ES1102 Essay Draft 4 (Edited)

Singapore is facing a rising greying population, with baby boomers entering their golden years. (Tham, 2014) The term baby boomers indicates people who are born between 1947 and 1964. (MCYS, Jan 2009) As the country progresses toward a technologically advanced era, a group of these baby boomers and those older than them are unintentionally left behind - they are the group of independent living elderly who are not technologically connected.

Since a group of independent-living elderly are deprived of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) support due to their lack of awareness in technology, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA)  should implement a series of TV commercial in different languages to educate the use of Internet to allow these elderly to be plugged in.  

Problem

Because of their lack of awareness in technology, this group of independent living elderly are not connected to the cyber world. Being connected for these elderly meant myriad access to information and knowledge of their interest. Elderly can also make use of the Internet to communicate with their friends or family members. Communication tools as simple as webcam is good enough for these elderly to stay connected with their loved ones. However, many are unable to do so as they simply do not understand the system and the controls. Without ICT, it is obvious elderly are not able to enjoy these benefits. As adapted from Straits Times, 2009, “They are elderly, poor, living alone, divorced or widowed, or in poor health - and there are 30,000 of them in Singapore. These are the numbers at risk of social isolation, said Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan as he gave an update on the day-to-day conditions of the elderly poor and what the Government was doing to help them.”, these are elderly who are at risk of social isolation. “Preliminary results from an MCYS-commissioned survey indicated that those living alone and those with weak social networks outside of the household are more likely to be at risk of social isolation.” (MCYS, March 2010).  It is therefore common for these elderly to be stuck at home and do nothing every day if they do not engage in any form of community activities, hobbies or interaction with other people, and this could result in social isolation of the elderly. To add on, these elderly might also be bothered by their physical impediments such as difficulty in walking long distances and thus leaving their homes to engage in a certain activity or hobby would be tedious. If an elderly is placed in the above mentioned conditions, it is likely that this elderly would be depressed and lonely as he/she is unable to engage in something meaningful, and is unable to communicate and interact with other people.

Solution
Currently, there are many efforts undertaken by the government to promote a healthy aging environment for the elderly, and Seniors Activity Centres is one of them. “The Seniors Activity Centres (SACs) are key communities agencies in providing social support and care for seniors in the community.” (MCYS, March 2010). However, there are shortcomings to these SACs as well. Even though these centres are set up in the vicinity where the elderly reside, elderly who are obstinate and refuse to socialise and make friends would not make a trip to these SACs as it would be pointless to them. Elderly who have difficulty walking due to their old age would also not frequent these SACs as it is a tedious process for them. Without going to these SACs, the elderly would still be isolated and walled up in their homes as they could not enjoy the activities and benefits SACs brought about. As such, it is important to address the issue from home. The implementation of TV commercials is a possible way to educate the elderly about the importance of staying connected and the value of having ICT in their homes. IDA could design a series of commercials that would be broadcasted during the morning and afternoon period when most of the elderly will be active throughout the day. The commercials would be in the three major dialects spoken by the elderly, Mandarin (not a dialect), Hokkien, Cantonese and Teochew, in order for them to understand the content. The commercials would be made to appeal visually with a lot of images and minimum characters as the targeted audience is a group of not well educated or illiterate elderly. The TV commercials is a primary step to educate the elderly and to encourage them to get in touch with ICT. It should also be used to complement the several existing policies implemented by the government to allow elderly to purchase computers at an affordable rate.

The digital divide in Singapore is real with a group of elderly who are still not connected. The digital gap between elderly who are aware of technology and are plugged in and those who are unaware is important. Those who are plugged in are likely to live a more active and informative lifestyle whereas those who are unplugged are at risk of social isolation. As technology advances, Singapore is expected to progress along. This will put our baby boomers and those older than them at a disadvantage for their lack of knowledge with Information Technology (IT). It is thus essential to do something to allow these group of elderly to update their status from “offline” to “online” and to reduce the possibility of more elderly being socially isolated.

References

MCYS, (2010, March 04), Neighborliness is best defence against social isolation, Retrieved October 20, 2014 from http://app.msf.gov.sg/Portals/0/Summary/pressroom/Neighbourliness%20is%20Best%20Defence%20Against%20Social%20Isolation.pdf 

SG Press Centre, (2009 January 09), Singapore's Baby Boomers Wish To Age Meaningfully And Stay Active In Their Golden Years, Retrieved Date, October 6, 2014

The Straits Times, (2014 March 13), Bridging the digital divide, Retrieved October 4, 2014 from http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/case-you-missed-it/story/bridging-the-digital-divide-20140317

The Straits Times, (2009, October 29), Retrieved October 20, 2014 from http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Page/today20091021-2.1.10.aspx  

  

Something Interesting to share

I am not quite sure if this source is reliable as it's adapted from 9GAG. However, the photo of the guy seems pretty reliable and trustworthy! Just something interesting i came across and thought I could share it with you guys :)

ES1102 Essay Draft 3

Singapore is facing a rising greying population, with baby boomers entering their golden years. (Tham, 2014) The term baby boomers indicates people who are born between 1947 and 1964. (MCYS, Jan 2009) As the country progresses toward a technologically advanced era, a group of these baby boomers are unintentionally left behind - they are the group of independent living elderly who are not technologically connected. This is also the focal point of this paper, which discusses the divide between independent living elderly who receives home based healthcare and those who do not due to the insufficient technological infrastructure in their homes.

Home-based healthcare is when medical assistance is provided for at the comfort of the homes of the elderly. In the present hi-tech society, home-based healthcare includes the use of highly intelligent devices, however majority of these independent living elderly do not have any form of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) support in their homes. With this incapacity, it deprives them from enjoying the full benefits of home-based healthcare. In contrast to those who have ICT support in their homes, these group of elderly are definitely losing out. Pinpointing the cause for the lack in ICT support, the most apparent is that they are technology ignorant. As these elderly are technology ignorant, they would not have had any knowledge about ICT. It is also these group of elderly who falls on the other end of the spectrum. As we look at how technology has improved and benefited our daily lives, we have to also consider the technology divide existing among our elderly population. With this divide, these group of elderly are on the disadvantageous side and can be easily neglected by the country. 

In Singapore's present healthcare scene, she have gone so far and established many milestones and breakthroughs in the medical field. We are currently in the era where sophisticated and state-of-art equipment or machinery are working hand in hand with doctors and professionals to treat and provide basic healthcare services for people. Looking at home-based healthcare services, some of these home-based medical devices for the elderly are specially designed to have a tracking or monitoring system so that movements can be instantaneously detected and then recorded. This is helpful as user can be notified with the situation in an independent-living elderly home. e-Guardian is one such example which uses this system. The degree of efficiency and convenience these intelligent devices brought about is commendable. It is obvious that without ICT support, elderly are unable to enjoy these benefits.  

A group of independent-living elderly are deprived of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) support due to their ignorance in technology, Ministry of Health can implement a "limited free wifi zone" in the building where these elderly reside to allow connectivity for approved medical devices so as to help these elderly be connected and to enjoy the full benefits of home-based healthcare. 

Limited free wifi zone

Ministry of Health (MOH) can help these elderly "be connected" by implementing a free wifi zone in their residential building. This proposed solution however would be exploited as anyone can connect to it. In order to prevent this, the free wifi would be limited only to those who qualifies for it.  This means that only qualified and approved households and medical devices by the MOH can be connected via the "limited free wifi zone". Elderly who require the use of ICT support intelligent medical devices and are technology ignorant are those who qualifies for this scheme. The medical devices that they use will also have to be endorsed and authorized by MOH before it can be use through the "wifi zone". Helping these elderly stay connected, family members can also tap on the intellectual and efficient system of the medical devices created for home-based healthcare. MOH will have to work together with communications service provider, namely Singtel or Starhub to provide the connection in these residential building. The concept of having "limited free wifi zone" is to serve as a primary tool to help these group of unplugged elderly "be connected" as technology is made available to them instead of doing it themselves. 

The digital divide in Singapore is real with a group of people who are still not connected. The digital gap between elderly who can afford home-based healthcare and those who cannot is an existing issue and the government play a crucial role in the efforts to bridge this gap. As technology advances, Singapore is expected to progress along as well. This will put our baby boomers or late bloomers at an disadvantage for their lack of knowledge with Information Technology (IT). It is thus essential we do something to help these group of baby boomers. 

References

Health Exchange, 2013 January 01, Keeping a Watch on Seniors Living Alone, Retrieved October 3, 2014 from http://www.healthxchange.com.sg/News/Pages/keeping-watch-seniors-living.aspx

Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, http://www.ida.gov.sg/Infocomm-Landscape/Facts-and-Figures/Infocomm-Usage-Households-and-Individuals

SG Press Centre, 2009 January 09, Singapore's Baby Boomers Wish To Age Meaningfully And Stay Active In Their Golden Years, Retrieved Date, October 6, 2014

The Straits Times, 2014 March 13, Bridging the digital divide, Retrieved October 4, 2014 from http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/case-you-missed-it/story/bridging-the-digital-divide-20140317

ES1102 Mid Term Appraisal

Initially, I was a little apprehensive about ES1102 and felt that it was a burdensome module. To add on, the module even took up two days of my weekly schedule. I felt even sour for having to attend this module as it meant that my English was bad. After nine weeks into this module, I am glad I “qualified” for it. This module has enriched and honed my written and analytic skills. The materials provided were very informative and it was applicable to my other modules as well.

What I really liked about this module is that the class is small in size. Although it was really awkward for the first few sessions as everyone was foreign to me, a few sessions later helped cleared up the awkwardness amongst the people in the class. Our tutor Brad, was also a funny and approachable guy who makes our learning more conducive. Brad would often pair us up with different people in class or group us randomly according to our height or age. I feel that this is a very good way to encourage conversation and interaction between different people in the class as we have to work together with our new weekly partners to complete the in-class assignments. The amount of work assigned for this module is however, relatively heavy considering that it is a zero module credit course. Luckily, Brad was very understanding if we failed to meet the datelines for our essay submission in class.

I feel that the class as a whole, has a very positive learning vibe as I see that my peers are really enthusiastic during classes. The in-class activities are also interesting and informative, such as grammar editing for essays. The in-class assignments are also easy to absorb and understand as they are all in the form of bite size information. I especially like the fact that the class often engages in discussion. We will share thoughts and doubts relating to each other’s work or on certain academic essays. To date, I feel that the class has progressed and improved significantly as compared to the very first time we met in this class. It is also heartening to see the class progress together. In all my other modules, I feel that learning is very individualistic and competitive. Whereas in ES1102, I feel that everyone learns and errs together and the learning environment is very positive and encouraging. I hope this module will continue to enrich and benefit more people in the future. 

Essay Prompt Draft 2

Introduction 
Singapore is facing a rising greying population, with baby boomers entering their golden years. (Tham, 2014) The term baby boomers indicates people who are born between 1947 and 1964. (MCYS, Jan 2009) As the country progresses toward a technologically advanced era, a group of these baby boomers are unintentionally left behind - they are the group of independent living elderly who are not technologically connected. This is also the focal point of this paper, which discusses the divide between independent living elderly who receives home based healthcare and those who do not due to the insufficient technological infrastructure in their homes.

Problem
Home-based healthcare is when medical assistance is provided for at the comfort of the homes of the elderly. In the present hi-tech society, home-based healthcare includes the use of highly intelligent devices. Majority of these medical devices are intentionally designed to have a tracking or monitoring system so that movements can be instantaneously detected and then recorded. This is helpful as user can be notified with the situation in an independent-living elderly home. e-Guardian is the epitome of such intelligent device. It takes the form of a wrist watch and picks up signals when the wearer has fallen down or fainted at home. These signals are transmitted wirelessly to a base station which then sends out messages to family members or even doctors about the accident at home. In other instances, some medical devices may require substantial technological infrastructure support in the homes of the patient - such as the support of fiber broadband. This is when the gap between those who can afford and cannot afford such home-based healthcare becomes apparent. It is reasonable to understand that some independent-living elderly are not able to afford broadband as they are poor. On the flip side, we have to also consider a small group of elderly who does not wish to be plugged in as they do not see the need to, or elderly who are not educated at all to understand the concept of Internet. It is this group of elderly that lies on the other end of the spectrum.

The group of independent-living elderly who does not wish to be connected and those who are technology ignorant is the ones who are unable to receive home-based healthcare due to the absence of broadband or relevant technological support in their homes, Ministry of Health can implement a "limited free wifi zone" in the buildings these elderly reside in to allow connectivity for approved medical devices and the initiation of IT campaign to educate the elderly about Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to help these elderly stay connected to enjoy full benefits of home-based healthcare

Limited free wifi zone
The proposed solution can be deem as a luxury for these group of elderly, and as such, it should not be exploited to the use of those who are not under this scheme. This means that only qualified and approved households and medical devices by the Ministry of Health (MOH) can be connected via the "limited free wifi zone". Elderly who uses intelligent medical devices which require broadband support and are technology-ignorant are those who fall under this qualified households category. The medical devices that they use will have to be endorsed and authorised by MOH before it can be use through the "wifi zone".  Helping these elderly stay connected, family members or doctors can tap on the intellectual and efficient system of the medical devices created for home-based healthcare, and also allow them to monitor and assist when out of compound. The concept of "limited free wifi zone" will serve as a primary tool to help these group of unplugged elderly stay connected while not allowing them to exploit the notion of "free wifi" by limiting their usage.

IT campaigns for the independent living elderly
Another group of these independent living elderly are those who are not willing to be plugged in. Statistics from Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) in 2012 have also shown that 60 years old and above individuals who uses a computer and internet is only a meager 16% compared to 51% for individuals aged 50 to 59. Based on statistics and personal experience at an independent living elderly home, most of these elderly do not have the support of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in their homes. With such absence of ICT, it does not entitle the elderly to enjoy the full benefits of home-based healthcare as they will not be able to support certain hi-tech medical devices or equipment that require technical support. The initiation of an IT campaign for the elderly can help to tackle this issue. MOH can work together with welfare organisation and community centers to launch series of events that educates the use of ICT through talk show and hands-on workshops. Such initiation will only drive enthusiasm amongst the disinterested elderly about ICT but the implementation of financial aids, ICT schemes and packages will help to encourage use. Subsequent follow through will have to be made in order to ensure these elderly will upgrade their status from "offline" to "online".

Conclusion
The digital divide in Singapore is real with a group of people who are still not connected. The digital gap between elderly who can afford home-based healthcare and those who cannot is an existing issue and the government play a crucial role in the efforts to bridge this gap.



References

Health Exchange, 2013 January 01, Keeping a Watch on Seniors Living Alone, Retrieved October 3, 2014 from http://www.healthxchange.com.sg/News/Pages/keeping-watch-seniors-living.aspx

Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, http://www.ida.gov.sg/Infocomm-Landscape/Facts-and-Figures/Infocomm-Usage-Households-and-Individuals

SG Press Centre, 2009 January 09, Singapore's Baby Boomers Wish To Age Meaningfully And Stay Active In Their Golden Years, Retrieved Date, October 6, 2014

The Straits Times, 2014 March 13, Bridging the digital divide, Retrieved October 4, 2014 from http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/case-you-missed-it/story/bridging-the-digital-divide-20140317

ES1102 Reader Response Draft 4

Can English be a Singaporean mother tongue?

Lu (2013) discussed the increasing prevalence of English being recognised as their mother tongue in Singaporeans over the years. He also observed that there were efforts to encourage Mandarin, Melayu or Tamil learning but Singaporeans still regard English as their sense of core identity. Sadly, he noted that such identification of the English language by Singaporeans did not gain consensus from the local government and the international crowd. He then mentioned that the divide between older generation Singaporeans and younger generation Singaporeans was also the cause of the current linguistic and ideological segregation. He stated that with such divide, conflicts amongst different linguistic and ideologies groups would slump progressively. He then went on to highlight that Singaporeans proved to be of a better caliber by outdoing most nations in international tests in English proficiency and literacy. To conclude, he asserted that the acceptance of English language as our mother tongue would only be feasible with the government’s recognition of the English language and the alteration of the language policies and stances to match the linguistics context. 

English should be recognized as the rightful mother tongue language in Singapore but due to the nature of Singapore being cosmopolitan with different racial groups co-existing together over the years which resulted in a pool of distinctive languages, it is hard to determine this stance. 

I recollected asking my friends over leisure talk which language was representative of Singapore and the answers I got were obvious. I had answers like Singlish and Chinese. Making up 75% of the population, Chinese is the largest population in Singapore followed by Malays, Indians and other racial groups. It is therefore reasonable to claim that Mandarin can be our Mother Tongue given the racial composition but however, we have to consider that not many are fluent in Mandarin. This is in fact what makes it tough to establish English as the rightful mother tongue language of Singapore - the competition of the Mandarin language. Mother tongue, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary, is the language that an individual speaks while growing up. Although many had always been speaking Mandarin since their childhood days, there has been a visible shift in the "mother language" spoken at home by many new young generation Singaporeans. The advocation of English as their mother tongue by these young generation Singaporeans would show increasing trends as more choose to identify themselves as a "English speaker" than "Mandarin speaker". 

I also observed that with this gradual shift, many Singaporeans had also shifted away from their Chinese roots. As these Singaporeans move away from Mandarin to English, they no longer value the importance of Mandarin anymore. I have friends who feel that Mandarin is totally useless for their future and are not even bothered to spend time reading anything written in Chinese. It is saddening that such scene is common across the young generation nowadays. 

As Singapore develops and flourishes with the effects of globalization, she has well integrated into the diverse social practices, cultures and linguistic influences different countries bring about. However, I feel that she is ambiguous in the eyes of the foreigners. Many still have the perception that Singaporeans are not skillful in written and spoken English and that we converse mainly in Singlish. In resonance with Lu (2013), I agree that Singapore should quickly establish a firm stand on our sociolinguistic reality and make English our mother tongue in order to make known our local English standards and to gain recognition for it across the globe. It would also be an excellent opportunity for the locals to rethink about their roots and origin instead of going along with the globalization wave. 

Reference:

Lu, L. (2013, July 15) Can English be a Singaporean mother tongue? Today Online. Retrieved from
http://www.todayonline.com/commentary/can-english-be-singaporean-mother-tongue?singlepage=true

Oxford Dictionary, (n.d), Retrieved from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/mother-tongue

Essay Prompt Draft 1

Over the years, there is a  __% rise in the numbers of elderly living alone in Singapore. The figures are worrying as there are concerns over the elderly being able to take care of themselves while living alone. With the increased statistics, it also meant that there will be more elderly who are prone to accidents or health risks when they are at home as they are unable to take care of themselves properly. In order to tackle the problem of these accidents or health issues occurring in the elderly's home, home-based healthcare is looked into in this paper as one of the possible solutions to address this problem.

Home-based healthcare is when the elderly at home can receive any form of medical assistance or attention without having to go to a clinic or hospital. These healthcare services are manifested in the form of highly intelligent devices which are also easy-to-use and require minimal or no human effort. (Will include an existing example of such devices, still researching) Devices like the ____, is the collaboration between engineers and medical professionals, and more similar products are suggested to be developed in time to come. The main concern over these products is the ability of the elderly to afford them and the existing technological infrastructure and support in the homes of the elderly. The collaboration between the engineers and medical professionals is able to produce user-friendly medical devices that allow one-stop assistance and immediate call-to-action for elderly who faces health issues at home, yet the monetary incapacity of the elderly is the cause of single-living elderly not being able to receive immediate medical attention for their health issues at home.