Masalah kota, masalah kita – rusuh kota, rusuh kita

Menanggapi kerusuhan di Inggris -yang juga melanda kota dimana kami tinggal di Manchester- saya menulis catatan di bawah ini sebagai reaksi atas berbagai analisis yang gencar muncul di media. Catatan ini saya kirim ke harian Kompas 11 Agustus dan, setelah diedit sana-sini, dimuat tanggal 22 Agustus 2011 (silakan baca di sini). Sebelumnya, juga saya ‘kicau’kan di Twitter, yang diarsip rekan saya mas Suryaden di blognya (di sini).

Selamat menikmati catatan (yang lebih lengkap) ini – semoga berguna.

menembus jurnal bintang empat: Research Policy! :)

Bagi para skolar inovasi dan kebijakan, salah satu mimpi tertinggi adalah mempublikasikan tulisan di jurnal paling bergengsi di area ini di dunia: Research Policy. Dan syukur kepada Allah, alhamdulillah, halleluya 🙂 tulisan saya akhirnya nongol di jurnal ini. Yeay!!! 🙂 *lebay* Dan tentu saja, ini menerbitkan di RP ini bukan jalan yang gampang dilalui bagi saya yang masih harus belajar banyak ini. Mau tahu ceritanya?

Social media in civil society— citizens in @ction

The Jakarta Post – OPINION, 30 April 2011
Yanuar Nugroho – MIOIR, Manchester
Shita Laksmi – HIVOS, Jakarta

Among many recent trends specifically in technology and civic engagement in Indonesia, two are highly salient.

One, statistics show convincingly that globally Indonesia ranks highly in terms of social media use, as home to the second-largest number of Facebook users (35.2 million) and as number four in terms of Twitter users (4.9 million). Undoubtedly, social media has become an inseparable part of life for many Indonesians.

Two, the blossoming of civic activism goes beyond the confinement of formal organizations that are organized around common interests and concerns, aiming at transforming some aspects of social life. This ranges from activism, as in the case of hundreds of thousands of people who backed Prita Mulyasari in her legal fight against Omni International Hospital, to the “Bike2Work” movement in many cities in Indonesia aiming at promoting healthier lifestyle whilst combating pollution.

Call for paper: Social Implications of ICTs in the Indonesian Context

Merlyna Lim and I are inviting you to submit paper to be considered in a special issue of the Internetworking Indonesia Journal (IIJ),  a peer reviewed semi-annual electronic journal devoted to the timely study of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Internet development in Indonesia. We are seeking manuscripts that look at a wide variety of ICT uses and what implications these uses have on people, organizations and society in the Indonesian context as the technology becomes more widely available. We also welcome those who look at the other side of the coin, i.e. manuscripts that focus on the cultural, social and political shaping of the technologies by Indonesian society.

Although the journal accepts manuscripts in Indonesian, we prefer to have English ones for the sake of wider audience  coverage.

Read the full Call for Papers here.

Localising the global, globalising the local: The role of the internet in shaping globalisation discourse in Indonesian NGOs

Journal of International Development, Early-cite, DOI: 10.1002/jid.1733

Yanuar Nugroho

Abstract

Globalisation arguably brings about socio-economic development but the distribution of these benefits is unequal. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), whose growth has often been closely linked with globalisation, have been outspoken regarding this inequality. Despite clear linkages between NGOs and globalisation, there has been little research aiming at understanding how NGOs engage with the issue of globalisation itself. Using the case of Indonesia, this study aims to uncover how NGOs utilise the Internet to respond to globalisation-related issues. NGOs should understand global issues in their local contexts and rearticulate more saliently for their beneficiaries. Technology can serve this purpose when used strategically. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Exploring Knowledge Management in Civil Society Organisations

Exploring Knowledge Management in Civil Society Organisations: Sustaining Commitment, Advancing Movement

by Yanuar Nugroho and Mirta Amalia

Manchester Business School (MBS) Working Paper No. 600
Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIOIR) Working Paper No. 56

This paper is currently under review in the International Conference of Knowledge Management and Information Sharing (KMIS), part of IC3K (International Joint Conference on Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management), Valencia, Spain 25-28 October 2010, and is being revised for a journal submission.

Abstract

Civil society organisations (CSOs) have recently attracted much research attention, as they have become more central in social as well as economic and political dynamics, challenging and shaping the work of the state/public organisations and of the private institutions. Despite the fact that they are actually knowledge-intensive organisations, CSOs –like any other organisations– are faced with new challenges due to the advent of knowledge economy. Knowledge-capital in CSOs is highly diverse and this affects both the organisational performance and the civil society movement within which they are part of. Most of the knowledge in CSOs that has been driving and characterising civil society activities and realms is tacit in nature and is largely unmanaged. Consequently, in the long run, the organisations and their movement often become unstable despite efforts to manage their activities. We use the works of Polanyi and Nonaka to help address this problem and conceptualise the corpus of knowledge in CSOs. To anchor this conceptualisation, we feature the case of Indonesia where CSOs in a latecomer economy have been significantly influencing the work of public and private sectors. We find that managing tacit knowledge has been crucial to sustain the engagements with beneficiaries and networks. We propose taxonomy to understand different types of knowledge in CSOs and suggest a guiding principle to strategically manage it.

Full paper
available for download from here

Comments are most welcome! 🙂

NGOs, the Internet and Sustainable Development

NGOs, THE INTERNET AND SUSTAINABLE RURAL DEVELOPMENT
The case of Indonesia

Information, Communication and Society, 13(1):88-120, 2010

Yanuar Nugroho

Abstract
Today sustainable rural development is of paramount importance in Indonesian development. Yet, different social actors have different perspectives on it. Non-government organizations (NGOs) in Indonesia have established themselves in pivotal positions in the social, economic and political landscape across the country, and a large amount of their work has been connected with development in the rural sector. But, there has been little attempt to understand how NGOs in Indonesia, particularly rural NGOs, engage with the issue of sustainable rural development itself. Since rural development is one of the oldest issues to be discussed among activists, since the early days of Indonesian NGOs, it is interesting to see how they understand the issue of sustainability in rural development and rural reform. An empirical study was conducted recently to see how some Indonesian NGOs, in their endeavour to respond to and broaden the discourse, utilize Internet technology. The study employs a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches to build a detailed story about how different organizations working in rural development deploy strategies to deal with the issue. By doing so, it aspires to contribute to the advancement of theory relating to the efficacy of the Internet as a tool for social reform and sustainable development by taking Indonesia as a case study.

Opening the Black Box: Adoption of Innovations in Voluntary Organisations

The image is taken from http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/onnikkrikorian/civil_society_poster.jpg

I received an email from SSRN today, saying that this paper was on the Top 10 List as of yesterday 8-12-2009. Not a great deal, but still, I’m quite happy. This paper was presented at ISPIM conference in Singapore December 2008 and -after some revisions- was published as Manchester Business School Working Paper No. 576. This paper was submitted to Research Policy, which, very very luckily did not reject it but suggested me to do some revision for resubmission. Of course, for an innovation scholar, the chance to publish in Research Policy (even if it is just a chance!) is too good to miss. Just wish me luck, guys!

Hubs and wires: Internet use in Indonesian NGOs is strengthening civil society

Two days after the tsunami hit the northern tip of Sumatra on Boxing Day 2004, Yayasan AirPutih (airputih.or.id ) began working quietly, far from publicity, to reconstruct the communication backbone destroyed by the disaster. Using VHF/UHF radio, V-Sat and wireless technology, AirPutih restored communication in Aceh, making its first Internet broadcast on 30 December 2004. This was in spite of the radio silence policy imposed by the local military and government. Yayasan AirPutih also provided the first free satellite telephone and wireless Internet connection in Banda Aceh for humanitarian relief organisations working in the area and continued to do so until it ran out of money. In addition, Yayasan AirPutih played a vital role in establishing the first media centre (acehmediacenter.or.id ) which relayed to the world what happened at ‘ground zero’, channelled support and coordinated humanitarian aid. Without Yayasan AirPutih, the reconstruction of an information infrastructure and initial relief in Aceh after the disaster would have been impossible.

The urgent need to reconstruct Aceh’s information infrastructure, and in particular to provide Internet access, reflects the importance of this technology to the work of both Indonesian and foreign NGOs and aid organisations. Yet Internet use among Indonesian NGOs is a relatively recent phenomenon. It is only in the last decade or so that the Internet has became more widely available and the technology adopted by Indonesian NGOs. However, in that time, Internet use has had a significant impact on the organisations and their work.

Read the full article in INSIDE INDONESIA here.

Adopting Technology, Transforming Society: The Internet and the Reshaping of Civil Society Activism in Indonesia

This paper appears in the International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society Vol 6(2):77-105

Abstract

This paper explores the impacts of Internet use in civil society organisations (CSOs) in Indonesia. Using qualitative data gathered from a series of workshops attended by CSO activists, the study argues that the Indonesian social movement today has perhaps both shaped and been shaped by the use of the Internet in CSOs. Internet use is never simple and straightforward; it is multifaceted and often raises uncertainties given that many CSOs adopt and use the technology in a number of different ways. This challenge brings enormous opportunity for CSOs and the furthering of social movement once the technology is appropriated in strategic and political ways. Despite problems and difficulties, Internet use in CSOs has had significant implications both on the internal management of the organisations and on external aspects; particularly the dynamics of social movement in the country.

Network Dynamics in the Transition to Democracy: Mapping Global Networks of Contemporary Indonesian Civil Society

This paper seeks to make transparent the mutually reinforcing relationships between global civil society, democracy and network society, which are often implicit in extant theories. The concept of a ‘global civil society’ cannot be separated from the promotion of democracy. Global civil society itself is one of the most explicit instances of the emergence of network society in the modern age and democracy lies at the very heart of what constitutes a network society. However, very little has been said about how these apparent mutually reinforcing relationships arise. Focusing on the case of Indonesia during the fraught regime change from authoritarianism to democracy, we investigate the role of transnational and national civil society organisation during the periods of pre-reform, reform and post-reform. Using multi-methods, including social network analysis and interviews with civil society activists and networkers, we discover a less encouraging picture of these relationships and conclude that the forging of this virtuous circle has some obvious gaps. We attempt to account for these apparent gaps in this mutually reinforcing relationship in terms of different modes of political participation. We suggest that some forms of ‘chequebook activism’ characterised the global civil society role during an abrupt and bloody regime change.

Read the full paper in the Sociological Research Online (Vol 13 Issue 5) here.

Corporate governance: Towards bonum commune?

Perspective is about bringing together things that seem to have no relation to each other so that they could be more easily understood in a context. It sounds simple. But it helps scrutinising the relationship between noble idea of good governance and hullabaloo of corporate responsibility. Why these two? Firstly, because discourse about good governance today cannot but touch upon the issue of corporate governance. And secondly, because corporate responsibility has become the issue of corporate governance.

It has been admitted that corporations are playing vital role in developments as they create employment, produce goods and services, bring investments and thus economic growth. As no one would disagree that good governance is necessary for development, neither do they contradict the idea that good governance should be applied to corporate world. Even, it flowers a thought that business should be allowed to regulate themselves.

Does the Internet transform (civil) society?

An excerpt of my PhD thesis appears in the 3rd edition of INNO-GRIPS Newsletter, published by the European Commission DG Innovation, Pro-INNO Europe. Below is the text. The full PDF version of the newsletter (only 8 pages) can be downloaded directly from the Pro-INNO EU here. Enjoy .. 🙂

(just did not think that EC would be interested in a research on Indonesia .. :-))

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Barriers to Internet adoption in Indonesian CSOs

Among many other aspects, this research aims to investigate the barriers to the adoption of the Internet in civil society organisations (CSOs). However, it is not easy to address such a question straightforwardly. To approach this inquiry the survey posed two questions. One question addressed the ‘negative aspects’ caused by the use of ICTs, particularly the Internet, in Indonesian CSOs. The other one addressed the extent to which some factors hampered their Internet use.

The Internet and mobilisation of direct action

Among the strategic uses for the internet that Indonesian CSOs carry out is mobilising direct action. A salient example of this is the campaign against violation of human rights, forced disappearances, repression towards labourers and trade unions and campaigns for promoting gender equality, women’s rights, environment sustainability amongst others. The targets are typically government, companies and military bodies. In general, the campaign is performed by submitting an online protest on the web or circulating the issues through various mailing lists asking for support to pressurise government, parliament, military and/or companies to reconsider their actions.

What are the strategic uses of the Internet in Indonesian CSOs?

The word ‘strategic’ is among the most frequent used terms found in the entire fieldwork of this study. When investigating the strategic areas in which the Internet could be used, interviews, workshops and focus groups were overwhelmed with the term so much so that it is now urgent to understand what it really means in the context of this study. Interviews with Indonesian CSO leaders gives us a hint: Internet use is considered strategic when it addresses certain characteristic related to (i) properties of the tools or means being used; (ii) orientation of action for which the tools are used (iii) issues to which the action is tackling, and (iii) actors who perform and are affected by the action.

IGJ and GJU: Shaping civil society views on globalisation issues

The Institute for Global Justice (IGJ) is a research-based advocacy NGO established in 2001, facilitated by INFID and some individual members of the Indonesian NGOs Monitoring Coalition on World Trade Organisation (Koalisi Ornop Pemantau WTO, or KOP-WTO). Rooted in Indonesian social movement and aimed as a part of global civil society network, IGJ envisions a ‘global justice order through social movements’ and aims to ‘deconstruct globalisation and facilitate social transformation in order to be critical towards globalisation through research, advocacy, education and networking activities’. There are three objectives that IGJ aspires to achieve, i.e. the development of critical awareness of the public about globalisation; the existence of local, national and global policy to protect and to appreciate life values and livelihood and a new world order based on pluralism, diversity, sustainability and justice (IGJ, 2001).

AKATIGA and research for CSOs

AKATIGA Foundation or Yayasan AKATIGA is an independent CSO focusing on social research on problems in rural and urban areas, covering issues on land, labour, small and micro entrepreneurship, including initiatives in social movements. In addition to research, AKATIGA’s activities centre around dissemination of information like publication, documentation and training. The information and analysis are aimed at supporting the development of social discourses as well as to endorse empowerment and advocacy conducted by grass root communities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

INFID, NusaNet, and its advocacy network

International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID) was initially formed in June 1985, under the name of INGI (Inter-NGO Conference on IGGI Matters), by several Indonesian NGOs (YLBHI, WALHI and Sekretariat Bina Desa) in co-operation with a number of Dutch NGOs (NOVIB, CEBEMO, HIVOS and ICCO). INGI was (and INFID is) an open and pluralistic network of 60 NGOs based in Indonesia and 40 NGOs based in other countries mostly belong to IGGI (Inter Governmental Group for Indonesia, previously – now CGI, Consultative Group for Indonesia—a consortium of donor countries). INGI transformed into INFID in 1992, following the dismissal of IGGI by the Indonesian government and the formation of the CGI (Hadiwinata, 2003:98-100). Since its establishment INFID has been providing input and recommendations on development issues to the donor countries of Indonesia by monitoring the use of bilateral and multilateral loans as well as the pledging sessions for new loans.

JRS and its works with the vulnerable

Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Indonesia is part of the Rome-based JRS International founded by Fr. Pedro Aruppe SJ in 1980 which has networks in 50 countries. JRS Indonesia started its activity assisting refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia in Galang Island in the late 1980s but concluded the mission after the government of Indonesia closed the island. In 1998, JRS Indonesia was reinitiated in West Timor following conflict in the neighbouring East Timor province (now independent Timor Leste) and soon worked in Ambon to deliver medical aids and service for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). In 2004 the West Timor project was concluded and now JRS works in two regions: Moluccas (post Muslim-Christian conflicts) and Sumatra including Aceh (post tsunami), to work with the refugees and take care of their lives.