Publishing revolution in Indonesia

By Amir Sidharta

JAKARTA (JP): It is no secret that in the past publishing in Indonesia has been dismal. During the New Order, while newspaper and magazine publishing enjoyed a burgeoning revival -- albeit limited as it was under the government's control -- book publishing suffered.

Publishers had a hard time marketing their books, which were mediocre in content and design. Poor distribution networks made their efforts even more difficult.

Following the fall of Soeharto, his successor B.J. Habibie allowed freedom of the press as well as freedom of expression. Since then, there seems to have been a surge in the amount of publications flooding the market.

Writers have clearly exercised their freedom and have searched for truth in their writings. It also seems that people have become interested in reading, for many reasons, but most importantly to gain knowledge.

Suddenly there has been a great demand for books, and new books with interesting content and superior craftsmanship have begun to enter the market.

To be able to head in the direction of a civil society, there truly needs to be a publishing revolution in Indonesia, and it seems that it has already started. However, the true revolution will not be in the traditional publishing sector. It will be in virtual publishing.

Currently, Internet users in Indonesia only number around 250,000 persons.

Meanwhile, around 2.5 to 4 million Indonesians are predicted to have access to a computer, and there are around 2 million telephone lines in the country.

A recent study estimates that in the next three to five years, there will be around 5 million Internet users in Indonesia. Even the most conservative calculation would indicate that there will be a tremendous growth of Internet users in the country.

If United States Internet stocks enjoyed a surge recently, then with the tremendous rate of growth that is predicted for the nation, even mediocre Indonesian Internet stocks should enjoy a similar surge, though in smaller figures, in the next few years.

In anticipation of this sudden explosion of the Internet, many companies here are racing to enter into e-businesses, striving to provide services and market consumer products through the net.

Other companies realize that the infrastructure of the Internet is still relatively poor and that information superhighways need to be built.

Companies such as Kabelvision will provide Internet access through existing cable-TV networks, providing high speed Internet connections 24-hours a day.

It is thought by some that the low number of Internet users, compared to the amount of computer users, is due to the lack of Indonesian language content available on-line.

In order to provide this service and make it available in Indonesian, at least three Internet companies, satunet.com, detik.com, and astaga.com, have started to develop Indonesian news on-line. Astaga and catcha.com intend to specialize in providing the best search engine for Indonesian material. A number of other companies will join the race in the near future.

The development of Internet publishing will certainly affect newspaper and magazine publishing, too. The increasing demand for writers will drain the industry's already limited pool of human resources.

It seems that the Internet is the future of academic publishing. Publishing on the net is a lot more time, effort and cost efficient than traditional publishing. It does not require color separation and printing, and therefore reduces production costs.

The web pages can be set up as the material is collected. Readers of academic publications are usually members of the academic community who would most likely have access to the Internet anyway. Therefore, publishing on the web instead of publishing the actual journals would not really lessen the readership of those publications.

Rather, it would increase the potential audience, attracting millions of Internet users worldwide. Far too often, traditional publishing leaves copies of its books or journals undistributed and locked up in storage. Internet publications would not have this problem.

Academic journals published on the Internet would always be available to those who needed it, around the globe, at any time, and without leaving any paper waste.

The downside of Internet publishing lies in the fact that high resolution image reproduction is such a crucial element. Even so, with the development in image-file compression and high resolution printing technology, users are able to view and even print decent images from the Internet.

Internet publications can also include sound and movie clips to make the content of the journals even richer. Bulletin boards can also be created so that discussions around the issues presented in the journals can be generated. A dynamic discourse can develop instantaneously before one's eyes.

The forthcoming publishing revolution will mean that entrepreneurship in Internet publishing businesses is likely to emerge. We can expect small companies starting Internet publishing, while at the same time providing content for Internet portal companies or other e-business enterprises.

If this is indeed the case, then it will certainly be a wonderful opportunity for writers -- who have until now been neglected and taken for granted -- to be better appreciated and rewarded for their skills and talents.

With Internet publishing, and the nature of the medium, writers will need to change the way they write, and readers will consequently need to change the way they read. Then the question is, how will the changes affect a reader's sensibilities, intellect, and ability to gain wider knowledge of the world around them?

The writer is a museum specialist and freelance writer.