Although a father in real life, he seems a bit young to be dubbed 'the father' of the Indonesian blogosphere. Nevertheless, he has gained this reputation, simply by being among the first bloggers to get serious about it, and by actively encouraging and supporting the blogging community with his know-how. He was the Chairperson of last year´s Pesta Blogger

I chatted with Enda Nasution about blogging culture in general, the atmosphere of the Indonesian blogosphere and I got some insight on certain 'hot topics' of Indonesian bloggers... The following is a recap of our chat, Enda´s words grouped into thematic blocks and only with minor changes and shortenings.




The benefits of blogging

I like the idea that blogs upset the current media industry’s status quo, that was the first thing that attracted me to blogging. Giving access and voices to millions of people where they can write and express themselves easily, fast and without significant cost is pretty great!

I like to think that by blogging we are promoting ideas of solidarity, being open minded, accountable and participative, young people especially should not sit and stand aside but now can be heard and read as well. They will become more empowered, more confidant, more opinionated. To do that people need to read a lot, learn a lot of things, think structurally and communicate well. Those are qualities that I find positive and we as Indonesian bloggers want to promote and spread this attitude.

You can't blog in a vacuum. it's connected to one another, the blogging community motivates each blogger to keep blogging.

Some people are concerned about the quality of the content of blogs which sometimes seems trivial and self absorbed but I think those concerns, even though they are valid, are secondary. The first thing is that people start blogging, the quality will improve as the bloggers are exposed to more quality writing. Of course we as community will help anywhere we can. it's like the open source movement: given enough bloggers, the whole community will rise up.

But to tell you the truth I was much more optimistic 2-3 years ago, not that I am losing all hopes, but I am more realistic now, maybe it's the old age creeping inside of me or something…

It depends on what to benchmark the progress of course, when asked whether bloggers will have a positive effect on the public I always say yes, on a personal level it promotes an attitude that I have mentioned before, which are positive things to have.


Internet users in Indonesia

I don't if techno-elite it's the correct term, but Indonesian internet users are better educated, have better income than the rest of non internet users. But in terms of profile, it consist of mostly male/female 18-28. With a rising number of even younger users

I was arguing on a piece on Jakarta Post in 2004 that this internet users act as influencer to the other non internet users, this was in context of the presidential election, my point was that the presidential campaign should pay attention to online more, or use online combined with on-ground volunteers.


Blogs and traditional media

Especially in Indonesia’s case there is a shortage of content from the online media. Here the number of topics covered online is limited, that's the hole that the bloggers have been filling in. On the other hand, the traditional media becomes an echo chamber of the blogosphere. Several times, magazines or newspapers copy paste word for word a blog post and publish it. Others use blogs as source of information. There are even plans to discuss blog posts on a radio program, giving a different twist on the whole new media - old media debate.

The only new media, purely online is detik.com. The other online media is the online version of traditional online media, like Kompas and Tempo. So I think the more correct term will be mainstream media vs. alternative media. The mainstream media all realize the power of blogs, their take on that is to create their brand of blogs. So wait for kompasblog.com, detikblog.com, tempoblog.com. It's coming.

But traditional media are often struggling with the web 2.0 world, because the internal push-pull interest inside. I think, most of their efforts online will stumble as well. They view online as another distraction with time and effort to put in.

The Indonesian example of citizen journalism is wikimu.com. It is overlapping, the Indonesian wikipedians, Indonesian bloggers and people who wrote in wikimu, but somehow i think each are different breeds.

Bapak Blog Indonesia?

All i did was to blog, quite at the beginning but I was not the first one. And I wrote an article to explained what blogging is, which became popular and is still referred to by people who want to know about blogging. I think it was started as a joke, not a serious/real position, nobody elected me or anything, but then it was picked up by mainstream media, and there I am. Especially after chairing Pesta Blogger in October last year. People and journalists will ask me: what's next and what do you see for the Indonesian blogosphere in the future etc.

The climate of the Indonesian Blogosphere

Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia… I was on a conference in Manila discussing free expression in cyberspace and it was clear that Indonesia is one of the countries where we currently enjoy freedom of expression.

But then again, intimidation and repression can take many forms and can come from many groups in public. There is already a case of a blogger from Yogyakara threatened by a lawsuit and ordered to take down his post by a kyai (muslim religious leader) in Jakarta. The blogger took down his post, even though the threat was baseless. His post was not in any way directed to the kyai. But the blogger took down his post anyway.

In the near future I expect there will be more vertical and horizontal conflict in the Indonesian blogosphere, vs. mainstream media, vs. other parts of the public.
Right now I think we are still in honeymoon, everything handy dandy…

The atmosphere here is very communal, Indonesians love to chit chat and hang out together, and that has now translated to online behavior too.

Bloggers, friends and ‘enemies’

From what Mohammad Nuh says, his perspective on blogging was that it's a positive activity, for the youth especially, and he said that anything positive, especially for the youth should be supported because the future of a nation depends on it's youth.

Roy Suryo I think holds a grudge against the Indonesian blogger community. He seeks attention from the media and positioned himself as an expert in IT and the telecommunication industry, where in fact he really doesn't know that much about both subjects. I think the blogosphere does have an impact on RS image, journalists are now more reluctant to ask him for his opinion, especially for important stuff, but on the celebrity gossip he still appears from time to time.

Kampung Gajah is just an inside joke that we have, but it’s because a lot of figures in the Indonesian blogosphere are members there. So flow of information sometimes starts there and is shared to the groups, or vice versa.



Thanks Enda!

Oh dear boys and girls, not sure if you will still talk to me after this long hiatus. I´m not going to go into the details of why but I´m determined to go ahead with some fun stuff from now on.

Do you remember my teaser post a while back. Well I am now finally starting to put short versions of the information I got by chatting to some Indonesian bloggers online. (I transcribed the recording, then shortened and grouped the information into thematic blocks. I tried to stick to the original text as much as I could.) The interviews/chats all took place in January/Febuary 2008.

To me the blogosphere seems like a big family clan, where there are dominant and influential figures, some outsiders, moderators, provocateurs and so on. Following this logic, let´s start with someone who sees himself as the mascot of the Indonesian blogosphere....

PART ONE: WIMAR WITOELAR - THE MASCOT



Perspetif online

On my blog, ideas are discussed seriously, but in a popular manner. People like how I present things on Television or in my articles, so we also present it that way in our blog. It is a multimedia enterprise.

In 1993 I got an invitation to do television talk show. In ‘94 it got banned by Suharto, but because of that it became more popular and so we went to the radio an on to live stage shows. The radio show is still going on until now. Broadcasting on 150 stations around the country. We are very strong in that area, we have won awards, for television and radio. The online version, perspektif online actually came as an afterthought, ‘just for fun’. But we are consistent, even in the way we have fun, we take things seriously. It is also very recognizable. I have a logo that appears everywhere. We have T-Shirts. It is very branded. But everybody knows we are serious. When Suharto was ill, the foreign press quoted what I wrote. I think we appeal to a lot of people.

Everything that is said in the TV show can be discussed on the radio, on the internet or newspaper articles. It cycles. So to me, there is not so much difference between the traditional media and the electronic media. I appear all over. Kompas or other newspapers like that find it difficult to adapt to web 2.0. Their websites are more or less internet depictions of the print versions.

Everything we have is interactive, everything we write depends on collective intelligence and everything we write is connected to our social networks. We did the web 2.0 thing even before I knew the definition.

The internet is a people’s movement. Our site got most hits during the election campaign for the governor of Jakarta.

My show ‘Our Governor’ got taken off air because the governor didn’t like it. I then moved the issues to the blog and the discussion continued over there.

When we started the blog I didn’t even know what a blog was. We just tinkered around with it. I am an internet person since the very beginning, by training I am a computer scientist. But I am a practitioner not an expert. I don’t know the statistics.

Up until now, we don’t make money with this. We have a professional PR company, where we make our money.

Indonesian Blogoshphere

I’m on the steering committee of Blogger Indonesia. I am their mascot because they say I am the oldest blogger and I am also the most visible. Otherwise others wouldn’t know what blogs are. I was Invited to be part of the show, but Enda Nasution, Ong Hock Chuan, Budi Putra, Priyadi, Wicaksono, that is the true committee. And of course Shinta of bubu.com

The internet in Indonesia is not only for a tech-savvy elite but for eager communicators. If they want to speak out, and know that they can do so, someone will lead the to blog. Someone will give them access to computers. It is not based on technology per se, but on the desire to communicate. Young people are bloggers, members of friendster or facebook. The techno-savvy are more like consultants, there are a few of them that spread the word. Then it goes from mouth to mouth. The bloggers are not techno savvy. They are curhat - people. (people who like to express their feelings) there is a small circle of techno savvy who think up innovations in blogging, who discuss where it’s going, but they are not the persons who drive the traffic of blogs. Most people who blog know nothing about the internet or computers, they write very well or take photographs…

I think Indonesia has a pent up capacity for writing. When Suharto went away this came to the surface. There was a surplus of magazines. In Suharto’s times to publish a magazine, you had to pay a lot for a license.

The role of the internet during the student’s movement

I can point our several links between the internet and Suhartos downfall Yes, mailing lists and emails were important. I was a student activist also in the 60ies, as well as in the 90ies. In ‘98 at the time of students’ movement the internet proved as an excellent tool to mobilize. We could show up with 500 000 people in no time. Perspektif online was actually based on a strong mailing list, and it is still now.

Secondly and more specifically, the internet proved to be a powerful tool in reporting. Newspapers quickly lost track of the movement but it had news portals, specifically detik.com. It single handedly created the revolution in internet publishing. 6 reporters tried their hand at making a website. And because they appeared at the time of the internet boom, it quickly developed from a 6 person project in the basement of a stadium into a company with a high market value t at one time. And then it dropped again. They have been left behind by citizen journalism. They are not bloggers. Now they have a 400 people company that does advertising etc.

The internet has always been at the core of anything that is new in communication. If you look at political movements you will find out Partei Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS) was almost built up on the internet. I admire their use of the new medium. So certainly it is part of the reform and people of the establishment don’t quite know how to deal with it.

The role of the government in the development of internet access and computer literacy

With all due respect to Pak Habibie and Minister Nuh because I know them both, they have no role at all in the development of the internet. Habibie is an expert designer of airplanes. He is a man of the past generation. Habibie was never available via emails. Gus Dur on the other hand is.

The Habibie Center is a very political group. A group of intellectuals to continue the dialogue and of course they raise technology issues. But being involved in technology issues is very different to hacking around on a computer. They talk about it but I don’t think they do anything.

Mohammad Nuh is a nice person who was lifted from being director the 10th of September Institute of Technology , very old school. He doesn’t understand the internet either. In fact when he declared the Hari Blogger, he was doing an illegal act because you cannot declare a national holiday without the consent of the parliament. But he is a nice guy and well, don’t take it too seriously. As long as he comes and makes us feel good. He provided a prize. I always say when you want to do something well do it without the help of the government. It only constrains you more.

The internet infrastructure is provided by Telkom. The ministry is just hanging on and looking at it. They’re supposed to take the initiative but they’re not. The ministry is basically a political organization to accommodate people who had nothing to do after the ministry of information was disbanded. When we had the Department of Information under Harmoko it issued permits for newspapers and controlled the media. President Wahid abolished it because it was unnecessary and also authoritarian. But being in a hurry he didn’t realize that he put thousands of people out of a job. And when Megawati came along she decided ok, let’s call it informatics instead of information because the people are allergic to everything related to mind control. Let it deal with information technology. But they didn’t understand it at all! Maybe it’s gotten better now….


Thanks very much Pak Witoelar for giving this in depth insight and as always, sharing your opinion and being open for discussion!

The greatest thing I heard about on re:publica, the German annual blogger´s festival, has got to be MySociety. MySociety is a group of websites from the UK that all aim at getting people involved with local issues and their community. In their own words:

mySociety has two missions. The first is to be a charitable project which builds websites that give people simple, tangible benefits in the civic and community aspects of their lives. The second is to teach the public and voluntary sectors, through demonstration, how to most efficiently use the internet to improve lives.

In oder to achieve that, Tom Steinberg, Francis Irving and Matthew Somerville, the founders of MySociety, have developed sites like FixMyStreet.com and TheyWorkForYou.com.

On FixMyStreet you can report problems in your neighborhood like pot-holes, street light etc. by simply entering your Zip-code and marking the specific area on a map. The report is then sent straight to the council responsible for this area. The site also shows when a reported problem gets fixed. It get´s even better with TheyWorkForYou. On this site you can find all members of parliament (MPs) and all Lords, subscribe to feeds of their activities, browse their last statements, monitor their voting behavior and much more.

I really think this is clever use of the internet and I hope that we get similar sites in Germany and Indonesia soon!

I just scanned a paper by Korean researcher Jeong Kim that links the Spiral of Silcence theory to processes in the blogosphere. In short, SoS theory states that individuals with opinions that contradict majority opinion tend to remain silent, while individuals who feel like they are representing the majority tend to speak up.

Jeong Kim asks what this concept means in the realm of blogs where, in contrast to 'big media' such as TV and newspapers, minority opinions can (technically) be easily voiced and interaction is possible on a one-to-one level.

What´s particularly interesting about this paper is the researchers methodology: he asks two (quite prominent) Korean bloggers to act as his informants and to reveal in their blogs two attitudes which are considered to be minority opinions in Korean society: open pro-Americanism and pro-Japanism (?). A rather funny experiment, I believe. it kind of makes me want to try this myself...

Anyway, the paper comes to the conclusion that in the blogosphere, voicing out minority opinions can lead to an (unforeseen) high level of exposure, sometimes leading to the point where the blog author chooses to beomce less visible by closing the blog, moving it, or limiting the visibility of certain posts and comments. Jeong Kim says that blogging is characterized by a 'paradoxical interplay between struggle for and struggle by visibility'. Quite true, isn´t it?!

I´m finally back with some thoughts on collective identity. Since I am interested in the types of identities that tie together a group/network of bloggers, I thought it might be a nice idea to start off with some basics on the concept of identity in theory.

I chose to quickly sum up an article by David Snow
that provides a nice overview of the conceptualization of identity, especially collective identity, in different scholarly works.

He notes that, at the base of every interaction amongst individuals or groups lies the reciprocal attribution and avowal of identities. Identity is thus a key factor in making social interaction possible.

Conceptualizations of identity differentiate three identity types: personal, social and collective.

Social identities are meanings attributed to others in order to place them in social space, it is similar to the idea of social roles, such as ‘teacher’ or ‘mother’.

Personal identities are the meanings attributed to oneself.

Collective identities are a bit trickier. They overlap with social and personal identity. Snow notes that there is so far no consensual definition of collective identity (CI). However, an essence seems to be a shared sense of “We-ness”- including a sense of shared attributes and experiences and the idea of a contrast or relation to a set of ‘others’ Embedded in the sense of We-ness is the possibility of collective action (for a common cause).

Another common theme that runs through literature is the insistence that CI is a process rather than a fixed property. CI is transient and subject to modification and transformation.

CI can technically emerge among any social group, ranging from small cliques like fanclubs to broad categories such as gender, ethnicity or religion. The majority of research has focused on the last type of groups. Another characteristic is that CI is often studied in the context of social movements.

In the predominant view, CI is a construct, it is invented, not biologically or culturally determined.

There are several points of interest for the study of CI, for example the area of Identity Work, which focuses on how CI is created, expressed, sustained and modified. At the core of this is the study of generation and maintenance of symbolic resources that distinguish the group internally and externally.

Other fields of study are Identity correspondence conflicts, or the types or layers of CI.