catatan si boi

Yohanes Widodo, Yogyakarta | Thu, 07/21/2011 7:00 AM
The avian influenza virus, or bird flu, which has apparently reemerged, is reportedly spreading at an alarming pace.

A total of 64,095 chickens in 17 districts in South Sulawesi have died from the virus as of July 2011 (Kompas, July 13, 2011). It is the widest outbreak of the infection in Indonesia since a series of outbreaks during the period between 2003-2007.

At that time Indonesia was thought to be the country with the largest number of people infected by the bird flu virus in the world. Indonesian scientists struggled in addressing many uncertainties. While conducting their research, the scientists had to deal with the peripheral problems caused by the outbreak of the disease.

Most people, however, turned a blind eye to the seriousness of the disease. Data from the National Commission for avian influenza and pandemic preparedness said that 97 percent of Indonesians at the time were aware of bird flu, but only 15 percent of them regarded the disease as a direct threat to themselves and their families (The Jakarta Post, July 6, 2005). Read the rest »

Skripsi ibarat ‘mahkota’ kebanggaan mahasiswa. Ia punya arti penting, bahkan dianggap sebagai masterpiece seorang sarjana. Praktik ini dimulai pada abad pertengahan. Ketika itu, untuk bisa diterima di organisasi pekerja, seorang calon pekerja atau pengrajin harus menunjukkan kemampuannya dengan memproduksi a piece of work yang disebut masterpiece. Ia diuji oleh pengurus organisasi untuk mendapatkan gelar master (Michael A. Covington, 2011). Ketika universitas berdiri, praktek semcam ini pun diterapkan. Skripsi, tesis, atau disertasi menjadi bukti bahwa mahasiswa bisa melakukan pekerjaan tertentu.

Namun, kerapkali skripsi dianggap momok. Pengerjaannya sulit dan lama. Mahasiswa harus menyediakan waktu khusus untuk mengerjakannya. Tak sedikit dari para mahasiswa yang sedang mengerjakan skripsi mengalami kendala, seperti kurang mempunyai minat baca, tidak mempunyai kemampuan menulis, tidak mempunyai kemampuan akademis, tidak mempunyai kesukaan untuk meneliti. Kendala lainnya yaitu keterbatasan dana, ketidakmauan mencari literatur, ketakutan menghadapi dosen pembimbing, keraguan pada keprofesionalan dosen pembimbing (Riewanto, 2003). Akibatnya, beberapa mahasiswa yang sudah lulus teori akhirnya tidak bisa menyelesaikan studinya karena skripsinya mentok. Read the rest »

* Perang Bintang di Perusahaan

Oleh Yohanes Widodo

Apakah persoalan SDM semata urusan perusahaan? Pemerintah, perusahaan, dan universitas semestinya berkolaborasi  memecahkan persoalan itu. Sayangnya, ketiga elemen kunci tersebut sering kali tidak sinkron.

Universitas, sebagai pihak yang menghasilkan SDM, ditantang untuk menghasilkan lulusan yang cerdas, tahu dunia bisnis, melek teknologi, berwawasan global, kreatif dan siap menghadapi dunia kerja yang kompetitif dan terus berubah.  Dukungan pemerintah penting untuk menciptakan iklim yang kondusif lewat kebijakan dan terutama dana yang cukup. Kita tahu, pendidikan adalah investasi SDM yang sifatnya high cost dan long-term. Dunia usaha sebagai pihak yang memanfaatkan lulusan universitas, bisa ambil bagian dengan menggandeng universitas, untuk menyiapkan kandidat-kandidat terbaik lewat dukungan dana penelitian dan berpartisipasi dalam memberi masukan dalam penyusunan kurikulum perguruan tinggi, serta memberi ruang bagi mahasiswa untuk meningkatkan ilmu dan ketrampilan.

Sebagai contoh, untuk mengantisipasi perkembangan dunia digital, popularitas media cetak yang kian menurun, dan platform jaringan sosial dan perangkat digital lain yang makin menjadi cara untuk mengkonsumsi berita, beberapa perguruan tinggi di luar negeri dengan sigap mengantisipasi perkembangan tersebut.

Read the rest »

My paper titled “Citizen Journalism and Media Pluralism in Indonesia” has been published in Conners, Thomas J., Frank Dhont, Mason C. Hoadley, and Adam D. Tyson, eds. 2011. Social Justice and Rule of Law: Addressing the Growth of a Pluralist Indonesian Democracy. Diponegoro University Press: Semarang.

This paper focuses on the contribution of citizen journalism to media pluralism in Indonesia through case studies of two citizen journalism projects, namely Kompasiana initiated by the Kompas newspaper and Panyingkul initiated by citizens in Makassar, South Sulawesi. The main challenge to media pluralism is concentration of ownership via acquisitions and mergers. Such are considered dangerous for democracy because they limit the number of actors in the media industry, thereby concentrating influence in the hands of a small group of businessmen. Many conglomerates control or have substantial interest in the media, which can lead to conflicts of interest. Concentration of ownership also leads to homogenization of content and a decline of journalistic quality. To counter this problem since the 2000s there has emerged a citizen movement for alternative media facilitated by the Internet. Examples of these are the citizen journalism portals Kompasiana and Panyingkul. As found in two the cases studies, citizen journalism contributes to media pluralism in that it: (1) enables citizens to take part in the democratic process and to form opinions on the basis of information about political, social and cultural developments, (2) publishes underreported issues and invites citizen reporters to write on things not covered by mainstream media, (3) provides various topics, different points of view and a pluralistic choice of voices and access, (4) opens opportunities for passive readers to become active news providers, (5) offers a broad range of participation by various social groups, including minorities, and provides access to them, (6) accommodates content from diverse cultural backgrounds, hobbies, professions, and competence, and finally (7) opens space for citizens to participate in the exchange of information by reading, commenting on and writing opinions. Large scale citizen involvement is expected to accelerate the flow of information and strengthen the foundations of democracy in national and state life.

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