Digital Societies

PI: Mr Poon King Wang (LKYCIC, SUTD)
Team: Ms Holly Apsley, Mr Wong Yuan Hao, Ms Catherine Chang, Mr Zach Tan (LKYCIC, SUTD)

In the past decades, the internet and digital technologies have provided opportunities for meaningful interactions and promises of greater equality. Yet, they have simultaneously exacerbated abusive behaviours and deepened divides. Along with Smart Nation goals, there is an urgent need to ensure that Singapore is digitally-ready to maximise the opportunities that these technologies present, while minimising risks and negative outcomes. The Digital Societies research project was formulated with the aim of understanding the societal impacts of digital technologies in Singapore and providing policy recommendations to assist Singapore’s transition into a digitally-ready society. Our project comprises four themes: (1) Abusive Online Behaviours; (2) Life in a Digital Society; (3) Platform-enabled Work; and (4) Community. These themes have captured global policy and popular interest, and intersect with concerns around communication, fragmentation of society, and quality of life.

Our research approach understands society and technology as entities that co-constitute one another, rather than treating the “digital” and “society” as separate entities. Technology does not have deterministic, unilateral, and monocausal effects. Instead, technologies and their effects are contextually situated as technologies are (1) used by social actors for their own interests; (2) produced by social actors who carry their own biases; and (3) used to mediate social relationships. Sociality is not only enabled and constrained by technological affordances, but also by social differentials, cultural schemes, and power relations that are translated rather than erased with technology. Thus, to understand abusive online behaviours, communities, and life and work in a digital society, we have sought to study technologies within their social contexts.