Digital Media as a Trustworthy New Media

By Rizki Ramadhani

Wikipedia Blackout had been a newly instance digital spotlight as like as its own breaking news had become issues in many media around the world. On last Wednesday, 18 January 2011, Wikipedia declared a global internet breakdown for all Wikipedia’s users for 24 hour. As among the internet users renowned that Wikipedia has become one of a largest digital library within other digital libraries of history, scientific encyclopedia, biography and any other literacy in decades, provide by U.S. government.

In term of internet itself refers to a network of computer networks, derived from the Defense Department system for scientific communication and consider by many to be the freest and most flexible form of communication that exist today.

Despite its existence from U.S. government as a leading nation in digital world and as the largest users of social media, in my opinion, Wikipedia Blackout has its obvious mission to show its legacy in action by protecting Wikipedia from piracy. Indeed a step to constrain the policy of Wikipedia self and to acknowledge the digital literacy which preserve many written knowledge.

“Wikipedia will go offline on Wednesday in opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act, a bill that would allow the U.S. government to cut off funding sources to foreign websites accused of piracy by rights holders.” (TIME, Techland, How to Survive Wednesday’s Wikipedia Blackout, 17 January 2011)

Internet, indeed has become easier to be access by people around the world. It is not a secret anymore that would be much more possibilities to grab viewer and certainly could decrease the cost when a company or advertiser or individual choose internet as their communication media, and even as a publishing vehicle. In term of media, this kind of assimilation media is known as new media. A place where people are able to surf they preferences more and merely, wether to combine interactive sites, games, or else as their advertisement media and their own publishing website.

The effectiveness of digital media for example, to those who love travel, businessmen, students and for those who often far from their home or have busiest hour, can use internet as a preferable media which applicable to interact with their family, friends, college, browsing a suitable fact which relate and supportably their work, and publish their work. Indeed, with any regardless to any “real world” media, such as print advertisement, print magazine, print newspaper, broadcast radio and television.

In my point of view, this digital era or Y generation era has emerge overtly beyond one nation and spread up in different societies. Thus the digital media has commonly use for advertisement, publishing, and public space among the young people who tends to use it as a media to communicate, digital media is also known as a public space which updated in per second and recently known as new media which come with credibility as a place for inter-culture and even nations publicity.

The fact that Indonesia has become secondly largest of social media users after United State with many trustworthy public sites and Indonesian literacy which written in foreign digital media, for example news portal in Indonesia which come up with Indonesia and global news and publish it either through its own website and spread it through social media. Obviously, it shows that Indonesia has join the global digital era, as users and also publishers. It is only other example from the effectiveness of digital media nowadays as new media, as public space.

In global world, nowadays digital media has come up with particular preferences, and many sites try to become merely accessible and credible, not only as advertisement, infotainment, leisure, social, lifestyle, or trend publisher but also as informative and knowledgeable site with trustworthiness.

In this case, it shows by the use of Wikipedia as a portal with bilingual, even in Indonesia edition, for any nation literacy media, especially in term of culture. Many people can access and spread the content freely. Certainly it is quite essential and important to protect the content, beside the necessity to publish it. Wikipedia has already become a trustworthy site which has function as a basic fundamental of literacy library in digital media. Whatsoever, the consequences of being global through digital media is a readiness by being pirated. This issue has become globally accused as digital criminals which apparently implacable for the holders, not only for Wikipedia, but also for any other trustworthy sites. Whereas, it looks like Wikipedia use a global digital event to be notice its unviable and responds to a nowadays issue in a proper way. (Rizki Ramadhani)

Glossary: 6th Edition Advertising Media Planning, Jack Z. Sissors and Roger B. Baron, McGraw-Hill, 2002