Digital for Life Festival 2022
Apart from eating, drinking, and going to the bathroom, just about everything else we do has a digital element to it. Work gets done on a computer; you control your social life from a smartphone. You also rarely bring a wallet out anymore, with cashless transactions available everywhere.
Needless to say, digital technology has taken over much of our lives. But this is just the tip of the iceberg to what a life that embraces digital technology can do. Here’s where the Digital for Life Festival comes in, which encourages digital literacy and wellness.
Happening from 21st-29th May 2022, there’ll be a host of activities online and offline that will help Singaporeans develop their digital literacy skills, no matter your age. Here’s what you can expect:
1. Learn to game in a safe manner
Growing up, if you’ve ever played video games, you’ve probably been on the receiving end of disdain from your parents. “It’s a waste of time”, and “watch that you don’t become addicted to gaming”, are just some things you might have heard from them.
Image credit: Project Get Flamed!
But gaming does have its merits, when it is done in a positive environment. To drive home the point of cyber wellness when gaming, sign up the youths in your family for Project Get Flamed!, an open dialogue session with gamers.
They’ll get to discuss topics like toxic gaming culture, the cycle of toxicity, and even gain pointers on how to best support one another in advocating for a positive and inclusive gaming community.
The virtual adventure video follows a “choose your own adventure” setting.
Image credit: Project Get Flamed!
Participants will also get the opportunity to participate in an interactive “Virtual Adventure” video, which showcases first hand the impacts of toxic gaming.
Project Get Flamed! at Suntec
Date: 21st-22nd May 2022
Time: 4pm-5.30pm
Address: 1 Raffles Boulevard, Level 3 Room 5, Suntec Convention Centre, Singapore 039593
Project Get Flamed! at Bedok
Date: 28th-29th May 2022
Time: 1pm-2.30pm
Address: 11 Bedok North Street 1 #02-03 & #03-04, Function Hall 1, Heartbeat@Bedok, Singapore 469662
Pre-register for Project Get Flamed!
2. Meet therapy robots & pick up digital skills
The future The Jetsons painted may soon be a reality – at least where robots are concerned. While it might be a while longer before robot butlers become a thing, scientists have already created robots that can help with boosting a human’s mental wellness.
All walks of life are welcomed to meet 2 such robots at the National Library Board’s Tech Bazaar: Paro, a robotic baby harp seal, and LOVOT, a friendly companion robot.
Paro the therapeutic robot seal.
Image credit: Paro Therapeutic Robot
These robots coo when petted, laugh when tickled and even respond to greetings and praises. You’ll see just how cute Paro and Lovot are in a meet-and-greet, and how they help to calm anxiety in stressful situations.
The Tech Bazaar, put together by the National Library Board, is one of many digital experiences that you can enjoy at the Digital for Life Festival. Beyond just meeting robots, the Tech Bazaar also includes workshops where you can pick up other digital skills like coding or using augmented or virtual reality (AR/VR).
If learning coding or discovering AR/VR has coloured you intrigued, try your hand at coding for your personal voice assistant. Whether you’re team Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant, learn how to programme personal commands under the tutelage of Cognizant x Amazon Web Services.
As advanced as this sounds, anyone with a smartphone and laptop or tablet will be able to create commands for games, stories and simple lists at this workshop.
NLB Tech Bazaar at Bedok Library
Date: 29th May 2022
Time: 10am – 6pm
Address: 11 Bedok North Street 1, #02-03 & #03-04, Bedok Library Programme Zone, Heartbeat@Bedok, Singapore 469662
Cognizant x Amazon Web Services – Make Your Own Voice Assistant at Suntec
Date: 21st-22nd May 2022
Time: 10am-6pm (recurring 1-hour workshops available for registration)
Address: 1 Raffles Boulevard, Level 3 Room 5, Suntec Convention Centre, Singapore 039593
Cognizant x Amazon Web Services – Make Your Own Voice Assistant at Bedok
Date: 28th-29th May 2022
Time: 10am-3pm (recurring 1-hour workshops available for registration)
Address: 11 Bedok North Street 1 #02-03 & #03-04, Classroom 1, Heartbeat@Bedok, Singapore 469662
Pre-register for Cognizant x Amazon Web Services
3. Help the elderly in your life with digital adoption
As kids, our parents patiently taught us our ABCs and how to tie our shoes. Now that we’re older, it’s time for a role reversal where we teach our parents about new technologies. Getting our seniors at home digitally literate is a necessity so that they can keep up as more of the world goes digital.
Image for illustrative purposes only.
We know it’s not always an easy process getting older folks to make the switch to going digital. But you’ll be able to pick up tips and tricks from the TriGen Webinar: How To Help Out Elderly Loved Ones Keep Up With The Digital Wave?
The webinar has been put together by a volunteer group of healthcare professionals. They’ve developed a digital literacy programme for the elderly through years of working with them.
As mum and dad get more comfortable with handling tasks like making e-payments, you’ll want to ensure they don’t fall for online scams either.
Through live demonstrations, the Association of Information Security Professionals (AiSP) will enlighten seniors on how easily scammers can use info posted online to spoof phone calls, emails and even voice in a scam. Their booth also has quizzes and games to put newfound knowledge to the test.
TriGen Webinar: How To Help Out Elderly Loved Ones Keep Up With The Digital Wave?
Date: 26th May 2022
Time: 7.30pm-8.30pm
Address: Online
Pre-register for TriGen Webinar
Association of Information Security Professionals (AiSP) Booth at Suntec
Date: 21st-22nd May 2022
Time: 10am-7pm
Address: 1 Raffles Boulevard, Level 3, Suntec Convention Centre, Singapore 039593
Association of Information Security Professionals (AiSP) Booth at at Bedok
Date: 28th-29th May 2022
Time: 10am-7pm
Address: 11 Bedok North Street 1, Level 1 Atrium, Heartbeat@Bedok, Singapore 469662
Association of Information Security Professionals website
4. Refurbish laptops for lower income families
If you’re one to replace your seemingly broken laptops with newer models at the drop of a hat, this workshop is for you. The ReMakeIt Laptop Repair Workshop goes through the internal mechanics of laptops to show you that many laptops are still usable just after a couple of repairs.
Image credit: Engineering Good
The hands-on workshop will get you tinkering with donated laptops, after which the refurbished ones will go to underprivileged students and elderly folks so they can have their own digital devices.
ReMakeIt Laptop Repair Workshop at Suntec
Date: 22nd May 2022
Time: 10am-1pm, 2pm-5pm
Address: 1 Raffles Boulevard, Level 3, Suntec Convention Centre, Singapore 039593
ReMakeIt Laptop Repair Workshop at Enabling Village
Date: 29th May 2022
Time: 10am-1pm, 2pm-5pm
Address: 20 Lengkok Bahru, Classroom 2, Enabling Village, Singapore 159053
Pre-register for ReMakeIt Laptop Repair Workshop
5. Build your own portfolio online
For students who’ve worked hard on preparing a portfolio but find it a hassle to carry around their work, moving everything online might be the answer. Just for graduating secondary school and ITE students, Cyber Youth Singapore and Exabytes Group are hosting a series of digital portfolio workshops to teach basic web development skills.
Image credit: Cyber Youth Singapore
The course will use WordPress for a start, but participants will quickly pick up HTML and CSS coding that can be applied to webpage building anywhere else. The end product will be a personalised portfolio and domain name that can be submitted as part of the Early Admissions Exercise for polytechnics.
Cyber Youth Singapore x Exabytes Group: Build A Portfolio Edition at Suntec
Date: 21st-22nd May 2022
Time: 10am-1pm, 2pm-5pm
Address: 1 Raffles Boulevard, Level 3, Suntec Convention Centre, Singapore 039593
Cyber Youth Singapore x Exabytes Group: Build A Portfolio Edition at Bedok
Date: 28th-29th May 2022
Time: 10am-1pm, 3pm-6pm
Address: 11 Bedok North Street 1 #02-03 & #03-04, Heartbeat@Bedok, Singapore 469662
Register for Cyber Youth Singapore x Exabytes Group: Build A Portfolio Edition
Embrace digital technology with Digital for Life Festival
With new gadgets and gizmos popping up daily, there’s no escaping the digital advancement society is facing. While some of us seem to be able to pick up new tech at the snap of the finger, there are yet many others who will find it a chore and a hassle to adopt digital practices into their daily lives.
Supported by the Infocomm Media Authority, the Digital for Life movement was launched by President Halimah Yacob in 2021 to help move Singaporeans towards a more digitally inclusive society. Part of the movement includes Digital Technology and Inclusion and Digital Literacy and Wellness that work together to give citizens a better quality of life through technology.
The Digital for Life Festival is one of the movement’s initiatives to get all Singaporeans to be comfortable with incorporating more tech elements into their lives, as well as embracing digital learning as a lifelong pursuit. The full event is taking place from 21st to 29th May 2022 both online and onsite.
This is just a sneak peek of the sheer number of events that will be taking place over the festival. Whether you’re looking to improve your digital literacy or would like to help your loved ones understand digital technology more, the Digital for Life Festival will help kick start this journey for you.
Find the full event list for Digital for Life Festival here
This post was brought to you by Digital for Life, an initiative by IMDA.