Events

CHAIRPERSON

Dr Eric Kerr, Asia Research Institute, and Tembusu College, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

Singapore’s government has signaled its intention to become a leader in data science and analytics. In 2014, for example, Singapore appointed a “chief data scientist” as part of its Infocomm Development Authority. In 2011, the government created data.gov.sg, a website for making large quantities of data available to the public in various formats. The website’s stated aims include “creating value by catalysing application development” and “facilitating analysis and research.” Presently, the site includes demographic data, traffic data, crime data, economic data, geographic/GIS data, health data, and a wide variety of other kinds of data.

data.gov.sg apparently represents a commitment to openness and availability of data (“Data shall me made easily accessible”; “Data shall be released in a timely manner”; “Data shall be as raw as possible”). However, the Singapore government has also been broadly criticized for its lack of transparency and accountability. This became a significant issue in the lead up to the 2015 General Election when opposition parties pressed the government for details of financial and managerial dealings.

This talk uses a close reading of data.gov.sg to investigate the possible meanings and potential of data sharing and open data in tightly controlled society. What possibilities does data open up in an aspiring “smart city” deeply concerned with its own security? In such a context, “data sharing” and “data openness” may become intertwined with tools of political control and legitimation. Following, so far as possible, data in Singapore suggests its potential to entrench existing social, political, and economic structures.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Hallam Stevens is an Associate Professor in the History Programme at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He writes about genomics, the life sciences, big data, and the history of computers. He is the author of Life Out of Sequence: A Data-Driven History of Bioinformatics (Chicago 2013), Biotechnology and Society: An Introduction (Chicago, 2016) and the co-editor of Postgenomics: Perspectives on Biology After the Genome (Duke, 2015).

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