasts or else invite other popular content creators onto his podcast to get exposed to their audience. 

Author: Eric Looby

References: 

Dick Smith, 2021. Cover of Guevara book "Guerrilla Warfare. [image] Available at: https://www.dicksmith.com.au/da/buy/shoptheglobe-guerrilla-warfare-authorised-edition-61-12384917-au/  [Accessed 10 March 2021].

goodreads, 2021. cover for Guevara:s book " the motorcycle diaries". [image] Available at: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/172732.The_Motorcycle_Diaries  [Accessed 10 March 2021].

Murray, J., 2019. Best eBook publishing platforms 2021. [online] Save the Student. Available at: https://www.savethestudent.org/make-money/best-ebook-publishing-companies.html  [Accessed 10 March 2021].

Winn, R., 2021. Here Are The Best Podcast Hosting Sites (Free Trials Too). [online] Podcast Insights®. Available at: https://www.podcastinsights.com/best-podcast-hosting/  [Accessed 11 March 2021].

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Che as a Marxist Travel Influencer

This blog post will discuss Che’s potential ability to use his travels throughout the world to become a social media influencer.

The Problem: How can Che leverage his travels to further his vision of global Communism and liberating countries from their Capitalist and Western influence?

It goes without saying that Che did travel the world. From his humble beginning during his Motorcycle Diaries days to his revolutionary work in Cuban, Mexico, and Guatemala, Che spent most of his young revolutionary years in South America. Following the success of the Cuban Revolution, Che took on a mindset that the work he did in Cuban was "something spiritual that would transcend all borders" and began working on taking his work global. Che emerged as a "revolutionary statesman of world stature" and represented Cuban at the United Nations, condemning how "Yankee monopoly capitalism" had ravaged countless countries. Che would later appear on the CBS Sunday news program Face the Nation and influence other American revolutionaries like Malcolm X. Che’s travels would soon take him across the Atlantic, visiting developing countries like the Congo, Algeria, and China. All in all, Che would travel to over 50 countries during his life and would be involved in 3 armed revolutions. However, due to the technological limitations of the time, Che struggled to generate a global narrative of his work that others could follow.

Information Systems: During his travels,  Che could have utilized social media to become a “Marxists Travel Influencer.”

Travel Influencers: The concept of travel influencers is pretty simple, gain a following through posting on social media about your travel. Travel influencers often travel to exotic, aesthetic, or culturally significant locations worldwide and take stylized photos of their travels. Travel influencers appeal to people’s desires to travel and explore the world through the lens of others. Not everyone can afford to travel and stay at luxury 5-star hotels, but seeing others do it lets people enjoy just a tiny bite of a world they will probably never get to enjoy.

Strategy: While travel influencers are usually pretty politically neutral, I believe that Che could take a robust Marxist viewpoint by showing how Capitalism is ravaging places of great beauty. A vast majority of developing nations at the time and even today are culturally and ecologically beautiful nations that have been decimated by Western imperialism. I believe that Che could document and post his travels so that others can see what the West was doing to these countries and how Che’s Marxist views could liberate them. At the time, few people believe in Che’s end goal of a global Marxist revolution, expanding outside South and Central America. By creating a narrative of how so many countries are suffering from capitalism and imperialism, Che could make that far-fetched idea palatable for the average person. Furthermore, Che could inspire others by making them want to be in his shoes. The young renege man with a true devotion to his ideals, traveling the world for a greater purpose is a far more interesting idea than a simple travel influencer. To envision what this may have looked like, I threw together a few fake Instagram posts Che could have made:

Pérez, Jr., Louis A.  1995.  Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution, 2nd edition.  New York: Oxford University Press. 

DJI. 2021. Drone Solutions for Land Surveying - DJI. [online] Available at: <https://enterprise.dji.com/surveying/land-surveying> [Accessed 8 February 2021].

Photosat. 2021. PhotoSat provides accurate elevation surveys for resource development, mining, LNG, and oil sands. [online] Available at: <https://www.photosat.ca/satellite-surveying-solutions/satellite-surveying/about-satellite-surveying/> [Accessed 8 February 2021].

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Could Che sway public opinion without conflict?

In 1965, following a period in which Che Guevara was missing from the public eye, Fidel Castro revealed that Guevara had written a letter to him, announcing his intention to resign from all positions within the Cuban government and his intention to serve as a revolutionary abroad (Guevara, 1965). Guevara had travelled to Africa that same year, specifically to the Congo to share his experience as a guerrilla fighter (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2021). However, while in the Congo his attempts to aid rebels in revolting against the government were spoiled for a number of reasons. Firstly, the United states governments knew his location and activities as they were monitoring his communications, making it impossible for Guevara to perform effective guerrilla warfare tactics. Secondly, as Guevara noted himself “There is no will to fight”, and “We can not liberate, all by ourselves, a country that does not want to fight” (The Guardian, 2000). Having left the Congo he visited former Argentine president Juan Perón, and informed him he planned to bring socialism to all of Latin America (O'Donnell, 2011).

  Guevara during his time in the Congo, where he sought to bring about a Marxist revolution. (Seddon, 2017)

The pen is mightier than the sword?

Evidently, Guevara had learned the hard way that seeking to bring about a Marxist revolution through direct warfare was ineffective. What then, could be done? In the modern day, a different approach has been proven effective, but also controversial. This approach is one that was highlighted through the organisation known as “Cambridge Analytica”, who became a house-hold name following the revelation of their roles in many different political elections, including the US presidential election in 2016 where Cambridge Analytica worked with the Trump campaign (McCaskill and Samuelsohn, 2017) . However, the organisation based much of their work on studies performed by Michal Kosinski et al. (2013), who documented the process by which a person's digital information that was available through social media profiles could be used to accurately analyse an individual to determine many details about their personality including their political beliefs. In fact, in one study, Kosinski et al. (2013) found that, in the case of United States citizens, the methods used could predict whether an individual was a Republican or Democrat with 85% accuracy.

Alexander Nix, who served as CEO of Cambridge Analytica when the scandal emerged. (Financial Times, 2018)

What’s perhaps more frightening, is that the models employed were simply logistic and linear regression (Kosinski et al., 2013), a concept taught in the first week of an undergraduate machine learning and related courses. The basis of this entire methodology was not some opaque corporate system consisting of millions of lines of code but rather a data set consisting of many different data points on a given individual, and basic regression fitting which proved shockingly accurate at predicting such personal information.

So what?

Conducting widespread psychographic analysis on a country’s population can allow for audience segmentation and eventual targeting of ideal groups to sway public opinion. In other words, identifying groups who can be swayed, and advertising to them in the hopes of shaping their opinion in your favour. Guevara often found that locals did not support his revolutionary cause which was a major component of his failures, such as in Bolivia in 1967 (Rodriguez, 2018). Employing similar methods as the Cambridge Analytica group, or indeed simply hiring like-minded organisations could have proved crucial in turning the tide of public opinion on Marxism. By getting locals on board, Guevara would have been able to proceed with his intention to spread Marxism, without having to hide in the shadows while doing so. 

Some sources estimate Cambridge Analytica to have only had approximately 70 employees (Owler, 2021), and yet they managed to shift the political landscape on the international stage, playing a role in the US election and Brexit to just name two of many campaigns. This sentiment is echoed by Guevara, whose guerrilla warfare tactics are built on the assumption of a small group of people being as effective as possible.

Author: David Hooban

Reference List

Encyclopedia Britannica. 2021. Che Guevara - The Congo, Bolivia, and death. [online] Available at: <https://www.britannica.com/biography/Che-Guevara/The-Congo-Bolivia-and-death> [Accessed 7 March 2021].

Fildes, N., Bond, D. and Ram, A., 2018. Cambridge Analytica under fire as scandal grows. [online] Financial Times. Available at: <https://www.ft.com/content/b1a49898-2c44-11e8-a34a-7e7563b0b0f4> [Accessed 7 March 2021].

Guevara, E., 1965. Farewell letter from Che to Fidel Castro. [online] Marxists.org. Available at: <https://www.marxists.org/archive/guevara/1965/04/01.htm> [Accessed 7 March 2021].

Kosinski, M., Stillwell, D. and Graepel, T., 2013. Private traits and attributes are predictable from digital records of human behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(15), pp.5802-5805.

McCaskill, N. and Samuelsohn, D., 2017. Trump campaign's digital director agrees to meet with House Intel Committee. [online] POLITICO. Available at: <https://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/14/brad-parscale-trump-digital-house-intel-committee-240557> [Accessed 7 March 2021].

O'Donnell, P., 2011. Perón's views on Che. [online] Página12. Available at: <https://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/subnotas/178453-56017-2011-10-08.html> [Accessed 7 March 2021].

Owler. 2021. Cambridge Analytica - Overview. [online] Available at: <https://www.owler.com/company/cambridgeanalytica> [Accessed 7 March 2021].

Rodriguez, C., 2018. The Bolivian Insurgency of 1966-1967: Che Guevara’s Final Failure | Small Wars Journal. [online] Small Wars Journal. Available at: <https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/bolivian-insurgency-1966-1967-che-guevaras-final-failure> [Accessed 7 March 2021].

Seddon, D., 2017. Che Guevara in the Congo. [online] Jacobinmag.com. Available at: <https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/04/che-guevara-cuba-castro-congo-patrice-lumumba-colonialism> [Accessed 7 March 2021].

the Guardian. 2000. Che Guevara's African diaries. [online] Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/aug/12/cuba.artsandhumanities> [Accessed 7 March 2021].

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Cuba's Six One News - Che's Global PR Crisis (part 2)

Author: Jonathan White 

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Cuba's Six One News - Che's Global PR Crisis (part 1)

Author: Jonathan White 

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Could Crypto function as the national currency of Cuba?

Guevara becoming the president of the National Bank of Cuba in 1959 brought a radical change to Cuba’s economy. Guevara “conscripted the militia to forcefully remove all US banks out of the country for good.”(Hinchliffe, 2016). Other actions he took were “the flight of hard currency from the country was controlled, the BNC was nationalized, the Organic Bank Law was drafted and the return for counterrevolutionary purposes of capital taken out of the country was avoided.” These actions led to the embargoes which were put in place by John. F. Kennedy back in 1962 and had hindered Cuba’s economy for the last 60 years.

Guevara also took “Cuba out of the World Bank membership and refused to become a part of the newly-established Inter-American Development Bank.”(Hinchliffe, 2016) followed by Castro removing them from the IMF in 1964” (Hinchliffe, 2016). All of these policies were taken to give Cuba sovereignty over their own currency and not be affected by US influences financially.

  Current currency

The current currency in Cuba is Cuban Peso. The Cuban Peso trades at approximately 24 pesos to 1 US dollar (Abroad, 2021). However, up until 2020 they had “two“ currencies, the Cuban Peso which is used by most citizens and the Cuban Convertible Peso, which tourists were forced to use for their transactions. One Cuban Convertible Peso was equal to 24 Cuban Peso(Abroad, 2021). The 3 Peso note even had Che’s face on it. Most transactions are still made with cash throughout Cuba and the Peso can only be traded in for foreign currency, mostly British pound, Canadian dollar and Euro, in the country of Cuba itself. This makes it a hassle for tourists to be able to easily be able to prepare their finances for a trip to Cuba especially if they are travelling from the US. 

Possibility of adopting cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrencies offer an exciting alternative to fiat currency. They could also offer an opportunity to try to modernize Cuba’s economy. Utilizing a cryptocurrency could reduce the  impact of other nations currencies on Cuba and because fiat currency is“inextricably linked to decisions made by central authorities, namely governments and central banks, regarding their monetary and fiscal policy” (Fiat vs. Crypto & Digital Currencies | Gemini, 2021). Cryptocurrency could avoid huge levels of inflation for the economy and bring more stability to the country. The Cuban economy is not strong enough to become a thriving economy with their own currency. Using a new cryptocurrency could allow Guevara to redistribute wealth to the people due to the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies. It could also increase their standing on the global stage, as using cryptocurrencies could increase the accessibility of Cuban markets to foreign investment.

  (The World Financial Review, 2019)

  While the idea of adopting a cryptocurrency seems like it would be a good idea for a socialist country, it still leaves too many discrepancies between the aims of a communist government trying to achieve independence and state owned control away from external powers. Cuba would still be dependent on the market and the blockchain code and ledgers which cryptocurrency is distributed and stored on computers around the globe. This could cause some hesitation from the government who would prefer to have their own state owned fiat currency. In the event they would choose to try and adopt cryptocurrency, it would be wise if Guevara stepped down as president of the National bank, as he had no education in finance. Castro would need to elect someone more competent to understand the intricacies of finance and cryptocurrency to bring the best opportunities for the Cuban economy. 

Author: Eric Looby

References:

Abroad, G., 2021. Cuba Currency: Everything You Need To Know For 2021. [online] Two Scots Abroad. Available at: https://www.twoscotsabroad.com/cuban-currency/ [Accessed 16 February 2021].

Gemini. 2021. Fiat vs. Crypto & Digital Currencies | Gemini. [online] Available at: https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/fiat-vs-crypto-digital-currencies [Accessed 17 February 2021].

Hinchliffe, T., 2016. That Time Fidel Castro Made Che Guevara Head of Cuba's Natl. Bank. [online] The Sociable. Available at: https://sociable.co/web/fidel-castro-appointed-che-guevara-bank/ [Accessed 14 February 2021].

The World Financial Review, 2019. photo with several different cryptocurrencies. [image] Available at: https://worldfinancialreview.com/countries-where-cryptocurrency-adoption-is-highest/ [Accessed 15 February 2021].

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Possible uses of modern warfare technology in the Battle of Las Mercedes

The battle of Las Mercedes was a ten day battle planned by Batista to wipe out the rebels in Cuba. He sent the Cuban army into hills with orders to encircle rebels and trap them. At the time it was difficult to fight the rebels due to their use of guerrilla tactics and local knowledge of hill layout. In modern times, the Cuban army would have had access to many technologies which could help them to track of the rebels’ movements and to be able to easily spot any escape routes the rebels could take. Luckily the rebels would have also had access to a lot of this technology, especially the ability to hack the Cuban army. However they may be lacking the large infrastructure costs of operating military grade drones and other assorted military grade technology. 

Drones

Drone technology has been rapidly growing over the last few decades (Insider, 2021). It allows the utility of aerial vehicles, but also avoids some of the hindrances of these vehicles such as pilots being shot down or being spotted easily. Drones allow military personnel to be able to carry out many types of missions from espionage to assault while also protecting their own soldiers. Reaper drones allow the military to avoid casualties on their side as the drone is operated remotely or autonomously. These drones are used to drop payloads on a designated target, resulting in maximum and accurate damage while avoiding casualties from the drone users side. There are also missiles which can be controlled remotely, reducing the need for ground troops. While it is possible to shoot down drones, it would still pose a challenge to the rebels who would need to make sure they were in a fortified building to avoid facing the wrath of these drones. Drones can also be built to be many sizes from the size of large aircraft to the size of a small phone. These drones can be used to spy on the other side and gain first hand intel on their location and movements. They can also be used in conjunction with satellites to pinpoint the exact location of desired targets.

Manipulation of information system/Hacking

Being able to interrupt your opponents information systems proves to be a tool which can allow either side to gain the upper hand in an altercation. While more basic instruments such as jammers can be used, most communications now are completed digitally. The use of infiltrating each other's digital information systems would be of utmost importance in shutting down the efficiency of the enemy.

The actual communications between military members could be interrupted by the rebels. This could be done through methods such as DDoS attacks to their communication platform or shutting down the functionality of their servers altogether. Keylogging could be carried out on military devices to give the rebels access to important passwords and gain access to confidential information. This could allow them to get an advantage due to knowing how the Cuban military will plan to act. Of course the Cuban military could also use the same technology to combat the rebels and find their whereabouts.

The Cuban army may not have fallen for the trap that the rebels set in modern times as they would have had access to these new tools of destruction and surveillance. However, if they had acted upon using these very tools in an unethical way, this may cause a worldwide outrage.

Author: Eric Looby

References:  

Insider, i., 2021. Drone technology uses and applications for commercial, industrial and military drones in 2021 and the future. [online] Business Insider. Available at:   https://www.businessinsider.com/drone-technology-uses-applications?r=US&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/21st-century-game-changing-weapons-2015-5?r=US&IR=T#reaper-drones-4 [Accessed 16 February 2021].

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Che Guevara and Supply chain management

In 1958 Che Guevara was living deep within the Sierra Maestra Mountains, where he once again found himself surrounded by poverty. He observed that there were essentially no schools, no healthcare, no electricity and more than 40 percent of the adults were illiterate (The Independent, 2010). It was upon seeing all of this that Guevara began to establish factories and supply chains, producing many things ranging from bread to grenades (TIME, 1960). What’s more, later on when Che took control of the National Bank, he negotiated Soviet Union-funded factory deals to obtain items such as “knives, radios, cameras, tubing, flour, cable, screwdrivers, electric motors, hinges, light bulbs, farm machines, printing presses, office equipment, [and] medical instruments” to the amount of $100 million (TIME, 1960). Evidently, at this period in Guevara’s life, he recognised the value that factories and supply chains could add to a growing economy. Therefore, this post examines how Guevara could leverage modern IS technology to manage supply chains which would be used not only by rebels throughout a country, but more broadly to provide for and aid rural populations who cannot provide such goods and services for themselves.

  Guevara as a young doctor, whose desire to help those in need informed his strategic thinking. Source: India Today

Challenges

The first task that may be considered by Guevara would be obtaining goods, whether this is finished goods manufactured in other countries such as Russia, or raw materials to be used as input materials to the factories located in Cuba. As a relatively small island, Cuba would rely on imports and therefore there is likely to be a significant amount of importation in a modern economy to keep track of. For example, in 2018 Cuba was a net importer by a significant margin, with about $10 billion USD in imports, compared to $2.8 billion USD in exports (Nordea Trade Portal, 2020).

Another concern is the management of how much goods to manufacture, which is a function of supply and demand. Goods manufactured or imported to Cuba are only of use if there is a buyer, whether that is a domestic buyer or indeed a buyer abroad. Therefore it would be necessary to track the consumption and exports of goods to inform how much materials and goods should be imported in the first place. 

Tackling the task at hand

Therefore it seems that there is a large amount of data that needs to be processed on a distributed basis, across the entire region of Cuba. Modern supply chain management technology has evolved to handle this exact problem, through the use of Internet Of Things (IoT) devices such as sensors, robotics and more, and big data handling - the technique of efficiently processing large data sets in real time. 

  Guevara in Yugoslavia during his tour to many countries to negotiate trade deals. Source: Belgrade through the centuries

Through the use of Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags placed on each item, it is possible to track the identity, location, and other tracking information of goods rather than simply attempting to make an educated guess (Banda, 2017). This can allow for the collection of exact data which can be processed in order to understand how materials are used. This technology can aid in solving the first problem of understanding what goods need to be imported by using real time analytics to identify shortages and to re-order goods that are in high demand. 

This type of data ticks all the major criteria of big data, namely it is relatively significant in terms of volume, velocity, variety, and veracity (IBM, 2021). Big data analytics and IoT have been a well documented pair in supply chain management and therefore there are modern IS solutions which could be exploited in this regard. For example, Yu et al. (2018) found that data-driven responses to market demand were positively associated with better financial performance, which addresses the concerns of the second problem raised in this blog. By linking the data collected from IoT devices to a cloud-based supply chain management software, it would be possible to make real time decisions about how to handle supply chains with regards to importing. One such software option would be Oracles “Cloud SCM” (Oracle, 2021) supply chain management tool, which is a cloud-based service used to display real time analytics and inform decision making.

In conclusion..

Guevara could leverage this information to work to develop Cuba by ensuring supply chains are efficient and effective, and serve communities well. It is evident from his work in Cuba in the late 50’s that he recognised the value of supply chains and manufacturing at scale to help those in poverty, and it is reasonable to believe that he could utilise modern technology to do this to an even greater level.

Ultimately, what is important is the recognition that modern IS has the capacity to support large scale supply chain management and through utilising both IoT and big data processing, Guevara could maximise his effectiveness as a leader in a country which heavily relies on imported goods.

Author: David Hooban

Reference List

Banda, S., 2017. How IoT and Big Data are solving the problem of visibility in Supply Chain. [online] Linkedin.com. Available at: <https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-iot-big-data-solving-problem-visibility-supply-chain-shreya-banda/> [Accessed 16 February 2021].

Belgrade through the centuries. n.d. Josip Broz Tito [online] Available at: <https://www.stalnapostavka.arhiv-beograda.org/en/chapters/between-a-hammer-and-a-sickle/josip-broz.html> [Accessed 16 February 2021].

IBM. 2021. The Four V's of Big Data. [online] Available at: <https://www.ibmbigdatahub.com/infographic/four-vs-big-data> [Accessed 16 February 2021]

The Independent. 2010. Latin lessons: What can we learn from the world’s most ambitious literacy campaign? [online] Available at: <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/latin-lessons-what-can-we-learn-world-rsquo-s-most-ambitious-literacy-campaign-2124433.html> [Accessed 16 February 2021].

India Today. 2017. Remembering Che Guevara: The middle class doctor who refused to shut his eyes to capitalist exploitation. [online] Available at: <https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/che-guevara-345618-2016-10-08> [Accessed 16 February 2021].

Nordea Trade Portal. 2020. Foreign trade figures of Cuba - Economic and Political Overview - Nordea Trade Portal. [online] Available at: <https://www.nordeatrade.com/en/explore-new-market/cuba/trade-profile> [Accessed 16 February 2021].

Oracle. 2021. Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Manufacturing | Oracle Ireland. [online] Available at: <https://www.oracle.com/ie/scm/> [Accessed 16 February 2021].

TIME. 1960. CUBA: Castro's Brain. [online] Available at: <http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,869742-5,00.html> [Accessed 16 February 2021].

Yu, W., Chavez, R., Jacobs, M. and Feng, M., 2018. Data-driven supply chain capabilities and performance: A resource-based view. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 114, pp.371-385.

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Che Guevara and communicating across a decentralised network

On the 25th of November 1956 alongside Fidel Castro and others, Che Guevara made his way towards Cuba from Mexico, on a small yacht named “the Granma” with the intention of inciting a revolution against the Cuban government (The Vintage News, 2017). Upon arriving in Cuba his group were attacked by the military, killing most with only a small few escaping (Swift, 2003). Those who survived fled into Cuba, and found themselves in the Sierra Maestra mountains, where they would soon begin to communicate and cooperate with other guerrilla networks such as the “26 July Movement” (Moore, 1993) . 

A key component of this decentralized rebel network was how to effectively communicate and inform the network of ongoing plans and events. Guevara was heavily involved in the creation of the “Radio Rebelde” (Rebel Radio) which was used to communicate to the guerrilla fighters around Cuba (Moore, 1993).

  At the time, this may have been the best that Guevara could do. However, the fact that he was a key member of the establishment of the Rebel Radio suggests he had identified the importance of communication amongst a group who were unable to assemble in person. In the modern day however, technology could be leveraged to solve a number of key problems.

2-way dialogue

The first major issue that Guevara would have encountered is that the Rebel Radio communication would have been one-way, meaning there could be no dialog between groups. Modern technology such as smartphones, laptops and tablets combined with an internet connection would allow for a dialog between the guerrilla fighters. Although this concept is simple to the point of being taken for granted today, this alone would have been of major strategic value to Guevara, who evidently understood the value of communication and dissemination of information. 

Secure communication

However, simply communicating strategic plans without considering who is monitoring those conversations would be foolish. As a previous blog post discussed, (“Messaging Che - Encrypted & Private”), one solution is the use of end-to-end encryption through applications such as Signal to ensure that messages are not intercepted. However, at this point in Guevara’s life, even these considerations may not be enough. Guevara was attempting to overthrow the Cuban government and in doing so would have attracted the attention of Superpowers such as the US (The American Presidency Project, 2021). The US government has, in the past, attempted to gain access to encrypted communications by pressurising centralised organisations to allow them ‘backdoor access’ to encryption keys (Ray, 2020). Therefore, even centralised encrypted applications would not be a good solution for Guevara as messages are frequently stored on centralised servers.

Decentralised messaging and Achieving Consensus

Therefore, one possible solution to allow communication between decentralised groups is a decentralised application (or DApp), which utilises technology such as peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, cryptography and blockchain to allow for encrypted messaging to occur between users without the messages ever passing through a centralized server. Messaging-based DApps already exist such as Dust and e-Chat (Blocks Decoded, 2019). This means that there is no single organisation or individual who can be compromised to remove the network entirely.

The final issue relates to one of trust, and how to trust information that is being sent through a P2P network. One such solution is to make the network permissioned, where only invited parties may participate. This approach would work well if there was a relatively fixed decentralized group that could be accounted for. However, it is also possible that the network may wish to be open to new members. This is an issue, however, as it would be impossible to trust new members of the network. This is a similar problem to the Byzantine Generals problem (Moskov, 2018), which is a problem of how to communicate across a decentralized network in the presence of adversaries. The solution used is known as a consensus algorithm, and assumes that so long as there are more honest nodes than malicious nodes, the network maintains its integrity. This same mechanism could be used to allow for a ‘voting in’ process of whether to accept a new group to the network or not, as even if malicious actors are present, the majority will outnumber them. Once accepted, a new node can be issued a private and public key to use for digital signatures of messages to verify it originated with them.

This post aimed to consider how Guevara may choose to leverage existing information systems and technology in general to facilitate communication between a decentralised group. Guevara has shown his understanding of the importance of communication with the establishment of the Rebel Radio, and therefore it can be said that he would seek to advance this cause in the modern day by taking advantage of modern technology.

Author: David Hooban

Reference List

https://cheguevara-blog-stu.tumblr.com/post/642739041475903488/che-guevara-and-communicating-across-a

The American Presidency Project 2021. Speech of Senator John F. Kennedy, Cincinnati, Ohio, Democratic Dinner | [online] Available at: <https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/speech-senator-john-f-kennedy-cincinnati-ohio-democratic-dinner> [Accessed 9 February 2021].

Blocks Decoded. 2019. The 5 Best Decentralized Messaging Apps | Blocks Decoded. [online] Available at: <https://blocksdecoded.com/best-decentralized-messaging-apps/> [Accessed 9 February 2021].

Cuba 1952-1959. 2009. 1958: Radio Rebelde broadcasts begin. [online] Available at: <http://cuba1952-1959.blogspot.com/2009/09/1958-radio-rebelde-broadcasts-begin.html> [Accessed 9 February 2021].

Flickr. 2018. Byzantine Generals Problem. [online] Available at: <https://www.flickr.com/photos/166102838@N03/31024022797> [Accessed 19 March 2021].

GeeksforGeeks. 2018. End to End Encryption (E2EE) in Computer Networks - GeeksforGeeks. [online] Available at: <https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/end-to-end-encryption-e2ee-in-computer-networks/> [Accessed 19 March 2021].

Moore, D., 1993. Revolution! Clandestine Radio and the Rise of Fidel Castro. [online] Web.archive.org. Available at: <https://web.archive.org/web/20061012094626/http://www.swl.net/patepluma/central/cuba/rebel1.html> [Accessed 9 February 2021].

Moskov, A., 2018. What is the Byzantine Generals Problem? | CoinCentral. [online] CoinCentral. Available at: <https://coincentral.com/byzantine-generals-problem/> [Accessed 9 February 2021].

Ray, S., 2020. United States, Six Other Nations Ask Tech Companies To Build Backdoors To Encrypted Communications. [online] Forbes. Available at: <https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2020/10/12/united-states-six-other-nations-ask-tech-companies-to-build-backdoors-to-encrypted-communications/?sh=4b751ef04051> [Accessed 9 February 2021].

Swift, J., 2003. Cuba — Castro’s Revolution and the Bay of Pigs. The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of the Cold War, pp.48-49.

The Vintage News. 2017. Granma Yacht: the vessel which brought the Cuban Revolution in Cuba. [online] Available at: <https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/04/21/granma-yacht-the-vessel-which-brought-the-cuban-revolution-in-cuba/> [Accessed 9 February 2021].

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Che’s Utilization of Satellite and Drone Land Surveying Technologies

This blog post will discuss what sort of satellite imagining technology Che Guevera would have utilized during the agrarian reforms of Cuba. 

The Problem: How can equal plots of land be redistributed to the people of Cuba following the Cuban Communist Revolution?

Between 1959 and 1963, a variety of agrarian reform laws were implemented with the goal of breaking up large farms and redistributing the land to the farmers that worked it (Pérez, 1995). By 1963, no individual could own more than 165 acres of farmland, aligning with Che’s goals of achieving "the social justice that land redistribution brings about" (Pérez, 1995). However, the actual process of seizing and fairly measuring out plots of land to be given to farmers proved to be a challenging task at the time. Che understood how important rewarding the poor with land was as it encouraged them to “loyally support the revolutionary power and defend it against its imperialist and counter-revolutionary enemies” (Pérez, 1995). To achieve this strategic goal, Che would need to ensure the poor that they got their fair share of equal land and that no party was circumventing these restrictions by owning too much land. The actual process of surveying the land turned out to be a lengthy and strenuous process, taking a 100,000 person militia over a year to actually measure out the land by hand (Pérez, 1995).  

Information Systems: Che could utilize satellite imagining or drone technology to measure and survey Cuba’s land so that a fair land registry could be developed for land redistribution. 

Drone Surveying: While surveying in the 1960’s was traditionally done by hand with rudimentary physical measuring devices, drone surveying can greatly increase the accuracy of measurements while also improving labour efficiency. DJI enterprise sells a variety of drones the specialize in land surveying, claiming to cut the survey time by over 90% (DJI, 2021). Drones such as Matrice 300 RTK come equipped with 4k cameras and can generate both 2D and 3D maps at 1:500 scale with centimeter-level accuracy (DJI, 2021). Teams are able to control multiple drones simultaneously to rapidly survey and map large plots of land. Furthermore, digital maps and land data can easily be distributed through public channels for cross-validation. 

Satellite Surveying: Even though it would be incredibly difficult for Che to launch his own satellites, a variety of companies offer satellite surveying technology. Companies like PhotoSat provide satellite surveying services that can map hundreds of acres in a single pass (Photosat, 2021). Photostat also allows buyers to use historical satellite data to gain insight into land development and geological changes of land starting from 1970 (Photosat, 2021). While satellite surveying costs and has a higher margin of error than drone surveying, it can be done incredibly fast with minimum labor costs (Photosat, 2021). Much like drone surveying, the generates maps can be distributed publically to ensure farmers that their land is accurately mapped and that all land remains within the government boundaries. 

Strategy: By using surveying techniques that provide accurate and publically available maps of land, Che could provide assurance that land is distributed fairly to the crucial working-class farmers that he needs for a successful revolution. Popular support for the working class lies at the heart of all Che’s strategic objectives and when it comes to land retribution, there will be plenty of valid hesitancy from the worker class. What would be stopping Che and Castro from seizing all of the lands from the foreign corporations and then simply taking it under the ownership of the state without giving it back to the poor? At a time with large-scale communication technology was still in its infancy, how could farmers know that they got the same amount of land as their neighbors? Imagine technology such as satellites and drones would help Che establish trust and transparency amongst the working class while also drastically decreasing the survey time. Even though it might seem like a trivial use of information systems, I believe that such a straightforward use of technology could really help Che to push towards long-term strategic goals.  

Pérez, Jr., Louis A.  1995.  Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution, 2nd edition.  New York: Oxford University Press. 

DJI. 2021. Drone Solutions for Land Surveying - DJI. [online] Available at: <https://enterprise.dji.com/surveying/land-surveying> [Accessed 8 February 2021].

Photosat. 2021. PhotoSat provides accurate elevation surveys for resource development, mining, LNG, and oil sands. [online] Available at: <https://www.photosat.ca/satellite-surveying-solutions/satellite-surveying/about-satellite-surveying/> [Accessed 8 February 2021].

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Che and Digital Passports

                 1959 was perhaps the most consequential year of Che’s life. After winning the Cuban Revolution and then setting up a new government with Fidel Castro, he then also became a Cuban citizen. The concept of citizenship in today’s society is actually quite fluid, with countries changing the requirements of citizenship with some frequency (take the USA and Ireland for example, where many groups who were once eligible are now barred in the last 10-20 years). Apart from the political challenges citizenship can take, there are also modern-day abuses of systems of citizenship. Countries like Singapore and the UAE are often accused of taking the passports of migrant workers, forcing them into a slavery like working relationship.

               Although these human rights abuses might not be wholly applicable here, technology like digital passports have many strengths, and are growing as a popular idea especially in todays society. COVID-19 has led to the adoption of a “digital passport” to show vaccination and infection records. These kinds of applications are already in development, and some countries like Denmark have a plan for rolling out the digital passport onto phones.

               It is extremely likely that these passports will be required, not by governments, but by transportation companies. As vaccinations worldwide increase, and borders begin to reopen, it is increasing likely travelers will need to prove their vaccination status. This has even larger implications outside of COVID-19. Outside of travel, there are cases like those in America, where certain groups refuse vaccinations on religious grounds, and then spark epidemics of diseases like measles.

               Digital passports allow for the security of a person’s identifying documents, as well as accountability of their health/permissions. There must be some kind of safe regulation of this though. Systems like the Chinese Social Credit System show how invasive authoritarian systems of personal identification can be. Unfortunately, with the mass executions of Cuban loyalists, it can be assumed that Che and the Castros would be more likely to abuse a system like this.

               -Liam Collins

  Sources:

https://psmag.com/social-justice/why-are-migrant-workers-passports-still-being-held-hostage-in-uae

https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/emea/denmark-introduce-digital-coronavirus-passports

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/china-social-credit-system-explained