On the day i received my QET results, I was very disappointed that I am required to take the module English for Academic Purpose (ES1102). Why did I not practice before QET? Why did I not take QET seriously? But it was all too late for any regrets.
Since my Junior College days, I always had an impression that there is no need for engineers to be exceptional in writing, in fact, engineering students are rarely required to write a proper essay throughout their years of studies. This is still quite true till date. Therefore I found it pointless and a waste of time to be in this course. Everybody labels this module as a 'burden mod' mainly because it is just extra work. However, during the first lesson, my impression of this module changed completely. The lesson was unlike the normal dry and boring English classes where you just sit down and listen to the teacher ramble about grammar, instead, my mentor, Brad, had made it fun and engaging. If you ask me why it was fun and engaging, I wouldn't really know the definite answer to it. Maybe it's because Brad has a good sense of humour, or probably just the way the lesson is designed to be.
Brad focuses a lot on learning from your peers. I too believe in learning from peers. A mentor may not know everything. having more brains means being able to generate more ideas and suggestions for improvement, especially in a very subjective course like ES1102 which revolves around writing. Different people have different preferences for writing styles. Having more feedback on the posts you have written and reviewing the posts that your peers have written allows you to in-cooperate other styles of writing to improve your own. Instead of just telling us how the essay is supposed to be written, we have to look through the essay very thoroughly and spot for any possible grammar mistakes ourselves. This simple activity actually helps in the formation of 'muscle memory' for the brain. When similar mistakes appears again, we will be able to spot is easily.
Presentation have always been my nemesis because I have never been a confident speaker. However, it is very relevant to Engineering students because there is a need for us to be able to present ideas and solutions in a clear and concise manner. Even though there was no mention of having to do a presentation in this course, I was already expecting it to have one partly because when Brad showed us the blog of one of his ex-student, I had a glimpse of the course appraisal and it says that there is a lack of presentation for this course. I was glad that we were required to come up with a short presentation on our essay topic. I felt that I did not do a good job mainly because I was trying to adopt to a new way of creating my slides and I had other tasking to complete, resulting in the lack of preparation. Even so, I got some pretty constructive feedback for my presentation and I have quite a clear idea and direction on how I can do better for my next presentation which is most probably the oral defense for GEK1549.
English is a very powerful tool for conveying ideas. Having a strong foundation in English language is actually very beneficial in many aspects of life. So instead of asking why is there a need to have a strong English foundation especially when engineers are dealing with numbers and formulas, ask yourself, why not?
Wednesday, 12 November 2014
Saturday, 8 November 2014
Digital Divide and Healthcare (Essay prompt Final Final draft)
In his TED talk, Molinari
(2011) asserts the digital divide is a “new illiteracy”, and it occurs due to
people not being able to afford the technology, lacking the skills of using it,
and being unaware of the benefits. Having access to Internet should be a right
in the digitally revolutionised 21st century as we are unable
to operate without it.
Singapore has worked
her way up to being one of the most connected countries in this highly
digitalised world. However, there are still minority groups in Singapore, such
as the elderly who lack the skills to access the Internet. This has caused
repercussions for the elderly such as the decrease in efficacy of healthcare
treatments. To resolve this, medical institutions will have to provide
healthcare information actively, and government agencies can introduce
Information Communication Technology (ICT) bridging courses.
According to Infocomm
Development Authority of Singapore (iDA) (n.d.c), with a Residential Wired
Broadband Household Penetration Rate of 106.7% in June 2013, Singapore has positioned
herself as one of the most connected countries in the world. However, a digital
divide still exists. Even with a broadband penetration rate of more than 100%,
according iDA (2013) only 84% of the households actually have access to the
Internet. While some households are subscribing to multiple broadband lines,
others simply cannot afford it. Even if the household are subscribed to
broadband lines, there are people, such as the elderly, who lack the required
skills to use it. According to iDA (n.d.a), in 2012, only 16% of the people
above 60 years old were using the Internet. The elderly who lack access to the
Internet are therefore deprived of vital information for aspects such as
healthcare. Healthcare information is extremely important for the elderly to
allow them to make informed decisions regarding their health.
Lustria, Smith and
Hinnant (2011) discuss the importance of having access to health information.
In their research, they demonstrate that many studies have shown the various
benefits of having access to health information. In another study, Fox and
Purcell (2010 as cited in Lockwood et al 2013), observe that 81% of the healthy
adults access the Internet frequently while only 52% of those who are diagnosed
with chronic illness go online, and they concluded that ceteris paribus, people living with chronic illness have a negative
correlation with having access to the Internet. Medical institutions and
government agencies such as iDA will have to intervene to increase health
information seeking among the elderly.
One of the many ways to
bridge this disparity will be for medical institutions to actively disseminate
healthcare information down the patient network via means such as mobile phone
messaging service. Miloh (2009, as cited in Lockwood et al 2013) observes that
after a text message reminder system has been implemented, there is a vast
improvement in medication adherence and a decrease in rejection among pediatric
liver transplant patients. With a successful framework already set up, it can be
further improve it by incorporating the dissemination of healthcare
information. The patient will have to subscribe to this service and choose
their preferred language. The healthcare messages keep the patient informed
about their current conditions and provide tips to boost their recovery. Even
after the patients have recovered, they can continue with this service for
advices on post recovery and even tips for healthy lifestyle. With Singapore’s
mobile penetration rate of 156% in 2013 (iDA, n.d.c), we may safely assume that
almost everyone owns a mobile phone, and this is very crucial for the messaging
service to work. At the same time, medical institutions already have the
required framework as they have adopted the use of mobile phone messaging for
confirmation of appointments, leading to huge amount of cost savings. The
information will also be directly from the doctors, making the source extremely
trustworthy. With proper publicity, this service may be able to attract more
users than just those who lack access to the Internet
What some of the
elderly lack are the skills to access the Internet. In 2007, iDA launched The
Silver Infocomm Initiative (SII). The SII
is a programme that aims to bridge the digital divide for the senior citizens
in Singapore (iDA). This programme includes two parts, the Silver Infocomm
Hotspots and Junctions. The first part focuses mainly on providing the
facilities for the elderly to access the Internet by setting up 100 free
hotspots island-wide in accessible location for the elderly, such as community
centres. The second part focuses on imparting the skills of accessing the
internet to the elderly. The senior citizens are grouped based on their
education background, language and their ability to use ICTs. Lessons on how to
use the computer and the Internet will then be conducted based on the groups
they are in. This will allow the senior citizens to be competent in using the
Internet.
The
elderly are divided into different classes and with the lessons being planned
according to their choice of language and the experience they have with IT.
This may facilitate their learning process and also provide them with a good
learning experience. This programme is extremely feasible as it targets the
root cause of the problem, digital divide, by providing both facilities and
skills. However, the participation rate of the programme may be low, unless the
programme is being publicised properly.
Efficacy
of healthcare treatment increases when patients have access to more healthcare
information. At the same time, with access to healthcare information, people
will be able to make informed decisions for a healthy lifestyle. With so many
benefits closely related to having access to healthcare information, medical
institutes and government agencies such as iDA should participate actively to
provide access to healthcare information. Medical institutes being a ‘bank’ for
healthcare information, can provide the patients with healthcare information
through mediums such as mobile phone messages to bridge the information disparity
directly, while government agencies can provide both the hardware and
‘software’ for the elderly by providing them the hardware and equipping them
with the necessary skills access to the Internet to bridge the digital divide
directly.
References
Infocomm Development
Authority of Singapore (2013). Annual Survey on Infocomm Usage in
Households and by Individuals for 2012. Retrieved from
http://www.ida.gov.sg/~/media/Files/Infocomm%20Landscape/Facts%20and%20Figures/SurveyReport/2012/2012HHmgt.pdf
Infocomm Development
Authority of Singapore (n.d.a). Infocomm Usage- Household and
Individuals. Retrieved from
Infocomm Development
Authority of Singapore (n.d.b). Silver Infocomm Initiative.
Retrieved from
Infocomm Development
Authority of Singapore (n.d.c). Statistics: Telecommunications.
Retrieved from
Lockwood,
M. B., Saunders, M. R., Lee, C. S., Becker, Y. T., Josephson, M. A. & Chon,
W. J. (2013, December). Kidney Transplant and digital divide: is information
and communication technology a barrier or a bridge to transplant for African
Americans? [Electronic version]. Progress in Transplantation, 23(4), 302-309
Lustria, M. L. A., Smith, S. A., & Hinnant,
C. C. (2011). Exploring digital divides: An examination of eHealth technology
use in health information seeking, communication and personal health
information management in the USA [Electronic version]. Health Informatics Journal, 225-244.
Molinari, A. (2011,
August). Let’s bridge the digital divide! Retrieved from
Weaver, J. B. III.,
Mays, D., Weaver, S. S., Hopkins, G. L., Eroğlu,
D. & Bernhardt, J. M. (2010, August). Health Information- Seeking
Behaviours, Health Indicators, and Health Risks. [Electronic version]. American
Journal of Public Health, 100(8), 1520-1525
Wednesday, 5 November 2014
Reflection of Presentation
I have always been the 'thinker' kind of person with many crazy ideas. I love to share my ideas and queries. However, I have never been a confident speaker, especially in a presentation setting. I tend to get very nervous when many pairs of eyes are watching me. At the same time, I find it hard to express myself at times because I tend to think faster than I can express my thoughts. At the same time, I did not spend ample time to prepare for the presentation as I had to prepare for a test which was before my presentation and work on my other projects. Trying to adopt the new style of presentation and the lack of preparation increased the amount of uncertainty which made me more nervous. I felt that I zoomed through most of the parts during the presentation because I just wanted to get off the stage, without giving my peers a chance to absorb the information I presented.
I don't think I did a good job this time round even though it was only a short and simple presentation. Since I am not a natural speaker, I will just have to put in more effort and time to prepare for presentations in the future.
I don't think I did a good job this time round even though it was only a short and simple presentation. Since I am not a natural speaker, I will just have to put in more effort and time to prepare for presentations in the future.
Thursday, 30 October 2014
Digital and Healthcare Divide (Essay Final draft)
In his TED talk, Molinari (2011) asserts the digital divide is a
“new illiteracy”, and it occurs due to people not being able to afford the
technology, lacking the skills of using it, and being unaware of the benefits.
Having access to Internet should be a right in the digitally revolutionised 21st century
as we are unable to operate without it.
Singapore has worked her way up to being one of the most
connected countries in this highly digitalised world. However, there are still
minority groups in Singapore, such as the elderly who lack the skills to access
the Internet. This has caused repercussions for the elderly such as the
decrease in efficacy of healthcare treatments. To resolve this, medical
institutions will have to provide healthcare information actively, and
government agencies can come up with Information Communication Technology (ICT)
bridging courses.
According to Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (iDA)
(n.d.c), with Residential Wired Broadband Household Penetration Rate of 106.7%
in June 2013, Singapore has positioned herself as one of the most connected
countries in the world. However, digital divide still exists. Even with a
broadband penetration rate of more than 100%, according iDA (2013) only 84% of
the households actually have access to the Internet. While some households are
subscribing to multiple broadband lines, others simply cannot afford it. Even
if the household are subscribed to broadband lines, there are people, such as
the elderly, who lack the required skills to use it. According to iDA (n.d.a),
in 2012, only 16% of the people above 60 years old were using the Internet. The
elderly who lack access to the Internet is therefore deprived of vital
information for aspects such as healthcare. Healthcare information is extremely
important for the elderly to allow them to make informed decisions regarding
their health.
Lustria, Smith and Hinnant (2011) discuss the importance of
having access to health information. In their research, they demonstrate that
many studies have shown the various benefits of having access to health
information. In another study, Fox and Purcell (2010 as cited in Lockwood et al
2013), observe that 81% of the healthy adults access the Internet frequently
while only 52% of those who are diagnosed with chronic illness go online, and
they concluded that ceteris paribus,
people living with chronic illness have a negative correlation with having
access to the Internet. Medical institutions and government agencies such as
iDA will have to intervene to increase health information seeking among the
elderly.
One of the many ways to bridge this disparity will be for
medical institutions to actively disseminate healthcare information down the
patient network via means such as mobile phone messaging service. Miloh (2009,
as cited in Lockwood et al 2013) observes that after a text message reminder
system has been implemented, there is a vast improvement in medication
adherence and a decrease in rejection among pediatric liver transplant
patients. With a successful framework already set up, we can further improve it
by incorporating the dissemination of healthcare information. The patient will
have to subscribe to this service and choose their preferred language. The
healthcare messages keep the patient informed about their current conditions
and provide tips to boost their recovery. Even after the patients have
recovered, they can continue with this service for advices on post recovery and
even tips for healthy lifestyle.
With Singapore having a mobile penetration rate of 156% in 2013
(iDA, n.d.c), we may safely assume that almost everyone owns a mobile phone. It
is very crucial for the patient to own a mobile phone as this serves as a
medium for information. Since medical institutions are already employing the
use of mobile phone messaging for confirmation of appointments, they will not
need to set up the Information Technology (IT) infrastructure from scratch,
resulting in a huge amount of cost savings. With healthcare information readily
available online, some people may view the messaging service to be a spam, and
would be reluctant to subscribe to the messaging service. Although this service
will be made available to all, the target audience of this service will be the
elderly who have limited access to the Internet, opinions of the people who
have access to the Internet will not affect the feasibility of this initiative.
At the same time, the information obtained online may be dubious and lead to an
adverse effect on the patient. With proper publicity, this service may attract
more users than just those who lack access to the Internet as these are
precious advice directly from the medical experts.
What some of the elderly lack are the skills to access the
Internet. In 2007, iDA launched The Silver Infocomm Initiative (SII). The SII is a programme that aims to bridge the
digital divide for the senior citizens in Singapore (iDA). This programme
includes two parts, the Silver Infocomm Hotspots and Junctions. The first part
will focus mainly on providing the facilities for the elderly to access the
Internet by setting up 100 free hotspots island-wide in accessible location for
the elderly, such as community centres. The second part will focus on imparting
the skills of accessing the internet to the elderly. The senior citizens will
be grouped based on their education background, language and their ability to
use ICTs. Lessons on how to use the computer and the Internet will then be
conducted based on the groups they are in. This will allow the senior citizens
to be competent in using the Internet.
The elderly are divided into different
classes and with the lessons being planned according to their choice of
language and the experience they have with IT. This may facilitate their learning
process and also provide them with a good learning experience. This programme
is extremely feasible as it targets the root cause of the problem, digital
divide, by providing both facilities and skills. However, the participation
rate of the programme may be low, unless the programme is being publicised
properly.
Efficacy of healthcare treatment increases
when patients have access to more healthcare information. At the same time,
with healthcare information, people will be able to make informed decisions for
a healthy lifestyle. With so many benefits closely related to having access to
healthcare information, medical institutes and government agencies such as iDA
should participate actively to provide access to healthcare information. Medical
institutes being a ‘bank’ for healthcare information, can provide the patients
with these information through mediums such as mobile phone messages to bridge
the information disparity directly, while government agencies can provide both
the hardware and ‘software’ for the elderly by providing them the hardware and equipping
them with the necessary skills access to the Internet to bridge the digital
divide directly.
References
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (2013). Annual
Survey on Infocomm Usage in Households and by Individuals for 2012. Retrieved
from
http://www.ida.gov.sg/~/media/Files/Infocomm%20Landscape/Facts%20and%20Figures/SurveyReport/2012/2012HHmgt.pdf
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (n.d.a). Infocomm
Usage- Household and Individuals. Retrieved from
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (n.d.b). Silver
Infocomm Initiative. Retrieved from
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (n.d.c). Statistics:
Telecommunications. Retrieved from
Lockwood, M. B., Saunders, M. R., Lee, C. S.,
Becker, Y. T., Josephson, M. A. & Chon, W. J. (2013, December). Kidney
Transplant and digital divide: is information and communication technology a
barrier or a bridge to transplant for African Americans? [Electronic
version]. Progress in transplantation vol 23, No.4, 302-309
Lustria,
M. L. A., Smith, S. A., & Hinnant, C. C. (2011). Exploring digital divides:
An examination of eHealth technology use in health information seeking,
communication and personal health information management in the USA [Electronic
version]. Health Informatics
Journal, 225-244.
Molinari, A. (2011, August). Let’s bridge the digital
divide! Retrieved from
Weaver, J. B. III., Mays, D., Weaver, S. S., Hopkins, G.
L., Eroğlu,
D. & Bernhardt, J. M. (2010, August). Health Information- Seeking
Behaviours, Health Indicators, and Health Risks. [Electronic version]. American
Journal of Public Health vol 100, No. 8, 1520-1525
Wednesday, 8 October 2014
Reader Response (Final) (Global digital divide persists but is narrowing)
Euromonitor's blogpost on ‘Global
digital divide persists but is narrowing’ (2011) makes inferences from the
statistics provided by Euromonitor International that developed economies will
continue to enjoy higher broadband diffusion rate due to larger government
expenditure, advanced IT framework and higher wages that allow ownership of computers. It also mentions that the developing countries are slowly catching up due to the
rapid economic growth. This has led to a wide range of effects on the society,
such as varying business opportunities, reduction in urban-rural disparities
with better information diffusion, social and cultural integration and
alteration in government expenditure and policies.
In this blogpost, the author has
raised many interesting general trends related to global digital divide. The
length of the blogpost coupled with the scale of the topic restricted the
author from discussing the trends specific to the countries. I believe that it
is also very important to look deeper into the general trends as digital divide
is often seen as a divide between the urban and the rural area. With every
country having their own unique population demographics, ideals and goals, it
is bound to affect the trends of digital divide differently. In this response,
I will explore how the population demographic and goals of China may have
affected the digital divide.
An issue that the Euromonitor
International blogpost fails to point out is the rural-urban disparity. This is
very evident in most countries in the world. It is stated in the Go-Globe
blogpost (2013) on ‘Internet usage in China- Statistics and Trends
[Infographic]’ that 72.4% of the Internet users in China lives in urban areas, leaving the remaining 27.6% of the Internet users in rural
areas. According to The World Bank’s statistic, 53% of China’s population lives
in the urban area as of 2013. With similar urban and rural population size, the
urban population has close to 3 times the amount of internet users as compared
to the rural population. Even with the exceptional growth of Internet
penetration rate in China, most of it is attributed to
the urban areas as they have better Information Technology (IT) framework and
more attention from the government due to the many benefits that can be reaped
such as economic growth and recognition. This is very evident from the exponential
economic growth, development and recognition experienced by states like
Shanghai and Beijing which became international business hubs in the recent
years. However, much more effort and resources will be needed to develop the
rural regions into successful business hubs and achieve similar results seen in
Shanghai and Beijing. The large potential cost of development deters the
Chinese government from placing more resources in the rural areas. This results
in stagnation in growth for rural areas while urban areas develops at
exponential rates. The difference in growth will eventually lead to a widening
rural-urban disparity, resulting in many other negative implications such as
widening income gap and more importantly, widening digital divide.
The Euromonitor International blogpost
has pointed out various trends and analysed the demographics for Internet
penetration rate, and is well supported with statistics. It also
discussed the possible reasons and implications of these trends. However, in
the case of China, it is obvious that the growth is not uniform between rural
and urban areas and these will lead to many other social implications in the
long run. Therefore, I believe that it is also very important to analyse the
population demographic of a country thoroughly by comparing different
population groups accordingly to identify any underlying trends and
observations. Given the amount of research, studies and observations required
to fully analyse a country’s demographics, it may be too much to ask for a
blogpost. Overall, it is a very informative blogpost as it not only allows me
to broaden my understanding on Internet penetration rates and its impacts, but
also gave me a chance to explore demographics that people have always failed to
discuss due to the scale of the topic.
References:
Euromonitor International. (2011,
February 2). Global digital divide
persists but is narrowing. Retrieved August 25, 2014, from
http://blog.euromonitor.com/2011/02/global-digital-divide-persists-but-is-narrowing-1.html
Go-Globe. (2013, August 14). Internet Usage in China – Statistics and Trends [Infographic].
Retrieved September 5, 2014 from http://www.go-globe.com/blog/internet-usage-china/
The World Bank. (n.d.). Urban Population (% of total). Retrieved September 5, 2014 from http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS
Digital and Healthcare Divide (Draft2)
In his TED talk, Aleph (2011) asserts digital divide is a “new illiteracy”, and it occurs due to
people not being able to afford the technology, lacking the skills of using it,
and some are simply unaware of the benefits. Having access to Internet should
be a right in the digitally revolutionised 21st century as we are unable to operate
without it.
Singapore have worked her
way up to being one of the most connected country in this highly digitalised
world. However, there are still minority groups in Singapore, such as the
elderly who lacks the skills to access the Internet. This has caused repercussions
such as the decrease in efficacy of healthcare treatments, and to resolve this,
medical institutions will have to provide healthcare information actively, and
government agencies can come up with Information Communication Technology (ICT)
bridging courses.
According to Infocomm
Development Authority of Singapore (iDA) (n.d.c), Residential Wired Broadband
Household Penetration Rate of 106.7% in June 2013, Singapore has become one of
the most connected country in the world. However, digital divide still exists.
Even with a broadband penetration rate of more than 100%, according iDA (2013)
only 84% of the households actually have access to the Internet. This implies
that while some households are subscribing to multiple broadband lines, others
simply cannot afford it. Even if the household are subscribed to broadband
lines, there are people, such as the elderly, who simply just lack the required
skills to use it. According to iDA (n.d.a), in 2012, only 16% of the people
above 60 years old are using the Internet. As people age, their body become
more prone to illnesses and viruses. The elderly who lack access to the
Internet is therefore deprived of vital information for aspects such as
healthcare. Healthcare information is therefore extremely important for the
elderly to allow them to make informed decisions regarding their health.
Mia, Scott and Charles
(2011) discuss the importance of having access to health information. In their
research, they realised that many studies have shown the various benefits of
having access to health information. Patients are seeking information online so
that they can have a better understanding of the information that doctors
provided them during the consultation, thus boosting their confidence. This act
of information seeking also shows that the patients are more concerned about
their own health and they will question the medical professionals more during
their visits and will take the doctors’ recommendation more seriously. The
strong cooperation of the patient will lead to a more effective treatment.
Fox and Purcell (2010 as cited
in Mark, Milda, Christopher, Yolanda, Michelle and
James, 2013), observe that 81% of the healthy adults access the Internet
frequently while only 52% of those who are diagnosed with chronic illness go
online, and they concluded that with all factors being held constant, people
living with chronic illness have a negative correlation with having access to
the Internet. With the elderly being more prone to chronic illnesses, this
further reduces the likelihood for them to have access to the Internet. Medical
institutions and government will therefore have to intervene.
One of the many ways we
can bridge this disparity will be for medical institutions to actively
disseminate healthcare information down the patient network via means such as
mobile phone messaging service. Miloh (2009, as cited in Mark, Milda,
Christopher, Yolanda, Michelle and
James, 2013) discovers that after a text message reminder system has been
implemented, there is a vast improvement in medication adherence and a decrease
in rejection among pediatric liver transplant patients. With a successful
framework already set up, we can further improve it by incorporating the
dissemination of healthcare information. The patient will have to subscribe to
this service and choose their preferred language. The healthcare messages will
be filtered to suit the patient’s needs as different people are suffering from
different conditions. These messages will be able to keep the patients informed
about their conditions and what they are able to do to boost their recovery.
Even after the patients have recovered, they can continue with this service for
advices on post recovery and even tips for healthy lifestyle.
With Singapore having a
mobile penetration rate of 156% in 2013 (iDA, n.d.c), we may safely assume that
almost everyone owns a mobile phone. It is very crucial for the patient to own
a mobile phone as this serves as a medium for information. Since medical
institutions are already employing the use of mobile phone messaging for
confirmation of appointments. They will not need to set up the Information
Technology (IT) infrastructure from scratch, resulting in a huge amount of cost
savings. However, some people may view these kind of services as a spam and
find it a nuisance as they believe that they are able to obtain those
information online, therefore unwilling to subscribe to it. Although this
service will be made available to all, the target audience of this service will
be the elderly who have limited access to the Internet, opinions of the people
who have access to the Internet will not affect the feasibility of this
initiative. At the same time, the information obtained online may be dubious
and lead to an adverse effect on the patient. With proper publicity, this
service may attract more users than just those who lack access to the Internet
as these are precious advice directly from the medical experts.
As a person ages, their
health will start to deteriorate, illnesses are more likely to set in. It is
very crucial for the elderlies to gain access to health information and keep
themselves healthy. These information are readily available online. What some
of the elderly are lacking is the skills to access them. iDA launched The
Silver Infocomm Initiative (SII) in 2007. The SII
is a programme that aims to bridge the digital divide for the senior citizens
in Singapore (iDA). This programme includes two parts, the Silver Infocomm Hotspots
and Junctions. The first part will focus mainly on providing the facilities for
the elderly to access the Internet by setting up 100 free hotspots island-wide.
The second part will focus on imparting the skills of accessing the internet to
the elderly. The senior citizens will be grouped based on their education
background, language and their ability to use ICTs. Lessons on how to use the
computer and the Internet will then be conducted based on the groups they are
in. This will be allow the senior citizens to be competent in using the
Internet.
With
the elderlies being divided into different classes and the lessons will be
planned according to their choice of language and the experience they have with
IT. This may facilitate their learning process and also provide them with a
good learning experience. This programme is extremely feasible as it targets
the root cause of the problem, digital divide, by providing both facilities and
skills. However, there may be a lack of publicity for this programme, resulting
in a low participation rate of this programme, which may render it ineffective.
Access
to healthcare information allows people to make more informed decision on
healthy lifestyle and also on their medical condition if any. Effectiveness of
treatment is also closely related to the amount of information the patients
have. With so many benefits closely related to having Internet access, medical
institutes and government agencies should participate actively to provide
access to healthcare information.
References
Aleph, M. (2011, August).
Let’s bridge the digital divide!
Retrieved from
Infocomm
Development Authority of Singapore (2013). Annual
Survey on Infocomm Usage in Households and by Individuals for 2012.
Retrieved from
http://www.ida.gov.sg/~/media/Files/Infocomm%20Landscape/Facts%20and%20Figures/SurveyReport/2012/2012HHmgt.pdf
Infocomm
Development Authority of Singapore (n.d.a). Infocomm
Usage- Household and Individuals. Retrieved from
Infocomm Development
Authority of Singapore (n.d.b). Silver
Infocomm Initiative. Retrieved from
Infocomm Development
Authority of Singapore (n.d.c). Statistics:
Telecommunications. Retrieved from
James, B.W III., Darren,
M., Stephanie, S. W., Gary, L. H., Doğan,
E. & Jay, M. B. (2010, August). Health Information- Seeking Behaviours,
Health Indicators, and Health Risks. [Electronic version]. American Journal of Public Health
vol 100, No. 8, 1520-1525
Mark,
B. L., Milda, R. S., Christopher, S. L., Yolanda, T. B., Michelle, A.J. &
W. James. C. (2013, December). Kidney Transplant and digital divide: is
information and communication technology a barrier or a bridge to transplant
for African Americans? [Electronic version]. Progress
in transplantation vol 23, No.4, 302-309
Mia,
L. A. L., Scott, A.S. and Charles, C. H. (2011, September). Exploring digital
divides: An examination of eHealth technology use in health information
seeking, communication and personal health information management in the USA
[Electronic version]. Health
Informatics Journal 225-244
Wednesday, 1 October 2014
Digital Divide and Healthcare (Draft 1)
Introduction
In his
TED talk, Molinari (2011) asserts digital divide is a “new illiteracy”, and it
occurs due to people not being able to afford the technology, lacking the
skills of using it, and some are simply unaware of the benefits. Having access
to Internet should be a right in the digitally revolutionised 21st
century as people simply cannot operate without it. People who are being digitally excluded will lose access to vital
information such as health information. This essay will discuss how the loss of
information is causing varying levels of effectiveness of healthcare in
Singapore between those who have access to Information Communication Technology
(ICT) and those who do not, how medical institutions and government agencies
can participate actively to bridge this disparity, and evaluate these measures.
Digital
Divide and Health
With a
Residential Wired Broadband Household Penetration Rate of 106.7% in June
2013(Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (iDA)), Singapore has become
one of the most connected country in the world. However, digital divide still
exists. Even with a broadband penetration rate of more than 100%, according iDA
(2012) only 84% of the households actually have access to the Internet. This
implies that while some households are subscribing to multiple broadband lines,
others simply cannot afford it. Even if the household are subscribed to
broadband lines, there are people, such as the elderlies, who simply just lack
the required skills to use it. This minority group is losing vital information
for many aspects such as healthcare.
Mia, Scott and Charles (2011) discuss the importance of having access to health information. In their research, they realised that many studies have shown the various benefits of having access to health information. Patients are seeking information online so that they can better understand the information the doctor provides them during the consultation, thus boosting their confidence. This act of information seeking also shows that the patients are more concerned about their own health. They will question the medical professionals more during their visits and will take the doctors’ recommendation more seriously. Fox and Purcell cited in Mark, Milda, Christopher, Yolanda, Michelle and James (2013), observes that 81% of the healthy adults access the Internet frequently while only 52% of those who are diagnosed with chronic illness go online. Those who are chronically illness and visits the Internet frequently are more likely to gain access to health information from various sources. These information will help the patients understand and cope better with their illness. With all these observations, there is no doubt that having access to healthcare information will result in more effective treatments due to higher confidence of well-informed patients.
Mobile
phones!
One of
the many ways we can bridge this disparity will be for medical institutions to
actively disseminate healthcare information down the patient network via means
such as mobile phone messaging service. The patient will have to subscribe to
this service and choose their preferred language. The healthcare messages will
have to be filtered to suit the patient as different people are suffering from
different conditions. These messages will be able to keep the patients informed
about their conditions and what they are able to do to boost their recovery.
Even after the patients have recovered, they can continue with this service for
advices on post recovery and even tips for healthy lifestyle.
With Singapore having a mobile penetration rate of 156% in 2013 (iDA), we can safely assume that almost everyone owns a mobile phone. It is very crucial for the patient to own a mobile phone as this serves as a medium for information. Since medical institutions are already employing the use of mobile phone messaging for confirmation of appointments. They will not need to set up the Information Technology (IT) infrastructure from scratch, resulting in a huge amount of cost savings. However, some people may view these kind of services as a spam and find it nuisance as they believe that they are able to obtain those information online, therefore unwilling to subscribe to it. Although this service will be made available to all, the target audience of this service will be those who have limited access to the Internet. At the same time, the information obtained online might be dubious and lead to an adverse effect on the patient. With proper publicity, this service may attract more users than just those who lack access to the Internet as these are precious advice directly from doctors.
Silver
Infocomm Initiative
As a
person ages, their health will start to deteriorate, illnesses are more likely
to set in. It is very crucial for the elderlies to gain access to health
information and keep themselves healthy. These information are readily
available online. What some of the elderlies are lacking is the skills to
access them. In recent years, iDA have come up with programme to impart the
elderlies this set of skills.
The Silver Infocomm
Initiative (SII) is a programme that aims to bridge the digital divide for the
senior citizens in Singapore (iDA). The senior citizens are split up based on
their education background, language and their ability to use ICTs. Lessons on
how to use the computer and the Internet will then be conducted based on the
groups they are in. This will be allow the senior citizens to be competent in
using the Internet.
With the elderlies being divided into different classes and the lessons will be planned according to their choice of language and the experience they have with IT. This will not only smoothen their learning curve, but also allow them to have a good learning experience. This programme is extremely feasible as it targets the root cause of the problem, digital divide. With digital divide causing more problems than just the loss of healthcare information, it is very crucial for us to bridge the divide as much as possible to reduce the negative impacts on society.
Conclusion
Effectiveness of medical
treatment depends largely on the amount of information the patients have. With
digital divide, some patients are unable to obtain precious healthcare
information. Medical institutes and government agencies must participate
actively to provide information or skills in order to bridge this healthcare
divide.
References
Mark, B. L., Milda, R. S.,
Christopher, S. L., Yolanda, T. B., Michelle, A.J. & W. James. C. (2013,
December). Kidney Transplant and digital divide: is information and
communication technology a barrier or a bridge to transplant for African
Americans? [Electronic version]. Progress
in transplantation vol 23, No.4, 302-309
Mia, L. A. L., Scott, A.S.
and Charles, C. H. (2011, September). Exploring digital divides: An examination
of eHealth technology use in health information seeking, communication and
personal health information management in the USA [Electronic version]. Health Informatics Journal 225-244
Aleph. M. (2011). Lets bridge the digital divide. Retrieved from
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)