Advance the Creation & Appreciation of Arts in Singapore using Technology

The National Arts Council (NAC) recently launched the SG Arts Plan which is a 5 year plan that charts new directions for arts in Singapore and supports the needs and aspirations of the arts community and all Singaporeans. One of the tasks for this plan is to implement digital initiatives by using technology to design arts experiences and to increase accessibility to the arts.

A good way to make arts performances such as concerts, musicals and operas more accessible to more people is to provide live streaming online through a portal. In fact, some of the most prestigious opera houses across Europe began streaming performances live online since May 2015. With the high percentage of our local population, both young and old own mobile devices such smart phones and tablets, this idea is viable. Moreover, our local network infrastructure is capable of supporting high bandwidth and usage and ensures seamless viewing of contents online via mobile devices anytime, anywhere. With this live streaming feature, people may still enjoy watching any performances they are interested in but unable to attend. In a way, this feature also allows unlimited number of people to watch the performances without the physical space constraint of the performance venue. For paid performances, people should be expected to pay a cheaper fee to watch online. The artistes and production company would be agreeable to this idea since it helps to promote their performances to as many people as possible. However, the drawback of this live streaming feature which most people will highlight is whether they are able to capture the real immersive experience of watching the performance live in a gallery, theatre or opera house. Nevertheless, this live streaming feature provides an alternative avenue of watching performances and would certainly reach a wider audience.

The invention of the Internet made it possible for art to be created in various forms and distributed across the digital world without the need to go through art galleries. With apps like Instagram, Tumblr and Pinterest, anyone out there can showcase their art work easily. However, to ensure cohesion among our local artists and the communities, there should be a portal created for sharing and bonding purpose. This portal not only facilitates sharing and commenting of art works but also acts as a place for artists to maintain their portfolio. The relevant authorities and institutions should have access to this portal to view and grade the art works for cases such as the artists applying for admission into an art institution or studies.

Technology affects art across various mediums and is able to change the way artists are operating. Modern day image and video editing software provide more than a million shades of colours which are far more than traditional watercolours. The huge array of tweaking and fine-tuning options open up limitless horizons for artists to express themselves more creatively and accurately. While artists of the past rely solely on pencil or brush to make beautiful works of art, modern day artists can make use of sound, video or computer generated images to provide a more immersive experience. Rather than merely displaying static art works, the portal can support additional materials such as voice or video from the artists to accompany the art works for more detailed descriptions.

Another advantage of technology is that it allows experimentation. Given the fast turnaround time to compose something and see the results, Children or anyone who is a beginner in arts can simply reset and retry multiple times. This ability promotes incredible imagination and aids comprehension of structure. The portal can possibly provide such basic tools for children and beginners in arts to have some hands-on as a way of arousing interest and promoting the creation of arts.

Data analytics is the process of examining data sets in order to draw conclusions about the information they contain. It is used by many corporations across all industries to enhance productivity and business gain. Similarly, we can make use of data analytics to interpret important data, such as audience segmentation and consumption patterns for the arts industry.  When data analytics feature is included into the portal, it will enable art practitioners to cater to changes in audiences’ needs and preferences for future art works.

Problems with Singapore's Art Scene

In less than a generation, Singapore transformed itself from third to first world and its economy developed at such a rapid pace which many people considered to be a miracle. However, its arts scene does not develop at similar pace and is in fact, developing at a very slow pace and is not as thriving compared to other developed nations. It is a universally acknowledged truth that a country in possession of a First World reputation must also have a thriving arts scene. Here are some of the challenges and problems faced by Singapore’s art scene which explains why it is not as thriving as expected.

First of all, Singaporeans have had the mentality that pursuing studies or careers in arts would not be as lucrative as science. When Singapore was in the process of rapid economic development as driven by the government after its independence, many jobs were created in sectors such as Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction. Obviously, being a developing nation back then, Singapore required many expertise in these sectors related to Science to develop its infrastructure and support the economy. Unfortunately, now that Singapore is already a developed nation, its conservative mentality of the people are still geared towards pursuing Science related studies and careers for a more secure and better future. Due to this reason, science related stream or courses in our secondary schools, junior colleges and tertiary institutions remain to be a more popular choice than arts related stream or courses. As a result, people formed the impression that only academically weaker students should pursue arts as an alternative option. To debunk this perception, the National Arts Council (NAC) has been developing ways to describe the importance of the arts to our society, economy, education, and well-being and actively engaging the public through organising a series of arts events island-wide occasionally. The NAC and National Heritage Board (NHB) have also jointly award the arts and heritage scholarships to nurture outstanding individuals who are able to contribute to Singapore’s arts scene.

There is also a myth that local artists are not as successful as international ones. Some people believe that due to the fact that academically weaker people pursue arts as an alternative option resulted in lower standard of artists in Singapore which attributed to less impressive achievements from our local artists in the international art scene. There are in fact artists such as Linying, our very own singer-songwriter who clinched a spot on Spotify’s US Viral 50 playlist which people who are not really interested in this area are not aware of. Perhaps there should be more publicity for the major achievements of our artists through various means such as television and Social Media where majority of our people spend lots of time in.

On the contrary, there are children who has interest and intend to pursue arts for leisure at a young age. Most of them love music and would like to take up classes in playing musical instruments such as piano, dancing or singing. These private lessons are often costly and usually only rich families can afford. To ensure that these children are not discouraged from pursuing arts for leisure due to cost, the government can award some subsidies to make lesson fees more affordable. This scheme would be something similar to the SkillsFuture credit which is given to Singaporeans aged 25 years and above with the exception that it is intended to expose local individuals to arts at a young age.

In recent years, Singapore hits the top of the table for being one of the most expensive city in the world to live in. Housing and office rental forms one of the main component contributing to this notorious international ranking. Art housing which is becoming more expensive than before hinders the development of arts scene through higher cost in rental and ticketing. Although rental charges are heavily subsidised by NAC, utilities and maintenance costs which are substantial are borne by the tenants. With donations from corporates and individuals fluctuating according to economic performance, NAC faces the difficulty to maintain the amount of funding provided to art practitioners. Only when people realised the importance of arts and the values it brings to us then funding would be more constant and substantial. NAC needs to continue with the uphill tasks of arts advocacy.

My Interest & Involvement in Arts

Art consists of a range of human activities that create visual, auditory or artefacts to express imagination or conceptual ideas. It is intended to be appreciated for its beauty or emotional power. When art is mentioned in Singapore context, most people especially children or teenagers would associate it with Drawings, Paintings or Artefacts (such as lanterns or kites) due to the involvements in making these items during art lessons from nursery to secondary two in school. However, art comes in many different forms and is definitely more than the visual category of items which most Singaporeans have encountered during school days. Other common forms of art includes Architecture, Sculpture, Music, Poetry, Dance and Performing. All of these are important in our daily lives as they were used to communicate ideas or provide pleasures for us. A good example of art being used to communicate ideas is the broadcast of the Pioneer Generation Package advertisement on television to the elderly for the purpose of creating awareness for this package in the form of a song. The usage of art to communicate idea in this case increases the effectiveness by capturing the attention and making the content easier to remember through melodious tune. Music is another popular form of art that provides entertainment for us to relieve stress. Given the importance of art in our daily lives, there is a need to actively promote the creation and appreciation of art, an area which I feel Singapore is far lacking behind many nations.

Art and science are often perceived as polar opposites. Traditionally, tertiary institutes categorise their courses into one of these two areas and require their students to stick to one side of the fence. Although I am considered to be a technical person because of my profession and background in Information Technology, my interest and involvement in art is no lesser than the people in the arts and entertainment industry. I enjoy watching West End and Broadway musicals as they provide immersive entertainments and also greater understanding of humanity through insights into specific cultures, behaviours and thinking of people of certain eras. When I told my friends about my interest in musicals and even wrote blog posts about some of those musicals I like, they were indeed surprised to know that such a technical person like me would display such great level of interest in a form of art which locally, few people would be interested in. To debunk this perception, I replied them saying that Leonardo Da Vinci, the great Italian polymath was a scientist as well as an artist. Some of his most well-known inventions include parachute and helicopter whereas famous paintings include Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. He was a perfect example to illustrate that art and science are closely related and both areas contributed to his exemplary success. 

As an Information Technology professional, I have the opportunity to apply art in my work through designing user interfaces (UI) for web or mobile applications. The standards and guides provided by documentations such the Web Interface Standards (WIS) defines the objectives while art helps me overcome the subjective interpretations of the users interacting with the user interfaces. For example, the standard would mandate the size, wording and position of the various UI objects while art is being applied to design icons to prevent cluttering too much text on the screen especially on a mobile device. Icons are subjective and may be interpreted differently by different users. This is how art is applied in a field of work that is highly perceived to be purely scientific.

My Thoughts on Education And Technology

How technology can help to improve learning?

Emerging technologies are quickly gaining momentum in the education sector. There are several ways which the adoption of technology can help to improve learning.

First of all, the Internet made E-learning possible for students by allowing them access to course materials anytime, anywhere. With the majority of households and public places having high bandwidth Internet access, an institution may adopt E-learning as a means of teaching by developing its own portal for staff and students to access. Lectures may post videos of their lectures on the portal for students to watch on demand. In this way, the students may attend lectures in advanced or after they have attended the same lectures on campus. Having these online lectures allows students to reinforce their understandings of the topic by learning at the own pace in the venue of their choice. Similar to online lectures, tutorials and lab exercises may be posted online for students to prepare them in advanced before attending the lesson on campus. The answers to these tutorials and lab exercises could also be made available online after the actual lesson for the convenience of the students.

Besides having learning contents made available online, discussion forums can be created to facilitate discussions on the learning topics among the teaching staff and students. The discussion forums also provides a platform for students to clear their doubts with their lecturers on certain areas of the learning topics or provide assistance to students who are weaker in the learning topics. Through the discussion forums, lecturers can easily spot students who are actively participating in the discussions and award them additional marks accordingly for active participation. The downside of having discussion forums is the need for the teaching staff to moderate inappropriate posts from students.

To enhance the learning process, the portal may also provide a means to make peer-graded assignments possible. Students submit their written assignment online for fellow students to review and grade them according to the rubrics set by the lecturer. In the event of a dispute arising due to the review or grading, the portal would need to provide a feature for the lecturer or tutor to intervene and settle the matter.

As students these days are getting more knowledgeable and outspoken, the portal may provide a blogging feature for them to post their research or thoughts on the learning topics. With the younger generation of students being more tech-savvy, writing blog is certainly not an uphill task for them. It gives them the opportunity to showcase their passion, knowledge and learning process. The lecturer may consider awarding bonus marks to students who write blog that provides insightful contents to the learning topics.

Last but not least, the portal can provide a repository of past years’ examinations or test papers and also mock exam papers from the lecturer. Having students attempting mock examinations or tests online helps the teaching staff to monitor their progress and arrest areas of weaknesses. The results and data for these mock examinations or tests collected in the backend can be analysed for the purpose of curriculum planning.

What are the challenges faced by education institutions in Singapore?

Educational institutions around the world including Singapore are facing tough challenges. These challenges are results of social, economic and technology trends.

More evidently in the case of Singapore, like any other first world countries, faces the problem of ageing population. Due to the need for Singapore to develop rapidly before and after independence, more educational institutions were created to meet the demands of the baby boomers generation. As society progressed and transformed Singapore into a first world nation, birth rate decreases and on the contrary, educational level of its people increases. This trend resulted in decrease in schools’ enrolment which in turn lead to oversupply of learning facilities and teaching staff over the years. The effect had been felt from the defunct or merging of primary, secondary schools and even junior colleges in recent years. While there is no way for these non-tertiary institutions to escape the fate of becoming defunct or merging due to falling enrolment, tertiary or post-secondary institutions can try to make up for the shortfall in enrolment by operating Continuing Education and Training (CET) classes for working adults. In fact, our government encourages tertiary institutions to transform themselves to support SkillsFuture, which is national movement to provide Singaporeans with opportunities to develop their fullest potential throughout life, regardless of their starting points (i.e. lifelong learning).

With the increasing educational levels of Singaporeans and demands from employers, more public and private tertiary institutions were setup in recent years. The increase in institutions naturally created more competition as students have a greater choice of local and overseas institutions to choose from. Emerging technologies also made E-learning possible. One such example is Coursera, which is an online learning platform founded by Stanford University professors that even offers degree programmes. Although these degree programmes offered by such online learning platform may not be as well accredited as those offered offline by a formal intuition, the short courses they provide are relatively popular among working adults for lifelong learning due to the low course fee and convenience to access anytime, anywhere.

The evolution of technology introduces new jobs and eliminate existing ones at the same time. Educational institutions need to run a race against the technology evolution by constantly creating new courses and changing existing course syllabuses to meet industries demand, especially the rate of evolution increases rapidly due to the smart nation initiative. A good example to illustrate this point is the use of Internet-facing applications and chatbots to cover the first level of interaction with customers. The role of the customer service officers would switch to handle more complex requests or interactions and at the same time help to train up the chatbots to make them smarter in their interactions with customers. Institutions providing the customer service related courses would need to incorporate this new task into their course syllabus.

Another effect of the technology evolution is the change in the way lessons are conducted and more value-added services provided. Students who are more tech-savvy these days expect E-learning to be conducted to certain extend. Besides using technology to improve learning experience, educational institutions are also expected to provide more value-added services through the use of technology. A good example is to harness on the reliability of biometric devices for attendance taking and another example is to release examination results via mobile applications to anxious students. As educational institutions need to adopt technologies aggressively to meet these expectations, there are additional operating costs incurred due to the engagements of expertise to develop and maintain the infrastructures.

Revisiting Venice

Four years ago, I started my cruise vacation in one of the world most renowned European city. It is not a populous city with excellent connectivity, good infrastructure or magnificent architecture. Instead, the charm of this small city lies in its uniqueness, its simple and isolated way of life which is the complete opposite of the big buzzing city which we grew up in. This city is non other than Venice in Italy, the Queen of the Adriatic. According to history, Venice came into existence in 421 AD when large number of people fled to this lagoon from mainland Italy to avoid invasions of barbarians from the north due to the decline of the Roman Empire. For over a thousand years, the shallow waters between Venice and mainland Italy had not only effectively protected these inhabitants from the barbarian invaders who were lacking in ships and sea knowledge but also from the Italian political life. Venice is also the birth place of Marco Polo, the famous Italian merchant, explorer and writer who was the first European to reach China. In fact, it was believed that Marco Polo came to know about noodles when he visited China and subsequently introduced it in Italy which led to the invention of spaghetti. He was buried in the San Lorenzo church in Venice after his death.

As there was no direct flight from Singapore to Venice, I flew directly to Milan instead. After an interesting three days tour of this fashion capital of the world far up north in Italy, I traveled southwest to the Port of Venice via a private hire mini bus. Before reaching Venice, the weather forecast on my iPhone indicated sunny weather with a high temperature of 30 degree celsius in this city which was perfect for sightseeing especially in Europe. Upon reaching the Port of Venice, the weather was indeed sunny. The moment I stepped out of the mini bus, I could feel the chilly gust of sea breeze blowing at me. I felt a hundred times colder than being in an air-conditioned room despite a supposedly warm sunny afternoon of 30 degree celsius . After checking in to my cruise ship and settling down in my room, I proceeded to sign up for a three hours tour of Venice. As I was queuing to step out of the cruise ship at 6 pm in the evening, the weather became colder and I sneezed several times and started to have running nose. An American lady beside me asked whether I was not adjusting well to the weather. My dad who was accompanying me replied her saying that we are from a tropical country and not used to such chilly weather. To my surprise, she said that such weather was not considered cold to her. Both my dad and I were dressed in thick jackets while she wore only t-shirt and jeans.

After stepping out of the cruise ship, we were ushered into a small boat which took us from the Port of Venice to the city centre where all the excitements began. As the boat traveled along the way during sunset, our tour guide, a young Italian gentleman introduced to us the various landmarks visible from our boat and spoke briefly about their history. When darkness fell by the time our boat reached the city centre, the heart of Venice city was brightly lit with temperature dropping even further and accompanying persistent chilly winds. Before we were dispersed to tour the city centre on our own, the tour guide reminded us to be back at the same location on time for our transfer back to the Port of Venice. Failure to do so would require us to take private water taxi which would likely cost as much as 70 Euro dollars for a mere 20 minutes journey.

The city of Venice has no roads for vehicles to travel. Even bicycles do not seem to be allowed either. Due to the narrow streets and vast network of canals, the only and most practical form of transportation is boat which makes this city so unique. Retail shops, cafeterias, bars, restaurants, service apartments and luxurious hotels line the streets of Venice. From my observations, souvenir shops are everywhere throughout this city and visitors could expect to find a wide variety of souvenirs not found elsewhere in Europe. I only realized that Bata is a European brand until I saw a Bata shoes shop in Venice. I had always thought it was a Singaporean or Malaysian brand. As I walked along the streets in Venice looking at the various shops and taking photos of the various landmarks, I was shivering and trying to withstand the bitter cold which was getting more unbearable even with my thick jacket. When the weather became too cold, my dad and I with two other tour group members decided to find a cafe to sit down and have a drink. We ordered two glasses of beer and two cups of Cappuccino which cost about 50 Euro dollars. The other reason why we decided to visit a cafe was because we wanted to make use of the washroom. Similar to other European cities, finding washroom is always a big issue. Even though there are signboards showing the direction to the nearest public washroom, they are often very misleading and not worth the hassle to figure it out. After consuming our drink, we proceeded back to the pickup area for our transfer back to the Port of Venice. The atmosphere in Venice at night was so vibrant and romantic that I had decided to come out again if I have the chance. While walking to the pickup area, I walked pass by this hotel which I found to be extremely cozy and luxurious. In fact, I stopped by and took a second look at the interior which looked pretty much English style. Perhaps that was the reason it was named "Londra Palace".

After the small boat took us back to the Port of Venice, I actually ran a short distance of about 100 metres back into the cruise terminal building to take shelter from the bitter cold. When my cruise ship departed Venice at midnight, I took a final look out of the porthole in my room as it passed the city centre. Along the way, I saw some high end apartments located facing the sea which is similar to those in Sentosa. Although it was a torturing experience because of the cold weather, Venice remains an extraordinary place for me and I have always wanted to revisit this place.