November 24, 2022

Singapore launched the Smart Nation initiative on 24 November 2014, aiming to digitise Singapore’s government, economy and society. With lockdowns and work from home arrangements, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the pace of digitization. However, the pandemic has also exposed gaps in Singapore’s nationwide digitisation efforts.

In ‘Making universal digital access universal: lessons from COVID-19 in Singapore’ (Universal Access in the Information Society, 2022), Associate Professor Irene Y. H. Ng (NUS Social Work), Professor Sun Sun Lim (SUTD Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences), and Dr Natalie Pang (NUS Communications and New Media) draw lessons from Singapore’s experience in the COVID-19 pandemic to recommend a policy framework for universal access to digital resources, including electronic devices, internet connection, and digital literacy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed many gaps in Singapore’s digitisation efforts. For instance, as educational institutes switch to online learning, students realise that even though they have stable internet access, not all electronic devices are equally suitable for online classes (phone vs laptop, for example). Moreover, there are still social groups that are not adept at using smart devices, such as the elderly and migrant workers who cannot read English. Internet access has also failed to reach some public rental apartments catering to low-income households. Overall, despite the strong governmental efforts to digitise Singapore, the researchers argue that there is still an uneven distribution of support for different groups of people to access digital resources.

Given the gaps identified, the researchers propose that Singapore should move towards providing universal access to digital devices, internet connection, and digital literacy. First, state investment in digital infrastructure should be the foundation of building universal access. Second, the vulnerable social groups should be identified, and gaps in their access to digital resources should be identified clearly. Third, Singapore has to find ways to fill in the gaps efficiently and affordably. Providing universal digital access will require tremendous efforts and investment. While state leadership is clearly necessary, the involvement of social service professionals, volunteers, and vulnerable groups themselves is also a must. Close collaboration between the public and private sector is also called for to ensure sustainable funding to the digitisation efforts.

Read the article here: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-022-00877-9