News
Nine new Nominated MPs picked for 2½-year term
Among them are para swimmer, social entrepreneur and labour economist; two are below 30
Paralympic swimmer Yip Pin Xiu is youngest among 9 NMPs to be appointed
SINGAPORE — For the first time, there will be two candidates under the age of 30 among the new batch of nine Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs), with Paralympic swimmer Yip Pin Xiu set to be the youngest person to take up the post at the age of 26.
Study: Despite SingHealth Data Breach, Over Half of Singaporeans Remain Optimistic About Smart Nation Drive
SUTD’s Head of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Professor Lim Sun Sun explained that Singaporeans may not necessarily draw the connection between data privacy and Smart Nation initiatives. “Besides data security, people may associate Smart Nation with more innovative technologies such as autonomous vehicles, drones and smart lamp posts.”
Though Good to Have Four Self-help Groups Under the Same Roof, Experts Say We Must Take Into Account the Cultural Sensitivity of Different Ethnic Groups (summarised translation)
Four self-help groups will be working together to promote racial integration, a move that was praised by experts. However, the groups must not be too hasty in promoting racial integration, and miss out on taking into account the sensitivity of different ethnic groups.
Years of Dividends from a Three-minute Investment
The 3MT competition helps nurture a critical skill for academics, scientists and researchers who must ensure that academic research and its benefits for society are effectively communicated to the public.
The Science and Sensibilities of Smart Cities
As Asian countries develop smart cities, residents must contend with their benefits and drawbacks. While connected systems have the potential to deliver better urban planning and conveniences, they can also introduce inequalities and undermine inclusiveness.
11 Social Science Research Projects Received $15 Million Grant (summarised translation)
The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) has allocated $15 million to fund 11 social science research projects covering topics such as productivity and innovation, social integration, and the impact of digital technology on society, for the next three to five years.
To Combat Online Falsehoods We Need to Restore Mainstream Media to Former “Glory”
Lianhe Zaobao, 30 Mar 2018, To combat online falsehoods we need to restore mainstream media to former “glory” (summarised translation)
Nicholas Fang, MD of Blackdot Media and Professor Lim Sun Sun, Head of HASS at SUTD, were the final expert witnesses to present evidence to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods.
Both spoke in their personal capacities. Both experts agreed that fact checking efforts needs to be stepped up as a critical bulwark against online falsehoods.
Prof Lim added that the most ideal situation is for multiple stakeholders to engage in fact checking, and this includes media and technology companies as well as civic society organisations and groups. She noted that in the preceding weeks, many witnesses had highlighted the importance of media literacy as a solution to online falsehoods. However she explained that this would not be easy to achieve because the dramatic transformations in our media landscape mean that media literacy is an increasingly multi-faceted competency.
She also stressed that for media consumers to be completely discerning, they need to constantly learn new apps and new technological affordances, they need to understand industry shifts in the forms of mergers and acquisitions among media and technology companies that have implications for how users’ personal information is shared, and they need to keep up with different emerging media genres as well.
Prof Lim shared that as a media professor herself, she finds it challenging to constantly keep up with all of these changes, let alone the average media consumer. Hence she argued for more resources to be poured into media literacy education in order to make it more sophisticated so as to better help consumers adapt to the increasingly complex media landscape.
Communications and Information: Leading Smart Nation push while curbing database breaches
Fake news, the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal, and fears over abuse of surveillance data amid plans by the Government to roll out an interconnected network of smart lamp posts here.
The Big Read: In the war against fake news, public needs to get in the trenches
SINGAPORE — It was over dinner on an evening in December 2016 when a sales manager at a printing company decided that he must make a stand…
