The Widening Gaps Between

A Qualitative Exploration of How Indonesian Young People Possess Their Internet Skills

the haves & the have-nots

Nadia Andayani Universitas Indonesia

For 22nd Annual Asian Media Information and Communication Center (AMIC) Conference July 4-7, 2013, Yogyakarta - Indonesia

presentation agenda 1

23

background

conceptual framework

methods

45

findings

conclusions

• Conceptual shift of the digital divides from access to the internet

to the actual use of the internet as a pool of information.

• Indonesian internet users are predominated by young people

with up to 80% of active users (Nielsen, 2011).

• Lack of attention in improving human resources to adapt with the

technology, particularly for young people as they are assumed as

techno-savvy users (Andayani, 2011).

• One of the attempts to cope with digital technology is by adding

ICT subject in the school curriculum.

background

conceptual framework

• Knowledge gap hypothesis (Tichenor, et. al, 1970), later expanded to internet-based research (Bonfadelli, 2002, Mason & Hacker, 2003, Wei & Hindman, 2011)

• Internet/online skills

• Digital inequalities

research objective

To understand youth’s abilities in utilizing the internet and explore the process of how they acquired the internet skills

What kind of activities?

research questions

Who are the influencers?

When did they start?

How strong is the influence?

research methods

Qualitative Study

Explorative

In-Depth Interviews

4 Informants

Thematic Analysis

meet the informants

Informant 1: RA, Male, 23, First Jobber, SES A

Informant 2: RC, Male, 20, University

Student, SES C1

Informant 3: ND, Female, 16, High School Student,

SES A+

Informant 4: DA, Female, 19,

University Student, SES C2

findings

online activities

Informant 1: RA, Male, 23, First

Jobber, SES A

Informant 2: RC, Male, 20, University

Student, SES C1

Informant 3: ND, Female, 16, High School Student,

SES A+

Informant 4: DA, Female, 19,

University Student, SES C2

- Social networking

- Copy writer in a number of websites

- Blogger

- Browsing

- Social networking

- Browsing- Social networking

- Browsing- Social networking

- Blogger

- Browsing

- Online business

(video maker)

first encounter with the internet

Informant 1: RA, Male, 23, First

Jobber, SES A

Informant 2: RC, Male, 20, University

Student, SES C1

Informant 3: ND, Female, 16, High School Student,

SES A+

Informant 4: DA, Female, 19,

University Student, SES C2

- 1st grade

- With parents, at

home

- Still supervised &

accompanied by

parents until 6th

grade

- Content: dinosaurs

- 7th grade

- With friends, at

internet kiosk

- Content: porn

- 3rd grade

- With parents and

siblings, at home

- Content: School

assignment

- 9th grade

- With friends, at internet kiosk

- Content: porn and email

Peers

Parents (family/siblings)

Online Materials

Teacher/Lecturer

(and ICT subject)key influencers

Peers

“I thank God that I went to UI, and have a bunch of smart friends who teach me everything I know about the internet.”

-DA, 19, university student“You are who you are hang-out with, the only thing I knew from the net until I graduated from high school was porn. That was what matters from me and my friends back then.”

-RC, 20, university student

➡ Peer-group is the most influential party for almost all informants’ online activities.

➡ However, for informants with lower SES, it is apparent that the missing of adult supervision make their online activities are limited to social networking activities and increasing the possibility of early interaction with inappropriate materials, such as porn (they usually access the internet from mobile or internet kiosks).

Parents (family/siblings)

“Well, they really cared about what I was doing on the net. They trusted me to browse the internet myself when I was on the 7th grade and the only place I could access it was from our family PC where everyone can see what I was doing.”

-RA, 23, first jobber

➡ Well-educated parents are already aware of online risks thus put attention to their kids’ online activities. In most cases, parents are not familiar with the technology, they are usually responsible in giving access (buying smartphones, laptop, subscribed to internet services), but not knowing anything and not directly involved to the activities

➡ Well-educated parents also realized that the internet is a rich access of information and support their children’s online activities.

Online Materials

“I learnt many things from the internet, especially on video-making, YouTube really helps!! And I am so happy I’ve got a number of projects through my blog now.”

-DA, 19, university student

“I know I can learn many things from the internet, but sometimes it is so difficult because of my poor English. And Google Translate sometimes made me more confused.”

-RC, 20, university student

➡ All informants realized that the internet could provide any kind of information they needed.

➡ However, it is apparent that informants with lower SES were struggling to find good quality information since most of the content on the internet is in English or other languages.

➡ Informants who are supervised by parents/teachers are more critical in evaluating content on the internet.

Teacher/Lecturer

“I am sorry, Mbak... but almost all teachers and lecturers I met.. They’re like dinosaurs.. they knew nothing about it.”

-DA, 19, university student“I love my ICT teacher, he taught us on how to make blog and design it. He also introduced me on good sites where I can learn photography and design.”

-ND, 16, high school student

➡ Teachers/lecturers often told the students to do assignments by using internet as an information source. But most of them letting the students to find it by themselves (no supervision at all).

➡ There is a gap between the level of literacy among teachers in schools. The more expensive the school, the more qualified the teacher, the more involved they were in students’ online activities.

➡ One of the informants stated that her teacher refused to answer when she asked where to find information for school assignment, “He said that young people are always connected and should know more about it.”

ICT Subject“It’s either too easy or too difficult. I can’t believe they had to teach us how to insert a picture in a word document.. but at the same time we also had to learn about the computer code, bla bla bla.. it’s just too difficult and irrelevant.”

-RC, 20, university student

➡ Considered by almost all informants to be not useful, particularly if related to improving ones’ online skills.

➡ Should be altered to meet the needs of the students.

➡ Facilities/infrastructures are also a huge problem for informants with lower SES. One of the informants stated that the ICT subject in her school was conducted per two weeks since they have to take turn with other class.

the haves the have-nots

• Have access to good quality education with facilities and internet literate teachers

• High familiarity with the technology from early stage

• People with higher SES and education level are generally more fluent in English. Giving them more access to information in the internet

• Usually come from well-educated families, thus parents also familiar with the internet and could supervise the activities

• Relying mostly on self-learning and peer

influence since the schools only have

limited facilities and human resources.

• No supervision from parents or teachers,

which make them the most prone targets

from online risks (porn, cyber bullying,

etc)

• Struggling to access good quality

information since most of them are in

English or other languages

• Have limited access to the internet (only

access it from mobile phones/internet

kiosks)

➡ Higher level of SES means more access to the facilities and supervision from adults in online activities.

➡ ICT subject is not considered relevant to improve ones’ online skills. To reduce the gap, it is recommended to alter the content of the subject.

➡ Teachers/lecturers only have very small influence to the student’s online activities. Training on internet literacy is extremely crucial to improve the quality of human resources, particularly for educators.

➡ The gap of the haves and the have-nots will only exacerbate if the current condition continues.

conc

lusio

ns

Thank You

Nadia M. Andayani Department of Communication Faculty of Social & Political Sciences Universitas Indonesia E-mail: nadia.andayani@gmail.com