menerawang masa depan di TFSC

Tulisan saya bersama Ozcan Saritas tentang “menerawang masa depan”, tampil di jurnal bergengsi (bintang 3) Technological Forecasting and Social Change – TFSC (Vol 79 (3) March 2012, Pages 509–529). Tulisan ini adalah analisis lebih lanjut tentang data yang kami gunakan dalam paper tahun 2009 ketika kami menggabungkan Network Analysis dengan foresight. Kalau dalam paper 2009 kami lebih berkutat pada metodologi, maka pada paper ini kami berfokus pada data dan interpretasinya.

Report: Social media & civil society in Indonesia (updated)

DIPERBARUI/UPDATED 7/5/2011

(English version below)

Beberapa saat yang lalu saya dan mbak Shita Laksmi mempost di blog ini sebuah permintaan tolong untuk berpartisipasi dalam sebuah studi yang dilakukan bersama oleh Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIOIR), Universitas  of Manchester UK dan  HIVOS Netherlands Regional Office Southeast Asia mengenai media sosial dan peranserta sipil di Indonesia. Studi ini telah berakhir dan laporan lengkap bisa didownload di sini.  Laporan dalam Bahasa Inggris akan sudah dirilis di MIOIR pada hari Senin 4 April 2011 3-5 sore (silakan daftar lewat email saya) dan di Universitas Salfor hari Rabu jam 2.30-4.30 sore (silakan daftar di sini). Dalam acara rilis laporan tersebut juga akan telah dilakukan pemutaran film dokumenter  tentang media sosial dan gerakan sosial di Indoensia, @linimas(s)a, yang juga didanai sebagian oleh HIVOS. Cuplikan film tersebut bisa disaksikan di sini.

Laporan ini diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Indonesia oleh mas Aresto Yudo Sujono (@arestoyudo) dan diedit oleh mas BlontankPoer (@blontankpoer). Rencananya, laporan versi Bahasa Indonesia ini akan dirilis -bersamaan dengan pemutaran penuh film @linimas(s)– di Jakarta, 12 Mei 2011 dalam sebuah acara yang diselenggarakan bersama-sama oleh Internetsehat, ICTWatch, WatchDOC, AkademiBerbagi dan HIVOS di Goethe Institute jam 6-9 malam (konferensi pers jam 3-5 sore). Silakan hadir. Versi Bahasa Indonesia laporan Citizens in @ction / @ksi Warga bisa diunduh di sini.

Survey: Internet, social media, dan komunitas sipil di Indonesia

Rekan-rekan sekalian, para pegiat Komunitas/Kelompok/Jaringan/Organisasi Masyarakat Sipil di Indonesia,

dimanapun Anda berada

Saat ini kami, Yanuar Nugroho dan Shita Laksmi dari Universitas Manchester UK dan HIVOS, ingin mengundang Anda sekalian untuk berpartisipasi dalam survey untuk mengetahui bagaimana komunitas/kelompok/lembaga/jaringan/organisasi masyarakat sipil di Indonesia memanfaatkan teknologi informasi, khususnya internet dan social media. Survey ini ditujukan untuk komunitas/kelompok/lembaga/organisasi bukan perorangan. Cukup satu orang mengisi untuk satu komunitas/kelompok/lembaga/organisasi.

Ada beberapa kemungkinan mengikuti/mengisi survey ini.

• Pertama, melalui survey online – silakan klik link ini, atau copy and paste-kan pada browser Anda: http://mbs.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_0cEQLkCyokGzZME
• Kedua, melalui form MS-Word. Silakan download di sini dan setelah diisi dan disave, kirimkan kepada saya dan/atau mbak Shita di alamat email kami di bawah.
• Ketiga, melalui form Open Office (ODT). Silakan download di sini dan setelah diisi dan disave, kirimkan kepada saya dan/atau mbak Shita di alamat email kami di bawah.

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! 🙂

Knowledge Management in Multinational Subsidiary in Indonesia: A lesson learned

Last year, among the students I was supervising, was a brilliant student from Indonesia who finally got her MSc with distinction: Mirta Amalia. Her dissertation explored and investigated the ways in which a multinational company susbsidiary devised and implemented the knowledge management strategy. It was a very interesting dissertation. She found fascinating empirical data on the importance of “enabling session” which was arguably vital in the process of tacit knowledge transfer within the company. However, she noted that this scheme was at large at risk as there had been no clear prioritisation.

I can keep on and on and on talking about her dissertation, but I’d better stop here. Contact her directly if you want to read her intriguing dissertation. What I want to say is that the way she formulated and wrote the dissertation was quite sophisticated and I thought the dissertation should not stop there. So I encouraged her to build on that work and write papers.

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.

Incorporating network perspectives in foresight: A methodological proposal

Foresight (2009), Volume 11(6): 21-41
Yanuar Nugroho and Ozcan Saritas

Abstract

Purpose – A particular feature that makes foresight powerful is its capability to learn from past trends to help guide decision-making for future policy. However, in studying both past and future trends, network perspectives are often missing. Since networks are capable of revealing the structure that underpins relationships between stakeholders, key issues and actions in the past, they are powerful to help envisage the future. The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodological framework to incorporate network analysis in foresight.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper develops a generic framework to incorporate network analysis into foresight’s five stages. Trends identified by respondents of the Big Picture Survey are used to demonstrate how we operationalize this framework.

non scholae sed vitae discimus

judul dalam bahasa latin di atas, terjemahan bebasnya kira-kira “bukan untuk sekolah tapi untuk hidup kita belajar …” – itu jawaban yang saya berikan pada satu kawan yang pada satu kesempatan bertanya mengapa saya (dan bang gindo, pak rusman, pak iwan) mau berepot-repot mengurusi kemisan manchester ini sejak 4 tahun yang lalu. “lho apa tidak kebalik?” tanya kawan saya itu, “bukankah justru karena kita di manchester ini untuk sekolah ..?” saya jawab tegas, “tidak. kalau setahun-mu, atau empat tahun-mu di manchester ini hanya untuk sekolah, kamu menyia-nyiakan umurmu.” itu jawab saya. dia terpana.

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.

YDA, Advokasi and the endeavour to spread global awareness

Yayasan Duta Awam (YDA), set up in Solo, Central Java in 1996, is a CSO working on the issue of farmers advocacy and civil society empowerment. Working with 16 full-timers, YDA aims particularly to empower the farmers so that they can advocate themselves independently in the future, when agricultural and rural development issues are projected to escalate politically in Indonesia. This goal is to be achieved through three main strategic activities: participatory research and monitoring, stakeholder dialogue forums and grassroots media. As a “Farmers’ Institute for Advocacy” YDA has clearly formulated its strategy to empower and increase farmers’ capacity through educations, trainings and mobilisation; advocacy; development of public discourse; database; and capacity building for institutions and organisations.

Weighing impacts of Internet appropriation in Indonesian CSOs

Surman and Reilly (2003) offer a simple framework to understand different extents of Internet use in CSOs by posing three steps in a ‘ladder’, i.e. access, adoption and appropriation. While Camacho’s and Surman’s model offers simplicity to understand different levels that CSOs should use to maximise the benefit of using the ICT, the model proposed by this study provides more details in comprehending the course of actions involved during the innovation-decision process when CSOs (in this instance, Indonesian) adopt the Internet technology until they fully appropriate it. What matters here, empirically, is the impact of such adoption and use on the performance of the organisation. Survey data shows that the overall effect of the Internet use may support the argument that the Internet has been used as a ‘convivial medium’ for CSOs, as concluded by Lim (2003) following Illich’s prophetic vision on human-technology relation (Illich, 1973).

Framing attributes of Internet adoption in CSOs: Miles’ approach

How can perceived attributes [in the adoption of the Internet in Indonesian CSOs] be explained within diffusion theory and CSO study at the same time? Ian Miles (1996) provides an insight to understand competing perspective in ICTs. In his work, he departs from the concern about the classic debate on ‘consensus v. conflict’ which has long been pathological in social science –that in fact also perfectly matches with the spectrum of ‘activism paradigm’ in CSOs*.

Indonesian CSOs – Formal status as strategy

The survey (of 268 CSOs during this study) shows that 73.13% of respondent CSOs are formally registered organisations. While this may sound strange recognising that many social movement organisations are informal (Crossley, 2002; Davis et al., 2005; Della-Porta and Diani, 2006), interviews may be able to provide some explanation. The program manager of Yayasan SET explained explicitly that, “in legal terms, all [CSOs] are foundations. What we have [termed as] NGOs, LSMs, CSOs – they are all [legally registered as] foundations” (Kristiawan, interview, 28/10/05). Kristiawan’s explanation confirms findings from previous work. In their attempt to escape from government control, there was a period when many Indonesian CSOs felt it necessary to formally register with the notary as a foundation (yayasan) as this would provide a necessary legal basis for the organisations’ existence and at the same time ‘exempted’ them from current laws aimed at controlling CSOs’ activities (Bunnell, 1996:198; Eldridge, 1995:7-8; Hadiwinata, 2003:95-96).