The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS ; https://ttcs.tt/ ) is a computer user group formed in 1997. We:
are a forum where computers, related technologies and related social issues are discussed so persons can share knowledge and improve their experiences with technology;
keep current with the events in the local Information Technology and telecommunications industries ;
hold membership in several international organisations and advise on technology issues in Trinidad and Tobago and the region.
We have regular meetings, mailing lists, our website and are on Facebook and Twitter. We also maintain a collection of Free and Open Source Software for Windows called the TTCS OSSWIN.
Anyone interested in computing or the Internet, regardless of the level of their computer experience or the type of hardware or software they use, are welcome to join our announcement mailing list to keep up to date about (and participate in) our activities.
ICANN65 Policy Forum from 24-27 June 2019 at Marrakech, Morocco (Image credit: ICANN)
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) will be having its 65th public meeting from Monday 24 June 2019 to Thursday March 27 2019 in Marrakech, Morocco. However, you can listen in and participate remotely.
What is ICANN?
What is ICANN and what does it do?
As the name implies, ICANN helps coordinate the assignment and
management of Internet numbering resources (such as IP addresses) and
domain names (forming a system called the Domain Name System or DNS).
The DNS maps domain names to IP addresses.
ICANN also defines and implements policies for how the “Names and Numbers” of the Internet are assigned. ICANN coordinates policy development related to the DNS by bringing a variety of stakeholders (ranging from governments, technical, business, civil society) organised in various groups to develop and advise on such DNS policies. This volunteer-based group of diverse stakeholders is called the ICANN multi-stakeholder community.
The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS) is an member of the ICANN At-Large Community since 2006, which represents the interests of Internet end users in ICANN policies and activities. Currently, as the TTCS’ At-Large representative (Dev Anand Teelucksingh), I have continued to be involved in various At-Large activities. I do want to encourage anyone with a interest and a desire to learn more about ICANN policy issues and how to get involved, email me at [email protected] and I’ll try my best to help.
Important links to learn and follow #ICANN65
Some important links to help you learn more and follow the #ICANN64 meeting :
ICANN65 Full Meeting Schedule – this table (you will have to scroll down a lot) shows the various meetings happening in various rooms at the same time. All times listed are local to Marrakech, Morocco. The time in Marrakech, Morocco Kobe Japan is 5 hours ahead of that of Trinidad and Tobago. So when looking at the ICANN65 schedule, you’ll need to subtract 5 hours to get the time of the meeting in Trinidad and Tobago. This means that a meeting on Monday Morning at 10am for example will take place on early Monday morning at 5am in Trinidad and Tobago. If you visit the schedule on your iOS or Android device, you can install the ICANN Meeting App to follow the ICANN meeting schedule on your mobile / tablet device and to personalize the schedule of sessions you are interested in. Search for “ICANN Meeting” in your app stores.
Pre-ICANN65 Policy Report (PDF) – This report provides a high-level overview of the planned work and activities of the ICANN Multistakeholder Community (including At-Large) at ICANN65.
Nissaba pre-meeting Report on ICANN65 – this report is aimed at persons who don’t have an in-depth knowledge of ICANN and to more experienced participants, who simply want a very quick overview of the main issues to be discussed, with pointers to which sessions are relevant for each issue.
How to listen and participate online in #ICANN65 meeting
You will see on the left under the short description are several grey buttons:
Zoom – a web conferencing tool ICANN uses for its online conference calls and F2F public meetings. Zoom allows participants (either face to face or remotely) to instant message each other, review the meeting agenda and documents, follow presentations and raise their hands in order to make comments. This is replacing Adobe Connect which was used by ICANN in previous meetings.
English Audio, French Audio, Spanish Audio – the audio of the meeting – the presence of muliple languages is done by interpreters in the room allowing different language participants to understand each other (and to be understood by other participants)
Note that not all meetings will have so many different language options, but all would have at least the English audio stream and the Zoom “room”
The Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) will be hosting its ICT Open Forum titled “Consumer Power in the Telecommunications and Broadcasting Sectors” on Thursday May 23rd from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm at TATT Office #5 Eighth Avenue Extension, off Twelfth Street, Barataria.
THIS FORUM IS FOR YOU! COME LET’S DISCUSS THE POWER YOU HAVE AS A CONSUMER!
Hear about consumer protection initiatives from:
Federal Communications Commission (FCC USA)
The Consumer Affairs Division of the Ministry of Trade and Industry
TATT
TALK TO YOUR REGULATOR! TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES! MAKE YOUR SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF SERVICE THAT YOU RECEIVE AS CONSUMERS!
The event is free to attend but persons wishing to attend this Forum must contact Ms. Mubiyna Abdullah-Muhammad or Mr. Rowle Harvey via e-mail at [email protected] or telephone at 675-8288 Ex 394 or Ext 349
The UWI Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) is hosting its Science and Technology Week (https://www.fstweek2019.com/) from May 20 to 24 2019 at the Teaching and Learning Complex, UWI, St Augustine Campus.
Science and Technology Week will highlight on-going research in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) at the Faculty and its contributions to the community. This year’s theme ‘SCIENCE IN COMMUNITIES’ showcases the collaboration amongst departments, the UWI, industry and communities and complements the Faculty’s drive of supporting partnerships, not only in Trinidad and Tobago, but also regionally and internationally.
The Science in Communities theme will explore work done at the FST and its contributions in the following key areas:
Climate Change, Disaster Preparedness and Management, Environmental and Earth Sciences
Data Application, , Information Technology Management & Security
Energy, Fuels, Green Tech, Renewables
Health, Safety, Medicine & Medical Technology, Pharmaceuticals, Wellness
Activities in this week will consist of:
Research Symposium (Oral, Poster and Video Presentations)
Attendance to the 5 day event is free but registration is recommended at FST’s Science and Technology Week website at https://www.fstweek2019.com/ .
The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society will be having a booth at Science and Technology Week. So, we need volunteers at the Booth! There are morning and afternoon slots for the 5 days. Please fill out the TTCS booth signup sheet and let us know when you can be at the booth.
The TTCS OSSWIN v2.50, a collection of the latest version of Free and Open Source Software for Microsoft Windows 10/8/7 is available for download. The latest release features many software updates including the additions of Candy Crisis and SuperTuxKart.
Screencast of SuperTuxKart in action
Visit the TTCS OSSWIN page at https://www.ttcs.tt/osswin for more details and to download the 6GB collection as an ISO file for extracting to your harddrive or USB storage device.
Note that you can also browse TTCS OSSWIN online at http://ttcsosswin.ttcs.tt/ which features the web interface to learn about Free and Open Source programs in various categories, including screenshots or videos of the programs and a link to the program’s website where you can download the program. The web based UI is responsive, meaning it should be usable on non-Windows small screen mobile phones and tablets.
The Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards (TTBS) is inviting comments on the proposed draft Voluntary National Standards for Information Security Management Systems.
These draft Voluntary National Standards comprise three documents, all based on the International Standards Organisation / International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 27000 series of standards which were reviewed by the TTBS’ National Technical Committee for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and now posted for public comment.
The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS ; https://ttcs.tt) is a member of the National Technical Committee for ICT which was formed in late 2018.
Here are the three documents for comments, along with links to view the document and a comment form to submit comments to the TTBS on the document. The closing date for comments is June 17 2019.
PCTTS/ISO/IEC 27001:20XX
PCTTS/ISO/IEC 27001:20XX specifies the requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and continually improving an information security management system within the context of the organization. It also includes requirements for the assessment and treatment of information security risks tailored to the needs of the organization. The requirements set out in this document are generic and are intended to be applicable to all organizations, regardless of type, size or nature. Based on ISO/IEC 27001:2013
PCTTS/ISO/IEC 27002:20XX gives guidelines for organizational information security standards and information security management practices including the selection, implementation and management of controls taking into consideration the organization’s information security risk environment(s). It is designed to be used by organizations that intend to:
select controls within the process of implementing an Information Security Management System based on PCTTS/ISO/IEC 27001:20XX;
implement commonly accepted information security controls;
develop their own information security management guidelines.
However, the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of its formation and the 15th Anniversary of the Caribbean Internet Governance Forum with a week of ICT-related activities from 29th April to 3rd May 2019, at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad in Trinidad and Tobago. Included in the week’s activities are a Prime Ministerial Summit and a Ministerial Strategic ICT Seminar, are a Summit and a Ministerial Seminar, a workshop hosted by the International Telecommunication Union and a event called Caribbean FutureScape.
Caribbean FutureScape
Caribbean FutureScape is a simulation of a confederation of 5 Caribbean countries whose governments have collaborated and cooperated to use information and communication technologies (ICT) to accelerate the social and economic development of their countries.
The Caribbean Internet Governance Forum (CIGF) is a regional, multi-stakeholder forum initiated by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat in 2005 to coordinate a regional approach to Internet Governance (IG), initially focusing on the proceedings of the United Nations’ World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The forum has since met annually and has delivered significant and pioneering benefits to the region as well as to the global Internet community. Highlights of its work include formulation of a Caribbean Internet Governance Policy Framework; the proliferation of Internet exchange points (IXPs); capacity building in IG Principles and best practices;and growth in Caribbean influence in international IG fora.
The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society will be having a lime this Wednesday April 17th, 2019 from 7pm to 9:30 pm at Wendy’s Cafe located upstairs at Wendy’s Restaurant at the corner of Ana Street & Ariapita Avenue, Woodbrook, Port of Spain.
Our key topic for this lime is to discuss our upcoming AGM and nominations. We should also be receiving reports from representatives at ICANN and TTMAG. Please come prepared with your comments and contributions to the discussion, especially with regards to our nominations for our AGM.
Anyone interested in computing and ICT are welcome to attend, however please RSVP to [email protected] . See you there!
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) will be having its 64th public meeting from Saturday March 9 to March 14 2019 in Kobe, Japan. However, you can listen in and participate remotely.
What is ICANN?
What is ICANN?
As the name implies, ICANN helps coordinate the assignment and management of Internet numbering resources (such as IP addresses) and domain names (forming a system called the Domain Name System or DNS). The DNS maps domain names to IP addresses.
ICANN also defines and implements policies for how the “Names and Numbers” of the Internet are assigned. ICANN coordinates policy development related to the DNS by bringing a variety of stakeholders (ranging from governments, technical, business, civil society) organised in various groups to develop and advise on such DNS policies. This volunteer-based group of diverse stakeholders is called the ICANN community.
The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS) is an member of the ICANN At-Large Community since 2006, which represents the interests of Internet end users in ICANN policies and activities.
Important links to learn and follow #ICANN64
Some important links to help you learn more and follow the #ICANN64 meeting :
ICANN64 Full Meeting Schedule – this table (you will have to scroll down a lot) shows the various meetings happening in various rooms at the same time. All times listed are local to Kobe, Japan. The time in Kobe Japan is 13 hours ahead of that of Trinidad and Tobago. So when looking at the ICANN64 schedule, you’ll need to subtract 13 hours to get the time of the meeting in Trinidad and Tobago. This means that the meetings on Monday Morning for example will take place on Sunday night in Trinidad and Tobago. If you visit the schedule on your iOS or Android device, you can install the ICANN Meeting App to follow the schedule on your mobile / tablet device. Or search for “ICANN” in your app stores.
Pre-ICANN64 Policy Report (PDF) – This report provides a high-level overview of the planned work and activities of the Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees (including At-Large) at ICANN64.
You will see on the left under the short description are several grey buttons:
Live Video – via Livestream –
Scribe – Closed Captioning – shows the live transcribed text during the meeting – great when you want to scroll back quickly to catch what was said or you can’t listen to audio.
Adobe Connect – a web conferencing tool ICANN uses for its online conference calls and F2F public meetings. Adobe Connect allows participants (either face to face or remotely) to
instant message each other
review the meeting agenda and documents
follow presentations and raise their hands in order to make comments.
English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Japanese – the audio of the meeting – the presence of muliple languages is done by interpreters in the room allowing different language participants to understand each other (and to be understood by other participants)
Note that not all meetings will have so many different language options, but all would have at least the audio stream and the Adobe Connect “room”
Installing the Adobe Connect app
It is recommended to download the standalone Adobe Connect application for Windows or Mac
Download Adobe Connect Meeting Application for Windows : http://www.adobe.com/go/Connectsetup
Download Adobe Connect Meeting Application for MacOS : http://www.adobe.com/go/ConnectSetupMac
Adobe Connect app is also available on mobile / tablet devices running iOS and Android.
Currently, as the TTCS’ At-Large representative (Dev Anand Teelucksingh), I have continued to be involved in various At-Large activities. I do want to encourage anyone with a interest and a desire to learn more about ICANN policy issues and how to get involved, email me at [email protected] and I’ll try my best to help.
Cultural Factors in the Caribbean affecting Trust & Privacy for Digital Security
Using Technology to Increase Trust in Public Institutions
TTIGF 2019 will also have an open forum session where all stakeholders (including online participants) can share comments, questions, solutions and best practices on internet governance locally, regionally and globally.
If you plan to attend (in person or remotely), please register for TTIGF2019 . Registration is FREE. There is no charge to attend TTIGF 2019, but space is limited!
