IPS Update Issue October 2018

Social media expert and Co-Founder of Digimentors Sree Sreenivasan, taking a selfie with Straits Times Associate Editor Ravi Velloor at this year’s Asia Journalism Forum. The Forum addressed power shifts in journalism and the media industry, driven by trends such as digitalisation, increasing political polarisation, the rise of targeted content, industry convergence and regulation.

As keynote speaker of the Forum, Mr Sreenivasan highlighted the importance of social media. He emphasised the age-old importance of trust and generosity, and called for editors and journalists present to better engage younger readers.

The IPS Social Inclusion Policy Network is part of the renewed impetus to tackle the problem of inequality in Singapore. Its objectives are to unearth, examine and conduct applied policy research on social mobility, mixing and inclusion that is relevant to Singapore, and to explore practical forms of intervention as well as generate public policy recommendations to foster social inclusion.

All hands on deck to counter deliberate online falsehoods
(The Straits Times)
By Dr Carol Soon

This survey by IPS researchers Dr Mathews Mathew, Leonard Lim and Shanthini Selvarajan examined the views of over 2,000 respondents on issues of race and religion in the context of terrorism. It sought to find out how Singaporeans would react if there were a terror attack in Singapore, perpetrated by groups that used religious labels, and the impact on community relations.

IPS Senior Research Fellow Dr Carol Soon and Research Assistant Shawn Goh discuss the human biases that exacerbate the problem of online falsehoods, and possible counter-measures such as “techno-cognitive” tools, effective communication, and education. This paper builds on an earlier report discussed during the Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods hearings in March 2018.

By reviewing current theories on intergenerational equity in conjunction with the predominant discourse on the fiscal management of Singapore’s national reserves, this paper seeks to offer clarity to the ongoing debate, and provide a foundation to drive future debates on how intergenerational equity regarding Singapore’s reserves can be achieved. 

In 2016, IPS conducted a survey on the emigration attitudes of young Singaporeans aged 19-30 years old, living in Singapore, as a follow up to a previous study conducted in 2010. Taking a prospective approach to the issue of emigration, it seeks to identify the predictors of emigration attitudes, factors for rootedness to Singapore and to track preferred destinations for emigration.