Brief Introduction Top

Sun Sun Lim is Associate Professor and Deputy Head of the Department of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore. She holds a PhD and an MSc (Distinction) in Media and Communications from the London School of Economics, for which she was awarded the Raffles Rothschilds Chevening Scholarship. She studies the social implications of technology domestication by young people and families, charting the ethnographies of their Internet and mobile phone use. Her recent research has focused attention on understudied and marginalised populations including young children, youths-at-risk and female migrant workers. She also conducts research on new media literacies, with a special focus on literacy challenges in parental mediation and young people’s Internet skills. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in Asia including in China, Japan, Singapore and South Korea. She has articles published and forthcoming in flagship international journals in the field including the Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Computers in Human Behaviour, New Media & Society, Communications of the ACM, Telematics & Informatics, Feminist Media Studies, Journal of Virtual Worlds Research and the Asian Journal of Communication. She is an Editorial Board Member of Journal of Children and Media, Mobile Media & Communication, Journal of Virtual Worlds Research and Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace. She was appointed Visiting Fellow of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) from 2010-2013, a position conferred on promising academics who are tasked with fostering research collaborations between UNSW and its strategic partner universities. In 2012, she was appointed a Global Salzburg Fellow by the Salzburg Freeman Foundation and awarded a Visiting Fellowship by the School of Letters, Arts and Media at the University of Sydney http://sydney.edu.au/arts/slam/research/visiting_research_fellows.shtml.

She teaches various undergraduate and postgraduate courses including Communications, New Media and Society, Social Psychology of New Media and New Media in Emerging Asian Economies. She has won seven awards for excellent teaching at both university and faculty level.

She is married, with two young children, thus explaining her sporadically-used Twitter handle @bzmummy.

Teaching Areas Top

Communications, New Media and Society

Social Psychology of New Media

New Media in Emerging Asian Economies

Research in Information and Communications

Current Research Top

Current grants

Parental mediation of children's computer gaming, Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports Family Research Fund Grant, $100,000 (with Dr Julian Lin and Hee Jhee Jiow)

The use of media and technology by juvenile offenders and at-risk youths in the enactment of youth crime, $8000

Past grants

Domestication of ICTs by middle-class families in South Korea, ASEAN Universities Network-Korean Association of Southeast Asian Studies grant, $12,000

Domestication of ICTs by middle-class families in China, NUS grant, $10,000

New media piracy and perceptions of intellectual property, IP Academy grant, $100,000 (with Assoc Prof Alan Khee Jin Tan )

A multi-national study of consumers' online privacy perceptions, NUS grant, $80,000 (with Dr Milagros Rivera and Dr Hichang Cho)

Research Interests Top

Media and family communication in Asia

Young people and the media

Digital media literacies

Public perceptions of new technology

Publications Top

JOURNAL ARTICLES

•  Lim, S. S. (2013). On mobile communication and youth deviance – Beyond moral, media and mobile panics. Mobile Media & Communication, 1(1), 96-101. http://mmc.sagepub.com/content/1/1/96.abstract

•   Lim, S. S., Basnyat, I., Vadrevu, S. & Chan, Y. H. (2013). Critical Literacy, Self-Protection and Delinquency: The Challenges of Participatory Media for Youths At-Risk. Learning, Media and Technology. In press. 

•  Lim, S. S., Chan, Y. H., Vadrevu, S. & Basnyat, I. (2013). Managing peer relationships online - investigating the use of Facebook by juvenile delinquents and youths-at-risk. Computers in Human Behaviour, 29(1), 8-15. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563212001732

•  Hjorth, L. & Lim, S. S. (2012). Women and mobile intimacy in an age of social media and affective technology. Feminist Media Studies, 12(4), 477-484. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14680777.2012.741860

•  Jiow, H. J. & Lim, S. S. (2012). The evolution of video games and growing challenges for parental mediation. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 32(6), 452 – 459.  http://intl-bst.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/11/21/0270467612469077.abstract

•   Lim, S. S., Vadrevu, S., Chan, Y. H.& Basnyat, I. (2012). Facework on Facebook:   the online publicness of juvenile delinquents and youths-at-risk. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 56 (3), 346-361. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08838151.2012.705198 Special open access issue

• Vadrevu, S. & Lim, S. S. (2012). Youth, Politics and Social Media in Southeast Asia: Trends, Events and Implications. Panorama, 01/2012, 19-28. http://www.kas.de/wf/doc/kas_32176-1522-2-30.pdf?120926051913
• 

  Lim, S. S. & Clark, L. S. (2010). Virtual worlds as a site of convergence for children’s play. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 3 (2), 2-4. http://journals.tdl.org/jvwr/index.php/jvwr/article/view/1897

• Lim, S. S. & Soon, C. (2010). The influence of social and cultural factors on mothers' domestication of household ICTs - experiences of Chinese and Korean women. Telematics and Informatics, 27 (3), 205-216. Lead article. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0736585309000446

• Lim, S. S. (2009). Home, School, Borrowed, Public or Mobile: Variations in Young Singaporeans’ Internet Access. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 14(4), 1228–1256. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01488.x/full

• Lim, S. S., Cho, H. and Rivera, M. (2009). Online Privacy, Government Surveillance and National ID Cards - Exploring their relationship. Communications of the ACM, 52 (12), 116-129. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1610252.1610283

• Cho, H., Rivera, M. and Lim, S. S. (2009) Consumers’ Online Privacy Concerns, New Media and Society, 11 (3): 409-431. http://nms.sagepub.com/content/11/3/395.short

• Lim, S. S. & Nekmat, E. (2008) Learning through Prosuming: Insights from Media Literacy Programmes in Asia. Science, Technology and Society. 13(2): 259-278. http://sts.sagepub.com/content/13/2/259.abstract

• Lim, S. S. (2008) Technology domestication in the Asian homestead: Comparing the experiences of middle class families in China and South Korea. East Asian Science, Technology and Society. 2(2): 1875-2160. http://easts.dukejournals.org/content/2/2/189.short

• Lim, S. S. and Tan, Y. L. (2004) Parental Control of New Media Usage – The Challenges of Infocomm Illiteracy, Australian Journal of Communication, 31(1): 57-74.

• Lim, S. S. and Chung, L. Y. (2004) The Dance of Life (Digital Remix) – The Impact of Mobile Communication on Time Use, Media Asia, 31(1): 37-43

• Rivera, M., Cho, H. and Lim, S. S. (2004) Consumers’ Online Privacy Concerns, World Internet Law Report, 5(4): 29-32

• Lim, S. S. and Tan, Y. L. (2003) Old People And New Media In Wired Societies: Exploring The Socio-Digital Divide In Singapore, Media Asia, 30(2) : 95 – 102

• Lim, S. S. (2002) The experiential dimensions of online shopping: An ethnographic analysis of online store websites, Asian Journal of Communication, 12 (2): 79-99 

• Lim, S. S. (2002) The Self-Confrontation Interview: Enhancing our Understanding of Human Factors in Web-based Interaction, Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, August: 162-173

BOOKS/MONOGRAPHS AUTHORED

• Lim, S. S. (2006) Illegal Downloading and Pirated Media in Singapore: Consumer Awareness, Motivations and Attitudes. Singapore: IP Academy.

EDITORIAL WORK ON BOOKS

• Lim, S. S., Sison, R. & Kim, D. Y.  (Eds.) (2008) The Promise of ICTs in Asia: Key Trends and Issues. Seoul: Jimoondang.

CHAPTERS IN BOOKS

•  Lim, S. S. (2013). Media and Peer Culture. In D. Lemish (Ed.) Routledge Handbook of Children, Adolescents and Media. London: Routledge. Forthcoming.

• Rahayu & Lim, S. S. (2012). Interpreting Religion, Enacting Parenthood, Taming Technology – Indonesian Muslim mothers’ supervision of children’s internet use. In A. Piela (Ed.) Muslim Women's Digital Geographies. Leiden: Brill. Forthcoming.

• Lim, S. S. (2011). Regulatory initiatives for managing online risks and opportunities for youths – the East Asian experience. In M. Walrave (Ed.) e-Youth: Balancing between opportunities and risks? (pp. 271-290). New York: Peter Lang: In press.

• Lim, S. S. & Ooi, J.  (2011). Girls talk tech: Exploring  Singaporean girls’ perceptions of technology. In M. C. Kearney (Ed.) Mediated Girlhood: New Explorations of Girls' Media Culture (pp. 243-260). New York: Peter Lang.

• Thomas, M. & Lim, S. S. (2011). On maids and mobile phones: ICT use by female migrant workers in Singapore and its policy implications. In J. Katz (Ed.) Mobile communication: Dimensions of social policy (pp. 175-190). New Jersey: Transaction.

• Lim, S. S., Nekmat, E. & Vadrevu, S. (2011). Singapore’s experience in fostering youth media production –the implications of state-led school and public education initiatives. In J. Fisherkeller (Ed.) International Perspectives on Youth Media: Cultures of Production & Education (pp. 84-102). New York: Peter Lang. 

• Lim, S. S., Nekmat, E. & Nahar, S. N. (2011). The implications of multimodality for media literacy. In K. O’Halloran & B. A. Smith (Eds.) Multimodal Studies – Exploring Issues and Domains (pp. 169-183). London: Routledge.

• Lim, S. S. (2010). ‘Your phone makes you, you’: Exploring the youth script in teen magazine representations of mobile media. In S. H. Donald, T. Anderson & D. Spry (Ed.) Youth, Society and Mobile Media in Asia (pp. 43-56). London: Routledge.

• Lim, S. S. & Nekmat, E. (2009). Media Education in Singapore – New Media, New Literacies? In C. K. Cheung (Ed.) Media Education in Asia (pp.185-197). Netherlands: Springer.

• Lim, S. S., Sison, R. And Kim, D. Y. (2008) ICT adoption in Asia – Experiences and Insights. In S. S. Lim, R. Sison & D.Y. Kim (Eds.) The Promise of ICTs in Asia: Key Trends and Issues, Seoul: Jimoondang. 1-16.
• Lim, S. S. (2008) Youth and New Media – Exploring, Consuming, Producing. In S. S. Lim, R. Sison & D.Y. Kim (Eds.) The Promise of ICTs in Asia: Key Trends and Issues, Seoul: Jimoondang. 93-108.
• Lim, S. S. (2007) New media and the Singaporean: Rediscovering the lost art of media literacy. In Singapore Perspectives 2007: A New Singapore, Institute of Policy Studies and Marshall Cavendish Academic, Singapore. 79-92.

• Lim, S. S. (2006). From cultural to information revolution: ICT domestication by middle-class families in urban China. In M. Hartmann, T. Berker , Y. Punie & K. Ward (Eds.), Domestication of Media and Technology. Maidenhead: Open University Press. 185-204.

• Chung, L. Y. and Lim, S. S. (2005) From Monochronic to Mobilechronic – Temporality in the Era of Mobile Communication. In K. Nyiri (Ed.) A Sense of Place: The Global and the Local in Mobile Communication. Vienna: Passagen Verlag. 267-282

BOOK REVIEWS

• Lim, S. S. (2008). Transforming technologies [Review of the book Transforming Technologies: Altered Selves – Mobile phone and Internet use in the Philippines]. Asian Journal of Social Science, 36(1), 138-9.  

CONFERENCE PAPERS

• Lim, S. S. (2010, June). New media and youth crime – findings from expert interviews. Young People and New Media in Asia and Europe – Continents Apart, Concerns Converged, Singapore. 20-21 June.

• Thomas, M. & Lim, S. S. (2010, June). Walled-In, Reaching Out: Benefits and Challenges of Migrant Workers’ Use of ICTs for Interpersonal Communication. Matters of Communication: 2010 Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, Singapore. 22-26 June.

• Nekmat, E. & Lim, S. S. (2010, June). A Think-Aloud Investigation Into Youths' Knowledge Structures for Internet Literacy. Matters of Communication: 2010 Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, Singapore. 22-26 June. 

• Lim, S. S. (2010, June). Mediating intimacies, bridging distances – The use of ICTs in intra-family communication. Association for Cultural Studies Crossroads 2010, Hongkong. 16-21 June.

• Nekmat, E. & Lim, S. S. (2010, June). The salience of cognitive styles in youths’ search and evaluation of online information: Implications for Internet literacy. Media Literacy Education in Asia: New Developments. An ICA preconference, Singapore. 22 June. 

• Lin, J. & Lim, S. S. (2010, June). ‘Mobile phones are just like our hands and legs’– the use of mobile phones by disabled persons in China. Innovations in Mobile Use ICA Preconference, Singapore. 21-22 June. 

• Cao, Y. Y., Lim, S. S. & Lin, J.  (2010, June). “Relieved mommies, happy children”: Parental mediation of Chinese children’s use of Mole Manor. Matters of Communication: 2010 Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, Singapore. 22-26 June. 

• Lim, S. S. (2010, May). Regulatory initiatives for managing online risks and opportunities for youths – the East Asian experience. e-Youth: Balancing between opportunities and risks?, Antwerp, Belgium. 27-28 May.

• Lim, S. S. (2009, October) Marketing Mobile Media to Teens in Singapore – Uncovering the ‘Youth Script’. Internet: Critical: 10th Association of Internet Researchers Conference . Milwaukee. 7-11 October.
• Thomas, M. & Lim, S. S. (2009, October). On maids, mobile phones and social capital: ICT use by female migrant workers in Singapore and its policy implications. Mobile communication and social policy: An international conference, New Jersey, USA.

• Lim, S. S. (2009, May) Young People and the Digital Divide – An ethnographic study of media-have-less youths. Keywords in Communication: 2009 Annual Conference of the International Communication Association . Chicago. 21-25 May.

• Lim, S. S. (2008, December) ‘Must-have makeup, fashion and gizmos: Teen magazine representations of girls’ technology use. First International Conference on Popular Culture and Education in Asia. Hong Kong. 11-13 December.

• Lim, S. S. and Nekmat, E. (2008, July) The Implications of Multimodal Representation for Media Literacy. Fourth International Conference on Multimodality. Singapore. 30 July – 1 August.

• Nekmat, E. and Lim, S. S. (2008, July) New Media And Youth: The Motivations And Gratifications Of Online Betting Amongst Youths. 17th Asian Media Information & Communication Centre Annual Conference on Changing Media, Changing Societies: Media and the Millennium Development Goals. Manila. 14-17 July

• Nekmat, E. and Lim, S. S. (2008, June) Youth and Online Gambling: Uncovering the propensity for addiction through understanding the motivations and gratifications of online betting. International Research Development Centre Workshop on Internet Addiction Research in Asia. Manila. 16-17 June.

• Lim, S. S. (2008, May) On Avatars, Buddy Buddy And CyWorld – New Media in Korean Youths’ Everyday Lives. Communicating for Social Impact: 2008 Annual Conference of the International Communication Association . Montreal. 22-26 May.

• Lim, S. S. (2008, February) Living in a new media world: Comparing media-use diaries of the media-haves and media have-less in Singapore. Exploring New Media Worlds: Changing Technologies, Industries, Cultures, and Audiences in Global and Historical Context . Texas. 29 February – 2 March.

• Lim, S. S. (2007, October) Containing the Internet’s spillover effects in the Asian home: Perspectives from China, South Korea and Singapore. Let’s Play!: 8th Association of Internet Researchers Conference . Vancouver. 17-20 October.
• Lim, S. S. (2007, August) Comparing technology domestication by middle-class families in China and South Korea. East Asian Science, Technology and Society Network Workshop on Technology Family and Gender. Taiwan. 6-8 August.

• Lim, S. S., Cho, H. and Rivera, M. (2007, April ) Exploring the Relationship of Online Privacy, Government Surveillance and National ID Cards: A Multi-country Study. 52^nd Annual Broadcast Education Association Convention on Media 101: Creating the Future by Understanding the Past. Las Vegas. 18-21 April. Second Place Award, International Paper Division

• Lim, S. S. (2007, January) Youth and New Media - Exploring, Consuming, Producing, Information Revolution and Cultural Integration in East Asia: ASEAN-ROK Academic Conference, Ho Chi Minh City. 24-26 January
• Lim, S. S. (2006, July) One child, two parents and a host of technologies - A study of urban China’s media-rich households, China's Internet and Chinese Cultures: The Fourth Annual Chinese Internet Research Conference 2006, Singapore. 21-22 July
  
• Lim, S. S. (2006, July) Children, technology and media domestication in Singapore, China and South Korea, Asia-Pacific Childhoods Conference ‘An ethnography of childhood’, Singapore. 17-20 July
• Lim, S. S. (2004, December) Family Communication in Urban China: ICT Domestication by Middle-Class Families in Beijing and Shanghai, Paths of Urban Change: Social and Spatial Perspectives, Singapore, 9-11 December
  

•  Lim, S. S. (2004, July) Youth, Media and the Asian Family: Contextualising our Understanding, Understanding our Context, 13th Asian Media Information & Communication Centre Annual Conference on ICT & Media Inputs & Development Outcomes - Impact of New & Old Media on Development in Asia, Bangkok, Thailand

• Chung, L.-Y. and Lim, S. S. (2004, June) From Monochronic to Mobilechronic – Temporality in the Era of Mobile Communication, The Global and the Local in Mobile Communication Conference, Budapest, Hungary

• Rivera, M., Cho, H. and Lim, S. S. (2004, February) Online Privacy: Consumers’ Concerns and Policy Implications for E-commerce, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation E-commerce Steering Committee Meeting, Santiago, Chile

• Lim, S. S. (2002, October) The role of the media in shaping public debate on science and technology, Southeast Asian Francophone Seminar “Science and Technology: Issues for the Society” Conference, Singapore

• Lim, S. S. (2001, November) Internet Shopping Behaviour – A Social Psychological Insight, British Psychological Society’s “Psychology and the Internet: A European Perspective” Conference, Farnborough, United Kingdom

• Lim, S. S. (2000, March) Understanding the Online Consumer. Efficient Consumer Response Europe Conference Proceedings. Turin, Italy. Gold Award Paper

• Lim, S. S. (2010, June). Mediating intimacies, bridging distances – The use of ICTs in intra-family communication. Association for Cultural Studies Crossroads 2010, Hongkong. 16-21 June.

INVITED PRESENTATIONS

• Lim, S. S. (2008, September) Youths, Media and Entertainment – On Risks, Rewards and Resignation. 2008 KAIST Information-Media Global Forum: Entertainment meets Technology! Seoul, 26 Sep.

• Lim, S. S. (2007) Young and New Media: At risk, source of risk or let’s manage the risk?. Singapore Police Force Resilience Building Seminar. Singapore, 1 Aug.
• Lim, S. S. (2007) Singapore’s New Media Landscape–Trends and Issues. Ministry of Home Affairs Hometeam Academy Workshop for Senior Officers. Singapore, 3 May.
• Lim, S. S. (2007) New media, New Literacies: Making the Most of Prosumption. Singapore Press Holdings Foundation and English Language and Literature Teachers’ Association Multiliteracies: Connecting with the Language Classroom Conference. Singapore, 28 May.

• Lim, S. S. (2007, February) It Takes a Village: Reassessing, Information Revolution and Cultural Integration in East Asia: ASEAN-ROK Academic Conference, Kuala Lumpur. 6-8 February

• Lim, S. S. (2006) Of racist blogs and Tammy videoes - Vesting our wired teens with critical literacy. Ministry of Education ExCel Fest 2006. Singapore. Keynote speaker, 8 July.
• Lim, S. S. (2006) The Singaporean Youth’s Media Landscape – Today’s Pressing Issues. National Youth Council Workshop for Youth Workers. Singapore, 11 July.
• Lim, S. S. (2005, October) Of technology, guanxi and upward mobility - Media use in China’s one-child families. McGill University Department of Art History and Communications Speaker Series Montreal, Canada.
• Lim, S. S. (2005, July) New Media Piracy: The Consumer Perspective. BIEM Workshop on On-Line and Digital Music Services, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Lim, S. S. (2005, July) Plenary discussion on Cybertrends. Youth.Net: Developing Cyberwellness Conference, Singapore. Panel chairperson
• Lim, S. S. and Tan, A. T. K. J. (2005, January) Software, Music and Movie Piracy, IP Academy, Singapore.

• Lim, S. S. (2004, September) From Digital to Socio-Digital Divide - Singapore’s Experience in Infocomm Adoption, Universiti Putra Malaysia Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication Seminar on Impact of ICT Towards Society: Present and Future, Selangor, Malaysia

• Lim, S. S. (2004, August) The Music Industry: Pot of Gold or Sinking Sands. Missing Youth, Fun, Popular Culture, Consumer Demands and Technology, WIPO Training Course on Creating Value from Copyright Works and Related Rights in the Music Industry, Singapore

• Lim, S. S. (2003, August) The Singaporean Cyber Youth – Wired but Disconnected?, Youth.Net: Understanding and Guiding the Y-ired Generation” Conference, Singapore. Keynote speaker

• Lim, S. S. (2007, January), Of homework, handphones and homepages: Comparing technology domestication by middle class youths in China and South Korea, NUS- Yonsei Joint Conference on Digital Media Technology and New Ways of Living and Communicating in Asia,  Singapore. 31 January – 1 February

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

• Lim, S. S. (2006) The ‘Pavlovian Reflex’ in Students, CDTL Brief, 9(4): 1-2
• Lim, S. S. (2004) The Practicality of Theory, IDEAS on Teaching, 3(1): 22-23

• Lim, S. S., Oh, T.M., Wohland, T. (2003) Excelling at teaching and research: A preliminary study of best practices, CDTL Brief, 6 (5): 1-4 

Education Top

2003
PhD Media and Communications, London School of Economics

1999
Masters of Science in Media and Communications, Distinction, London School of Economics

1995
Bachelor of Social Sciences in Political Science, Honours, National University of Singapore

1994
Bachelor of Arts with Merit, Dean’s List, National University of Singapore,

Public Service Top

Dr Lim serves actively in public bodies where her research work helps to inform media policy and public education. From 2005-2007, she was a member of the National Internet Advisory Committee which advised the Media Development Authority (MDA) on issues relating to new media. She is currently a member of the newly established Internet and Media Advisory Committee which advises the MDA on issues relating to new media literacy and regulation. She also serves on the Working Group of the Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media on Society (AIMS). She is also a member of the MDA’s Interactive and Digital Media Experts Group which assesses start-up projects for seed funding. She is the Chair of the New Media Taskforce of the National Committee on Youth Guidance and Rehabilitation which advises the National Youth Council and the Ministry of Home Affairs on issues relating to at-risk youths. She is presently a Council Member of the National Youth Council. She has served as a consultant/lecturer/resource person for the Strategic Planning Office of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Media Development Authority, the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Hometeam Academy, the Singapore Police Force, the IP Academy and the National Youth Council.

Awards Top

Faculty Excellent Teaching Award, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, 2009
Faculty Excellent Teaching Award, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, 2008
University Excellent Teaching Award, National University of Singapore, 2007
Faculty Excellent Teaching Award, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, 2007
ASEAN Universities Network- Korean Association of Southeast Asian Studies Academic Exchange Fellowship, 2005/6
Faculty Excellent Teaching Award, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, 2006
Faculty Excellent Teaching Award, National University of Singapore, 2005
University Excellent Teaching Award, National University of Singapore, 2005
Raffles Rothschilds Chevening Scholarship, 1998 - 1999
Gold Award (Top Paper), Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) Europe Millennium Conference, Turin, Italy, 22 March 2000