Indonesian Blogger Communities: Display of Digital Artefacts As The Legitimate Ruling Mechanism

Abstract

Abstrak/Abstract Kata kunci/Keywords: masyarakat (komunitas) tetapi di sisi lain, banyak juga yang mengembangkan identitas mereka sebagai anggota polis (masyarakat) dengan membangun artefak digital. Selain itu, praktik-praktik ini membutuhkan keanggotaan yang sangat melekat pada daerah dan wilayah. This paper discusses questions around 'Do blogger communities that are rearticulated from 'old school hegemonic rela-tions' have the potential to empower Indonesian bloggers?' Or do they, on the other hand, potentially reproduce other forms of power relationships for Indonesian bloggers, as cyberspace does not always guarantee democratisation. It revolves around the notion of community, which in digital era has decentre power relations. It offers an argument that what so called virtual community tends to reproduce ruling mechanism by recreating digital artefacts as trivial reminders to maintain cultural territories. This study is an ethnographic research on blogging and includes almost four years of participant observation and informal interviews with a diverse range of bloggers including men, women, early adopters and newcomers, founder, administrator, people who blog professionally and those who do so in their free time. My findings show that Indonesian blogging culture does not refer to a 'modern community'. It remains practicing old languages of primordialism but mediated through new models. Blogger communities in Indonesia reflect a unique transaction between civitas and polis. On one hand they readily establish their identity as members of civitas (communities) but on the other hand, many also develop their identity as members of polis (society) by establishing digital artefacts. Additionally, these practices require memberships which are strongly attached to localities and territories.