New Media, New Relations: Cyberstalking on Social Media in the Interaction of Muslim Scholars and the Public in West Sumatra, Indonesia

Iswandi Syahputra

Abstract


This article explains how the presence of social media as one of the forms of new media has prompted changes in the relations and communications between ulama and the public. The relationship between ulama, religious teachings, and the ummah (Muslim community/the public) undoubtedly undergoes constant changes. In the current era of new media, this relationship experiences mediatization of differing features compared to past era of traditional media. The era of new media ushered in participative, open, interactive characteristics encouraging development of virtual communities, and interconnectedness, consequently positioning ulama in two particular positions. Firstly, ulama have full control over the contents they intend to post and the choice of whom they wish to communicate with on social media. Secondly, due to the aforementioned characteristics of social media, ulama who actively post religious contents on social media had come to experience cyberstalking. Despite having to endure and suffer from cyberstalking, the ulama remained active on social media and continued posting religious contents as they consider social media to have numerous positive values beneficial to spreading good values and religious teachings to the wider public. The research findings show that social media as a form of new media has led to the emergence of new relations that are entirely unlike previous traditional media. The research data were collected through in-depth interviews with three Muslim scholars of West Sumatra who are active on social media and have extensive social influences.

 

Keywords: New media, new relations, social media, cyberstalking, ulama.

Full Text:

PDF

References


Abdullah, T. (1971). Schools and politics: the kaum muda movement in west Sumatra 1927- 1933. Ithaca: Cornell Modern Indonesia Project.

Balai Litbang Agama Jakarta. (2007). Kekerasan keagamaan di NAD, Sumatera dan Jawa bagian barat: Laporan hasil survei. Jakarta: Balai Penelitian dan Pengembangan Agama Jakarta.

Balai Litbang Agama Jakartan. (2008). Konflik keagamaan di wilayah Banten: Laporan hasil studi insiden konflik keagamaan berbasis harian radar Banten. Jakarta: Balai Penelitian dan Pengembangan Agama.

Barbero, J. M. (1997). Mass media as a site of resacralization of contemporary culture. In S. M. Hoover & K. Lundby (Eds.), Rethinking media, religion and culture. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Berger, H. A., & Ezzy, D. (2004). The Internet as virtual spiritual community: Teen witches in the United States and Australia. In L. L.

Dawson & D. E. Cowan (Eds.), Religion online: Finding faith on the Internet. New York: Routledge.

Bernard, H. R. (1998). Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press.

Cowan, D. E. (2004). Contested spaces: movement, countermovement, and e-space propaganda. In L. L. Dawson & D. E. Cowan (Eds.), Religion online: finding faith on the internet. New York: Routledge.

Daya, B. (1995). Gerakan pembaharuan pemikiran Islam: Kasus Thawalib Sumatera. Yogyakarta: Tiara Wacana.

Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln Y. S. (2002). Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Fuchs, C. (2014). Social media: A critical introduction. Los Angeles : Sage Publication.

Gamble, T. K., & Gamble, M. (2012). Communication works. New York : McGraw Hill Hifher Education.

Gitelman, L. (2006). Always already new media, history, and the data of Culture. London: The MIT Press.

Gitelman, L., & Pingree, B. G. (Eds.). (2003). New media, 1740–1915. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

Griffin, E. A. (2011). A first look at communication theory. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies.

Hadler, J. (2010). Sengketa tiada putus: matriarkat, reformisme agama, dan kolonialisme di Minangkabau (Samsudin Berlian, Trans.). Jakarta: Freedom Institute.

Hartley, J. (2011). Communication, cultural and media studies: The key concepts. London: Routledge.

Helland, C. (2000). Surving for salvation. Religion, 32(4), 293-302.

Helland, C. (2002). Online religion/religion online and virtual communitas. In J. K. Hadden & D. E. Cowan (Eds.), Religion on the Internet: Research prospects and promises. London: JAIPress/Elsevier Science.

Hjarvard, S. (2008). The mediatization of religion a theory of the media as an agent of religious change. Northern Lights: Film & Media Studies Yearbook, 6(1), 9-26(18).

Hoover, S. (2010). Religion in the media age. London and New York: Routledge.

Hoover, S. (2016). The media and religious authority. Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press.

Hoover, S., & Emerich, M. (2012). Media, spiritualitas and social change. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Inc.

Horsfield, P. (2004). Theology, church and media: contours in a changing cultural terrain. In P. Horsfield, M. Hess, & A. Medrano (Eds.). Belief in media, cultural perspectives on media and christianity. Aldershot: Ashgate.

Ibrahim, I. S. (2007). Budaya populer sebagai komunikasi: Dinamika popscape dan mediascape di Indonesia kontemporer. Yogyakarta : Jalasutra.

Juergensmeyer, M. (2017). Terror in the mind of god: The global rise of religious violence. California: University of California Press.

Juvonen, J., & Gross, E. F. (2008). Extending the school grounds? —Bullying experiences in cyberspac. Journal of School Health, American School Health Association, 78(9), 496-505.

Lister, M., Dovey, J., Giddings, S., Grant, I., & Kelly, K. (2010). New media: A critical introduction. London: Routledge.

Littlejohn, S. W., & Foss, K. A. (2009). Encyclopedia of communication theory. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publication Inc.

Manovich, L. (2001). The language of new media. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Mayfield, A. (2008). What is social media? Retrieved from http://www.icrossing.com/uk/ideas/fileadmin/uploads/ebooks/what_is_social_media_icrossing_ebook.pdf

McLuhan, M. (2013). Understanding media: The extensions of man. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

Mc Quail, D. (2001). Quail’s communication theory. London: Sage Publication.

Mujani, S. (2007). Muslim demokrat: Islam, budaya demokrasi, dan partisipasi politik di Indonesia pasca-orde baru. Jakarta: Gramedia-PPIM-Freedom Institute.

Noer, D. (1996). Gerakan modern Islam di Indonesia 1900-1942. Jakarta: LP3S.

Nugroho, Y., & Syarief, S. S. (2012). Beyond click-activism?: New media and political processes in contemporary indonesia. Jakarta: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

Patchin, J. W., & Hinduja, S. (2012). Cyberbullying prevention and response: Expert perspectives. New York : Routledge.

Peters, J. D. (2010). Speaking into the air: A history of the idea of communication. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Plate, S. B. (2003). Representing religion in world cinema: Film making, myth making, culture making. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Poole, E. (2009). Reporting Islam: Media representations of British Muslims. London: IB Tauris.

Postman, N. (2014). Amusing ourselves to death, public discourse in the age show susiness. New York: Penguin Books.

Ritzer, G., & Goodman, D. J. (2008). Modern sociological theory. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

Schrieke, B. J. O. (1973). Pergolakan agama di Sumatera Barat sebuah sumbangan bibliografi. Jakarta: Bharatara.

Sofjan, D. (2006). Why Muslim participate in jihad: An empirical survey on Islamic religiosity in Indonesia and Iran. Bandung: Mizan.

Stokes, J. (2006). How to do media and cultural studies. London: SAGE

Tim, W. (2008). The Cambridge companion to classical Islamic theology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Vries, H. D. (2001). In media res: Global religion, public spheres, and the task of contemporary comparative religious studies. In Vries, H.de & Weber, S. (Eds.), Religion and media. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Wimmer, R. D., & Dominick, J. R. (2014). Mass media research an introduction. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Wood, A. F., & Smith, M. J. (2005). Online communication: Linking, technology, identity, and culture. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Young, G. (2004). Reading and praying online: The continuity of religion online and online religion in Internet Christianity. In L. L. Dawson & D. Cowan (Eds.), Religion online: Finding faith on the Internet. New York: Routledge.

Zielinski, S. (2009). Deep time of the media: Toward an archaeology of hearing and seeing by technical means. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


e-ISSN: 2289-1528