[International Event Introduction] Speeding up Singapore’s COVID-19 response with the Jamstack by Kwa Jie Hao

The speaker this time is Mr. Kwa Jie Hao, a member of the engineering team "Open Government Products" in Singapore.

 

"Open Government Products" is a groundbreaking engineering team that develops systems and tools used on public sites in Singapore, promoting a nationwide digital transformation, which is unprecedented in Japan.

 

In fact, there are already achievements in implementing Jamstack on public sites in Singapore. Additionally, it is surprising that they have even developed their own website builder.

 

So, why did Singapore adopt Jamstack for public sites, and how did those sites help during the coronavirus pandemic? Let's take a look!

Government-Approved Website Builder

In 2017, the Singapore government conducted an investigation into the performance of various public sites.

 

As a result...

 

• Page loading is slow: Some sites take more than 10 seconds...
• High management costs: Estimated to exceed 25,000 Singapore dollars per year...
• Low accessibility: Cannot be accessed from mobile, lacking consideration for people with disabilities...

 

It is clear that there are serious issues such as these.

 

Therefore, the government has decided to prepare a new system. That is precisely the website builder "Isomer".

 

Speaker Kwa Jie Hao is a member of the team involved in the development of Isomer.

Building with Jamstack

What the team did first in developing the new system.

 

It was to investigate what content is commonly used on public sites.

 

As a result, it was found to be content that provides information such as news and policies.

 

From this, we have concluded that we should build sites with Jamstack!

 

■What was achieved with "Isomer" using Jamstack

 

・Improvement of page display speed
Users (citizens) can browse without stress as there is no need to wait.

 

・Improvement of Security
Automatic monitoring ensures peace of mind and safety. It does not provide any clues for attacks from hackers and others.

 

・User-friendly interface
Suppliers (public institutions) can provide information quickly and easily.
Users (citizens) can access information smoothly and promptly.

 

・A consistent design that takes accessibility into account
　Providing design templates to ensure consistency in design as a public site.
　Also addressing accessibility issues.

 

 

Source: "Our Users" Isomer | Open Government Products
https://www.isomer.gov.sg/users/

 

By using Isomer's design templates, we ensure consistency in design as a public site.

 

Currently, there are more than 120 public agencies in Singapore using Isomer!!

 

Surprisingly, it continues to increase.

 

How many staff members do you think are operating this?

 

Incredible, only 8 people!!!

 

It can be said that this is precisely the benefit of adopting Jamstack.

 

Behind Isomer, GitHub operates as the storage, and the backend is hosted by Netlify.

 

This Jamstack configuration is precisely what enables fast content editing and publishing by a small team.

 

Fighting Fake News

It is not an exaggeration to say that the coronavirus has changed the world.

 

The issue that the Singapore government faced first in that battle.

 

That is fake news.

 

Rumors circulated, and dubious treatment methods were widely disseminated. Many people took misguided actions based on believing the misinformation.

 

The government believes that in order to break through such situations, it is important to quickly disseminate accurate information through various channels.

 

What started there was push-type information distribution. In addition to daily press conferences, we continuously disseminated the latest information through applications like WhatsApp (similar to LINE) and Telegram (short messages).

 

That said, while these applications can provide timely information, there are limits to the depth of information they can handle... To convey deeper information, longer texts were necessary.

 

What we thought of is guiding to the website.

 

As an example, it shows the pathway from Telegram to the website.
In this way, links are placed on the application side to guide users to more detailed information on the website.

 

By adopting Jamstack, we successfully built a site that can be created at a speed that rivals the rapidity of applications and can be updated in real-time.

 

I will introduce two examples.

- Success Stories -

 

1. Site for Corporate Support

At that time, establishing a support scheme for companies was an urgent requirement for the government.

 

Isomer easily solves the following issues here!

 

• Support cannot keep up on hotlines such as phone support.
• Even if you launch a website, it cannot withstand the traffic.

 

By adopting Jamstack, we were able to build the site in just one week. We were also able to handle a large volume of traffic.

 

Gobusiness (https://www.gobusiness.gov.sg/)

② A site for sharing citizens' experiences

At that time, a site was established to share experiences during the pandemic among citizens, allowing the nation to come together to overcome the crisis.

 

The time taken to build the site was just 36 hours.

 

There are only 3 steps.

 

1. Enter information in the form
2. Input the data from 1 into the template
3. Click the publish button

 

 

By the way, the back side is structured as follows.

 

1. A repository is created on GitHub, and Netlify is launched.
2. When changes are communicated to GitHub, Netlify automatically builds.
3. When the publish site button is clicked, the KeyCDN API is called, and the Netlify site is quickly propagated.

 

This sense of speed achieved by focusing on content without worrying about the underlying mechanisms...! As I mentioned before, it's thanks to adopting Jamstack!!

 

Singapore Together (https://www.singaporetogether.gov.sg/)

Finally

At the end of the presentation, Mr. Kwa Jie Hao stated, "Jamstack is a force multiplier".

 

In traditional website construction methods, the administrator needs to control all aspects of the infrastructure. As a result, resources are required for operation long after the site is completed.

 

On the other hand, the Jamstack site building method entrusts the backend to professionals like GitHub and Netlify, which does not consume resources. As a result, it enables site operation by a small team.

 

The Singapore government's attempts and success stories have convincingly presented answers to the question, "Why Jamstack?"

 

Speed, stability, and operation with a small team... Each of these achievements will serve as a significant motivation for adopting Jamstack.

 

Thank you for reading until the end.

 

Human Science Co., Ltd. provides solutions for web content and platforms using a unique combination of "document production know-how" and "the latest web development technology (Jamstack)" that is not available from other companies.

If you are interested, please feel free to contact us here!

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https://www.science.co.jp/document/jamstack.html

 

Source of this document: https://youtu.be/08WujrMhqi8