A practice of citizens journalism is an alternative form in a process of journalistic work to present information and news which are quick and accurate. Moreover, the advance in technology of communication and information seems to open up the very wide chance toward the practice of citizens journalism though the quality demand is also expected to be better. This things also cannot be separated from the demand that the citizens literacy in having media, especially the digital iteracy, can be better. In this case, Kompasiana as one of media for citizens journalism offers chance to Kompasianers to invlove. This meet poin of both two actors (citizens and media) can be a combination model which is profitable for tboth of them in order to present the practice of citizens journalisme with good quality as well as an effort to improve the literacy of citizens.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Keywords: Citizens Journalism, Kompasiana, Digital Literac

Irawan Aritonang, A

Prijana Hadi, I

Setiawan, A

Yoanita, D

English

KnE Publishing Platform

ICEST 2018The First International Conference on Education, Science and Training:Empowering Educational Human Resources for Global CompetitivenessVolume 2019Conference PaperCitizens Journalism Based on Website forDigital LiteracyAgusly Irawan Aritonang, Desi Yoanita, Ido Prijana Hadi, and AlexanderSetiawanUniversitas Kristen Petra Surabaya, IndonesiaAbstractA practice of citizens journalism is an alternative form in a process of journalistic work topresent information and news which are quick and accurate. Moreover, the advance intechnology of communication and information seems to open up the very wide chancetoward the practice of citizens journalism though the quality demand is also expectedto be better. This things also cannot be separated from the demand that the citizensliteracy in having media, especially the digital iteracy, can be better. In this case,Kompasiana as one of media for citizens journalism offers chance to Kompasianers toinvlove. This meet poin of both two actors (citizens and media) can be a combinationmodel which is profitable for tboth of them in order to present the practice of citizensjournalisme with good quality as well as an effort to improve the literacy of citizens.Keywords: Citizens Journalism, Kompasiana, Digital Literacy1. IntroductionInformation society is inevitability in an era of development in technology of communica-tion and information. Citing a statement of Alvin Toffler, which divides human civilizationinto 3 parts, then the concept of information society emerges as the final step afteragricultural society and industrial society. Surely the change of society type in this infor-mation era is based on the fact that information traffic is very high among the citizens.Technology of Communication and Information becomes a supporting factor of themore information traffic intensely floating among the citizens. There are various kindsof channels and platforms now existing to facilitate the citizens (especially in the contextof internet, such as bloggers, subscribers, or widely called netizen) to participate invarious activities of communication such as writing, sharing information and photos, andinvolving in any discussions at social media domain with any various topics.How to cite this article: Agusly Irawan Aritonang, Desi Yoanita, Ido Prijana Hadi, and Alexander Setiawan, (2019), “Citizens Journalism Based onWebsite for Digital Literacy” in The First International Conference on Education, Science and Training: Empowering Educational Human Resourcesfor Global Competitiveness, KnE Social Sciences, pages 191–197. DOI 10.18502/kss.v3i15.4366Page 191Corresponding Author:Alexander Setiawanalexander@peter.petra.ac.idReceived: 18 January 2019Accepted: 24 March 2019Published: 31 March 2019Publishing services provided byKnowledge EAgusly Irawan Aritonanget al. This article is distributedunder the terms of the CreativeCommons Attribution License,which permits unrestricted useand redistribution provided thatthe original author and sourceare credited.Selection and Peer-review underthe responsibility of the ICEST2018 Conference Committee.ICEST 2018One populer practice related to the activitiy and involvement of citizens in cyberspaceis citizen journalism. This concept of citizens journalism itself point on the activity whichis actively plays a role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and spreadingthe information and news. (Rosen J., Merritt D., & Austin, L. 1997. Public Journalism:Theory And Practice: Lessons From Experience. Ohio: Kettering Foundation) Moreover,this activity itself gains more acknowledgment from the existency aspect since vari-ous crucial moments are presented even not by mainstream media but by the citizensinvolvement in publishing those moments become the news either through mainstreammedia or personal media such as blog and their own social media.The transformation into information citizen requires a good literacy level too. A goodliteracy becomes the fundamental so that the development of the citizens knowledgeespecially in media domain can contribute to their culture. Literacy itself is realizedas an acquisition of skills and knowledge to read, interpret, compile certain kinds oftext and artifacts and also to get devices and intellectual capacity so that the citizenscan fully contribute in their society and culture. (Kellner, D, dan Share, J.2003. Toward“Critical Media Literacy: Core Concepts, Debates, Organizations, and Policy dalam Dis-course: Studies In The Cultural Politics Of Education Vol 26, No. 3. September 2005,Hlm. 369-386) On the other hand, there is another opinion states that literacy is notonly the abilities in reading and writing but also the abilities to placing, evaluating, usingand communicating through various resources including resources of text, visual, soundand video (Iriantara, Yosal. 2009. Literasi Media. Apa, Mengapa, Bagaimana. SimbiosaRekatama Media. Bandung.).The advance in technology of communication and information also presents furtherthe demands of literacy, one of them is digital literacy. Steve Wheeler mentions 9elements related to digital literacy, they are social networking, managing digital identity,transliteracy, maintaining privacy, creating content, organising and Sharing Content,Reusing/ Repurposing content, filtering and selecting content, and the last one is selfbroadcasting. Related to self broadcasting, the important point is that there is any effortto share unique ideas or concept and also multimedia content in any of the forms offorum, blog or wikis which show a participation of online society. (Wheeler, Steve.2012.Digital Literacies For Engagement In Emerging Online Cultures.elc Research paperSeries,5,14-25.) Therefore, it is in accordance that the practice of citizens journalism asa citizen participation in new media, especially ones which are based on internet, alsostimulate the process of digital literacy itself.DOI 10.18502/kss.v3i15.4366 Page 192ICEST 20181.1. Kompasiana as a channel for the practice of citizen journalismThe practice of citizens journalism itself in Indonesia is very common to do nowadays.The media, either mainstream or personal media, offers the ease for the journalisticpractitioners to be actively involved. This understanding of citizens journalism itself isrelated to Lasica:a citizen or citizens playing an active role in the process of collecting,reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and informations (Lasica, D.(ed.) (2003). We Media: How audiences are shaping the future of news andinformation. Retrieved from: http://www.hypergene.net/wemedia/download/we_media.pdf)Accessedon:13-07-2018(p.220)Therefore, that definition allows the journalism practice to be done by whoever eitherwith or without any background and journalistic experience. Moreover, the technologyadvance allows the access in aspects of device, application and web so that the materialsuch as news, photos, and other information can be delivered widely and accessed byanyone.Related to the practice of citizen journalism, there is an interesting phenomena inIndonesia. Beside non mainstream channels such as personal blog and personal socialmedia, even the involvement of mainstream media in case of opening channel to aco-modate the desire of citizens journalists to involve in delivering news. One of any mediawhich plays a role in developing the practice of citizen journalism is Kompasiana. Kom-pasiana remains consistent with either format of writing or opinion which comes frompersonal thought and runs with website format.Kompasiana is initially started in 2008 to facilitate the internal journalists of Kompaswho want to write about things related to journalistic practice with the blogger style.However, in the next months, the objective shifts for the public. Using the objectiveformat addressed for public, then the viewing process is also changed since the writingof the Kompasianers (a call for writers at Kompasiana) is also mediated by Gatekeeperfrom Kompasiana’s editorial team. By having various categories such as “Ekonomi”,“Fiksiana”, “Gaya Hidup”, “Hiburan”, “Humaniora”, “Olahraga”, “Politik”, “Teknologi”, and“Kotak Suara”, then there are more or less 300 writing per day reviewed in 4 shifts.Talking about the practice of citizens journalism, the main product of a Kompasianeris article. With the total of articles up to 15.000.000 (based on December 2017), theKompasiana’s articles are also choosen by editorial staff to become editor choice or evenHeadline. However, the important point is that the content reponsibility is fully on theDOI 10.18502/kss.v3i15.4366 Page 193ICEST 2018Figure 1: Kompasiana Overview.personel of Kompasianers though there is mechanism that Kompasiana also providesspace to report the published writing. Indeed, if there is any complaint related to thewriting, the editorial staff will review it and also if there is thing againts the conditions oncontent and service then it may be deleted.In order to provide content or articles having quality from Kompasiana then the Kom-pasiana gives 13 points on Content Conditions. This Content Conditions surely becomesKompasiana’s form of business to produce the citizen journalists who understand theimportance of literacy by producing a good article content. Related to the 13 points oncontent conditions, there are important points which become the important guide suchas: ban on plagiarism, ban on asaulting of others’ character and personality, ban onpolarizing religion teaching and belief, ban on publishing hoax news and information,pornography, decency, and also conditions on other technical things. Those conditionsare intended so that the articles content produced by the Kompasianer becomes a goodpractice of citizen journalism. A proof which is given related to content conditions is that ifDOI 10.18502/kss.v3i15.4366 Page 194ICEST 2018a Kompasioner has alreday made infringement 5 times, then the Kompasiana’s editorialstaff has a right to block.1.2. Citizen journalist as audience: Literate & uploadAn important aspect of the practice of citizen journalism itself is the citizens’ live-liness to invlove in a process of producing information or news. The Kompasianaweb itself has reached 335.000 Kompasianers (based on December 2017). On theother hand, the Kompasiana’s page view itself has reached 26.000.000 per monthwith 13.000.000 unique visitors per month. (https://www.kompasiana.com/tentang-kompasiana/penghargaan Accessed on: 20-06-2018) The citizens journalists who areactive in a process of producing the news or articles absolutely become a good potencyfor activities of citizens journalism itself. A discussion about the practice of citizensjournalism increases the citizens participation related to discussion in public roombecomes a positive view point. However, another side which cannnot be forgottenis the citizens journalists or Kompasianers themselves are the audiences of the mediaitself.As the audiences of a new media, the Kompasioners surely are the unique audi-ences compared to prior conventional media such as television, radio, and even printednewspaper. With a type of media which is more interactive, hypertext, and digital; thenew media presents a chance for its audiences to have more “power”compared to thetelevision viewers, newspaper readers, or radio listeners. One of the “power” whichis very sexy from the audiences of new media is their ability to share what things ontheir mind and heads through “upload” and “share” facilities so that those things canbe accessed and read by million people who are connected and who have network.Therefore, in this point, there is such more responsibility as the audiences who are alsocitizens journalists.A keyword which becomes point of the citizen journalists who use new media isliteracy. Any effort to keep and increase the literacy of the citizen journalists also requiresattention from the media which is the channels of the citizen journalists themselves. Inthe context of the articles at Kompasiana, in order to maintain the quality of the writingthen the editorial staff do screening, editing process, deciding an article wether or notwill be published, and even until the delete process if there is any conditions infringe-ment. Besides, any effort to give writing training and effort collecting the Kompasianersare also a part of keeping the citizens journalists themselves. In the framework of thispractice, it is shown that there is profitable symbiosis between citizen journalists andDOI 10.18502/kss.v3i15.4366 Page 195ICEST 2018media; in this case is Kompasiana. On one side, the citizen journalists or Kompasianersneeds a media to keep producing good articles and information and on the other side,media also provides atmosphere which can keep the sustainability of the process ofpractice of citizens journalism with good quality through content conditions so that inthe context of digital literacy, especially in Indonesia, there is an empowerment.The profil of Kompasianers themselves are dominated by male; 60%: 40% and basedon the top four it is dominated by group of 18-24 year old people (27%), 25-34 yearold people (21%), 6-14 year old people (17%), 35-44 year old people (15%). There is dataof APJII related to a composition of internet users based on their age shows that thebiggest users are a group of 19-34 year old people as big as 49,52%. From the pointof accesseed service then the 55,30% of internet users using the internet for accessingarticles. (APJII. 2017. Infografis Penetrasi & Perilaku Pengguna Internet Indonesia Survey2017. Accessed on: 20-06-2018) Therefore, if it is synchronized from the age of users andaccessed service, it shows the appropriate as well as positive trend for the practice ofcitizens journalism itself.2. ConclusionCitizen journalism is a form of journalism practice which can be themedium for democra-tization of civilians. It is absolutely related to the availability of alternative flow of informa-tion so that information and topic are not an actors domination either by state hegemonyor the dominant media. Related to that ideal function, it is obviously that the practice ofcitizens journalism itself also needs medium as well as facility which are transparentand able to present the atmosphere of quality which is good to maintain the outputfrom practice of citizens journalism itself. Furthermore, besides maintaining the quality ofoutput from a good practice of citizens journalism then there is suchmore power to keepimproving the citizens literacy toward the information. Moreover, with the advance of thedevelopment in technology of information and communication, it allows the spreadingthe information rapidly.Related to the objective of citizens journalism, then Kompasiana, as a form of mediafor citizens to involve in the process of citizens democratization, offers the channel toexchange ideas and thought. The results of thingking and also the idea are transformedinto articles and writing which can be widely accessed by citizens especially those whocan access the internet. The results of thinking from these citizens are surely the result ofthe critical scrutiny of citizens in seeing phenomena and also the courage of citizens totransform into the writing which are also have good quality. On the other hand, an effortDOI 10.18502/kss.v3i15.4366 Page 196ICEST 2018to produce the writing with good quality does not only exist in the writers themselves, inthis case they are The Kompasianers, but also in the channel of citizens journalism itself;Kompasiana. That responsibility exists by providing the good atmosphere tomaintain theoutput from the good citizens. Therefore, up to this point, there is a meet point betweenthe two parties (media and citizens) with their own needs which finally empties into onepoint of impact; a better ability of citizens literacy. Therefore, an ecosystemof the practiceof citizens journalism which is mediated by media and also the behaviour of the citizensthemselves in media become better.References[1] Rosen J., Merritt D., & Austin, L. 1997. Public Journalism: Theory And Practice :Lessons From Experience. Ohio: Kettering Foundation[2] Kellner, D, dan Share, J.2003. Toward “Critical Media Literacy : Core Concepts,Debates, Organizations, and Policy dalam Discourse: Studies In The Cultural PoliticsOf Education Vol 26, No. 3. September 2005, Hlm. 369-386.[3] Iriantara, Yosal. 2009. Literasi Media. Apa, Mengapa, Bagaimana. SimbiosaRekatama Media. Bandung .[4] Wheeler, Steve.2012. Digital Literacies For Engagement In Emerging Online Cul-tures.elc Research paper Series,5 ,14-25.[5] Lasica, D. (ed.) (2003). We Media: How audiences are shaping the future of newsand information. Retrieved from: http://www.hypergene.net/wemedia/download/we_media.pdf. Accessed on: 13-07-2018[6] https://www.kompasiana.com/tentang-kompasiana/penghargaan Accessed on: 20-06-2018[7] APJII. 2017. Infografis Penetrasi & Perilaku Pengguna Internet Indonesia Survey 2017.Accessed on: 20-06-2018DOI 10.18502/kss.v3i15.4366 Page 197

Citizens Journalism Based on Website for Digital Literacy

https://knepublishing.com/index.php/KnE-Social/article/download/4366/8848

Citizens Journalism Based on Website for Digital Literacy

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

KnE Publishing Platform