(MENAFN- The Conversation) Indonesia has in 2016, but many fail to be critical in analysing the veracity of circulating within the web.
Fifty six researchers mapped efforts to improve digital literacy in nine cities. is the ability to access resources, critically evaluate and create information through digital technology.
The spread of and , rampant , radical and terrorist groups to find new recruits, and mark Indonesia's digital literacy situation.
The researchers found that activities, such as lectures and trainings to improve digital literacy in communities do exist. But they are insufficient in the face of mounting problems in Indonesia's digital sphere.
Mapping nine cities
The collaborative mapping began with a meeting of 10 mass communication scholars from Yogyakarta, Bandung, and Jakarta in January 2017. The collaboration was forged to ensure comprehensive mapping. We recorded digital literacy activities carried out by universities and communities in our respective cities.
We wanted to find out a number of basic questions: who are organising digital literacy education? Who are participating and who are supporting the efforts? We also record the type of activities to inform the design of future digital literacy activities.
During research process, the collaboration transformed into a new network called Indonesian Digital Literacy Advocates Network () in April 2017.
Japelidi so far has 56 researchers from 26 universities in nine cities in Indonesia (Yogyakarta, Salatiga, Semarang, Surakarta, Malang, Bandung, Banjarmasin, Bali and Jakarta). Japelidi's research was voluntary and financed by the researchers themselves.
The findings
Japelidi managed to list 342 digital literacy activities from 2010 to 2017 in nine cities. The number is not representative of all activities in Indonesia, but at least give us insight about what's going on in the issue of digital literacy.
found that digital literacy activities are mostly organised by universities (5.14%). In several universities digital literacy is even an important part of the curriculum.
Among various types of activities, lectures are most popular. They are considered as the most effective approach to reach a wide and diverse public. Other activities include training, discussion and setting up a task force to counter hoaxes.
Teens or students topped the participants' list at 29.55%. The young people are considered the most vulnerable to hoaxes. On the other hand, they are seen as the most potential digital literacy agents.
Schools are the most active partners in organising digital literacy activities (32.07%), followed by the government and community.
Voluntary, incidental, sporadic
Based on our findings, digital literacy movements in Indonesia tend to be voluntary, incidental and sporadic. Unfortunately, we did not find long-lasting partnerships between organisers of digital literacy education.
We recommend activities and delivery methods that are more suitable for the targeted participants. For example, using games could make digital literacy more fun.
We also encourage digital literacy advocates to expand their target participants while adding more partners among government institutions, media and corporations. This way, the goal could be achieved more effectively. To reach a wider audience, we need more advocates outside universities.
It starts from the family
Japelidi data show families haven't been involved as partners in literacy activities. Only 12.23% activities targeted parents as participants. We believe the role of parents in digital literacy is crucial because most children get introduced to digital media from parents.
Japelidi recommends to start digital literacy education from the family, followed by schools and communities.
Parents should become role models and ensure they guide and involve children in formulating an agreement on how the family access digital media.
Indonesia needs to encourage education institutions to integrate their curriculum with a goal to increase digital literacy among the students. For example, universities might have a specific class on digital literacy, in which students are encouraged to offer ideas on various digital literacy activities served for various participants. By that way both teachers or lecturers and students have hands-on experience in digital literacy so they could become agents that would make an impact in their communities.
More collaboration must be established with various communities in terms of digital literacy. Communities could organise activities in partnership with media, universities, or corporate. One good example is displayed by a community of who held digital literacy workshops in partnership with the government and universities.
Our recommendation for the government is to maintain democratic values in the digital information system. The government should make regulations upholding the human rights to access digital media. The government should also encourage more digital literacy advocates to achieve better digital literacy while promoting democracy in Indonesia.
Our network of digital advocates have continued to grow. We now have researchers from outside campus community. Japelidi is also in partnership with Indonesia's national movement for digital literacy called . In SiBerkreasi, Japelidi assumes the role as a network of human resources and database for digital literacy researches in Indonesia.
Our findings led us to this conclusion: Indonesia has to wake up and fight digital illiteracy. And Indonesia has to do it quickly.
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