April 19, 2012
Promoting Responsible Travel for Jakarta
filed in:
Ideas
It is a frightening imagination for people spending their time traveling Jakarta to walk around in the city to visit its attractions, where distances are far, pedestrian facilities barely match the standards, environmental quality horrible and insecurity prevails on the streets.
It is also not in an outsider's quickest thought to say that the best of Jakarta lies in one of its museums or parks. What are the best things that Jakarta has to offer? The locals might know the best eateries or that small local markets selling recommended goods, but other than word of mouths, how do we get the information to be related to city? More importantly, how do we get these to appeal to foreign travelers?
Jakarta is already a city with a lot of problems at hand. Urbanization, and subsequently, overpopulation is a serious issue. Being the mother of all problems, it quickly sets pace to other growing problems affecting the environment, social life and the economy. They impact the qualities of the "attractions" we try to offer to travelers.
Take these issues and try to package Jakarta as an attractive invitation to discerning travelers. Suddenly, a huge, if not impossible, homework needs to be done.
With Badan Pusat Statistik logging in over 1.8 million travelers in 2010, growing more than 50% since 2002, it might not be as much as Bangkok or Singapore, both at close to 10 million annually according to Euromonitor International, but still a sign that number of travelers is growing. It surpassed the target in 2010 of 1.4 million. Government revenues from this sector also increased by 14% from 2009 to 2010.
Even when the numbers are growing, most international travelers seem to skip Jakarta and find something beyond in the larger Indonesian archipelago. Jakarta accounts for around 20% of total foreign travelers coming to Indonesia. However, 20% is quite a modest share. There's still something that can be done.
Browsing through the travel guide racks in one bookstore in Jakarta, I skimmed all the titles trying to find travel resources on Jakarta. There are some popular periodicals. One book or two about nightlife and culinary highlights. Lonely Planet doesn't even publish a guide about Jakarta anymore, or probably none of them reached here. But why?
Looking online, I found that searching "Bangkok Travel Guide" gave more than 50 million results, while "Jakarta Travel Guide" gave only around 13 million results. Of course, numbers alone don't make up for the quality. So, I consulted some web sites. Jakarta-Tourism.go.idsounded like the best place to go for a one-stop shop for everything tourism in Jakarta, but most of the pages failed to load, and the English needs some good revisions. The best ones that I found were a WikiTravel's page, and some Lonely Planet resources.
Why are we behind? Unfortunately, there is nothing to blame on the publishers or the content providers. The city probably sets itself to its own fatigue, or we've been setting up false expectations.
Are we resorting to simply branding Jakarta something like "Enjoy Jakarta!", in a similar effort to brand Singapore, for instance? Do you think travelers enjoy Jakarta? Do we really know what Jakarta really has to offer, and in return, what kind of tourism does Jakarta need?
In my opinion, Jakarta does not need similar tourism branding that sets false expectations. Instead of setting a "stage" of mediocre attractions competing with other Asian cities, we must begin to think about our genuine assets: people, culture and history. Travelers normally come with expectations, and we need to set them right. The best way to do this is to bring out some honesty. I am not saying that we should let poverty astray and feature this on a travel brochure, but to take that as a background information. We need to find our real strengths and make those a selling point. It's all about setting the right expectations.
How do one learn more about people, culture and history of Jakarta? We need to put them first.
We need to promote a habit-changing effort, both inwards and outwards. The effort to promote Jakarta tourism needs to be done not only about the way we invite people in, but also about the way the inhabitants understand their own city.
Government needs to prioritize the preservation of historical sites, cultural events and invest in the people. We also need to create an environment where it is possible for travelers to go around a living 'museum' that Jakarta is in an enjoyable way. The real deal is out there, in the streets, not inside shopping malls and the luxury of tour buses.
In line with this, there is an increasingly growing number of supporters for responsible travel in the world. Responsible travel is a kind of tourism that puts itself inside the ethical framework, with thoughts related to the impact of tourism to the local environment, culture, business and laws.
There are many ways in which responsible travel for Jakarta can be promoted. One of these is to create a promotional media in which we guide travelers to visit places that hold historical or cultural values, help them navigate through the least-polluting possible means of transport, advise them on the best shopping places that help local businesses. Walking tour is one manifestation of this, and while at that, travelers enjoy sights, sounds and smells that would be otherwise left out when they travel inside the air-conditioned buses. Harsh as it may sound, we can make this as practical as possible, and using digital devices and the interlinked networks of the Web, this can be a fun experience too. Going digital, we will also engage the younger audiences, educating and preparing them to be life-long responsible travelers.
Responsible travel is definitely not the only answer, but it helps complement the other side of the spectrum. It is a start of something good, a movement for better Jakarta initiated by the travelers.
March 14, 2012
Experimentation and Iteration
filed in:
Design
I was reading this excellent live-blogging piece by Jeremy Keith on Veerle Pieters' presentation during An Event Apart event in Boston last year.
Veerle's talk is called "The Experimental Zone" and it's all about experimentation in web design. People often ask her how she comes up with, say, certain colour combinations but she doesn't really have a straightforward answer—a lot of it is down to experimentation. So it's good to learn how to experiment better.
I'd say that this is one method to find a solution. There are dozens of other methods to brainstorm and find a design solution, but sometimes experimentation would be the best start, especially when we work alone.
Experimentation is probably not in the direct competition with iteration, in fact, iteration includes experimentations. However, as iterations begin to perfect over time, you find less and less reasons to experiment and more on polishing the next cycle(s).
It's a nice piece, go read.
January 8, 2012
Creating Meaning
filed in:
Ethics
Most of designers, or makers of things in general, think and work on projects that "provide financial returns" as quickly as possible. While this is a true and valid endeavour to work hard in, sometimes (and through this post, I'm trying to ask us to get more of this) we need to find the right problems to solve.
While designers work to feed themselves, they should also pay attention to select projects that see the right problems instead of the right money. Instead of working on the next startup idea that provides the most obvious channels for revenue stream, why don't we identify the most obvious, most important problems that the product will solve?
Instead of creating another deal-based startups, why not promote responsible consumption? Instead of doing another location-based app that is looking forward to brand's business pages that nobody cares, why not shift this into something that is promoting local tourism? Instead of another online store that sells "everything-under-the-sun", why not specialise in one or two lines or brands of products, or better yet, locally-produced ones? Instead of fussing about which platform to develop in, why not take one or none at all?
And this is the best of all: instead of taking inspirations of success from overseas products and copying it almost back-to-back, why not solve specific problems?
December 2, 2011
Scholarship & The Legal Aspect
filed in:
Life
I don't understand how Indonesian government works, or how scholarship should work, or how a legal document should be drafted and delivered. But I sure know if there's something ethically wrong. As part of my graduate scholarship that is granted by the Ministry of Education & Culture of Indonesia, I had to sign this suspiciously-sounding document:
- Melaksanakan kewajiban perkuliahan sesuai dengan ketentuan yang diberlakukan oleh Fakultas Seni Rupa dan Desain Institut Teknologi Bandung hingga selesai. Apabila dikemudian hari (30 hari setelah mengikuti perkuliahan perdana) tidak dapat mengikuti perkuliahan dan mengundurkan diri atas keinginan sendiri dan/atau tidak menyelesaikan program pendidikan sesuai jenjang pendidikan yang dipilih, bersedia mengembalikan dana Beasiswa Unggulan ke kas negara sebesar 2 (dua) kali dari biaya yang diterimakan selama masa studinya.
- Bersedia untuk tidak menerima beasiswa serupa dari pihak lain dan apabila menerima, bersedia dihentikan dan mengembalikan dana Beasiswa Unggulan ke kas negara sebesar 2 (dua) kali dari biaya yang diterimakan selama masa studinya.
- Bersedia untuk menulis pada jurnal/media massa nasional/internasional (mengkaitkan/menyebutkan Program Beasiswa Unggulan) sebagai pelaksanaan Intellectual Social Responsibility (ISR) sesuai dengan bidang studi yang diambil dan apabila tidak membuat jurnal/media massa nasional/internasional, bersedia untuk tidak menerima beasiswa pada semester/tahun berikutnya.
- Dalam kondisi anggaran Program Beasiswa Unggulan mengalami perubahan yang dikarenakan antara lain kenaikan harga bahan bakar minyak, bencana alam, krisis ekonomi global dan sebagainya, menyetujui beasiswa yang diterima mengalami keterlambatan pembayarannya.
If you find bullet number four, it says literally that in cases there is an oil price hike, natural disaster, economical crisis and et cetera, the government is not subject to the obligation that they should pay the scholarship in time. It means that during those circumstances (and add the ambiguity of "et cetera", the frustration!), they can pay whenever they want, even if it's late.
This brings two implications:
First, would it mean that there are other undefined, unplanned circumstances that could cause this? I am very suspicious of corrupt government officers.
Second, would it mean that in cases of payment delays, the students will be liable for temporary payment?
Ever since the beginning of receiving this scholarship, I have never felt that the ministry is truly committed, even more when listening to past grantees. I hardly trust the government, and now it's proved. If there's somebody who says we should put faith in Indonesia, it's definitely not the government.
Also, somebody must consult a lawyer before writing legal-binding statements like this.
December 2, 2011
The Iron Doors
filed in:
Work
So I had this lengthy discussion with somebody who claimed himself truly experienced in startups, information technology and businesses in general. I met him in one restaurant in Plaza Senayan a couple of days ago. I deliberately asked him for a meeting to discuss about the possibility to help with an iOS app I'm designing for Ransel Kecil, my Indonesian-language travel blog.
I won't discuss about the details about the app I'm designing, but for sure, the whole concept is not something entirely new. I just utulized some existing technology, and the content is what I'm focusing more of. There's a habit-changing aspect of this app that I also want to bring on to the table.
Long story short, I explained things to him. Immediately, as I expected, he would say, "So, what's your offering?"
I stopped speaking for a bit, and thinking what this could all mean. This must be about money. I said to him that for my entire life, there's a little chance that I could afford him, so I was trying to engage him in this project as a partner instead.
Turned out it wasn't easy. But I was prepared for this. As a designer myself, I know how picky ourselves are regarding projects that we put our partnership in.
His worries deal less with the production of the app, but more on the continuity and sustainability of it. There's of course financial aspect in it. Would it make sensible return of investments? It all comes down to the money. In cases where an app requires a dedicated server or backend infrastructure, the cost will continue to rise if users love it.
As for my own app, he thinks it's a good concept, only that it's technically resource-intensive, and judging on the character of Indonesian app users, it will not make good success. Indonesian users are lazy pricks. They are not good content producers, if we are to speak about user-generated content apps. Thus some alternative ideas churned up, which was very kind of him.
At this point, he cannot decide whether he would help. I don't think he's interested, probably my concept just doesn't cut it. But that's perfectly fine. I hope to find other feasible solutions, probably to code on my own and build a web app instead. Web apps are something that I'm more closely familiar of.
All the discussion items in that meeting really opened my eyes, but also left me with one big question: Should we just pursue to do what we love and believe, or leave it to the market? I am probably such a hopeless romantic when it comes to crafting something related to what I really love to do, and getting it to the iron doors of commercialism does not seem that appealing to me. I will see.
June 19, 2011
In Search of Perfection
filed in:
Ethics
"It's better to finish 3rd but with three dollars in hand than to finish first but having to spend three dollars and have nothing left."
That quote passed by a friend of mine could apply to most of our efforts today. We search for perfection endlessly that we forget what it takes to have things perfectly: meticulous attention to details and process. All we care is the finished product, the finish line. All we care is to be number one, and get the most cash.
I am highly disappointed by most Indonesian startups or businesses that emphasize nothing less than monetizations, revenue streams, lavish launch and being winners of competitions. Looking closely inside their products, I find lack of attention to details.
Don't get me wrong, there is a fine line between half-finished products and staged releases. Half-finished products will always be wrong in any stage. Staged releases involve wrapping up and perfection in every stage. Every stage is a finished product, no matter what the roadmap is.
I'd rather see a perfect, polished product with half the features of a complete but flawed product.
True, we have to create products that actually sell, but that doesn't mean the have to force it to sell. Good products that seem to naturally sell will not sell automatically, if there is no effort to do so. In better luck, the product will sell itself. However, the most important is the quality and perfection of the product, in any development stage.
So, here's my idea for a startup or any effort in that sense: start small, humble, find perfection in every stage, and care less about monetizing it or accumulating backfiring hypes at the first place. Take your time and don't just get along with climbing the popularity ladder without knowing what you do.
June 2, 2011
Quality Blogging
filed in:
Media
When people say blogging is kind of left behind, or dead, I was a little bit skeptical. The advent of microblogging services seemed euphoric at first, and people seem to favour its practicality and spontaneity, albeit the possibility to curate our timeline. Microblogging services lack proper archiving system, mainly because contents are rapid, time-sensitive and not designed to be fetched back in the future. Snippets of information seem to be insignificant, though when executed rapidly, they put pressure on the server infrastructure.
However, blogging is more than just a mechanism, if we are to compare the two scales. Behind the clickety-click publishing system and geeky infrastructure, there is a human concept. If we are to look at blogging as a tool, then we can say anything on it, fire away. However, blogging is a medium in which we may coherently deliver a message. Every post gradually builds it, shaping a brand, a voice.
There are still rooms for well-edited, well-curated blogs or online periodicals out there, especially for Indonesia. I don't think we need huge investments for a quality blog. It's easy to start and design a blog, it's harder to maintain the quality, it's even harder to build a brand and voice out of it. However, it ends up on our commitments.
For me, blogs are still the sure-fire way of accommodating our voices regardless of the bitter fact that we might get unheard of. Submitting articles to publishers and "established" mass media isn't a guarantee that it will get published. Blogs, in the other way, make us easy to put everything online, so easy that it gets a lot noisy out there. To reduce the noise, why can't we all make better blogs?
If you have personal blogs, try by at least curating information and make them your "own". If you research something on the web and you find an article of your interest, try to rewrite it, revise, take another point of view and make a voice of your own. A post doesn't have to be academically lengthy. Also, if you are writing your personal feelings and thoughts, at least edit and see if it is coherent and nice to read.
Thematic blogs have the same rule: edit and curate. Even more, be grammatically correct. They can be overwhelming, but people will appreciate the attitude. Check multiple sources and perspectives. Be good and consistent if you can't be great and innovative. Decide the voice and matters, and how readers would interact (comments, Twitter, or any other forms).
By the end of the day, blog posts are meant to be read casually, unless we are publishing scientific journals. I'd rather read short, coherent and thoughtful one paragraph blog post than a long shot that steals my precious time away.
May 31, 2011
Indifference
filed in:
Art
Feeling truly indifferent on viewing this work by photographic artist Chris Jordan. It's part of a series called "Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption (2003 - 2005)".
May 30, 2011
Gone Fishing
filed in:
Life
We had an Asia Pacific Oracle Education Initiatives staff gathering in May 17-19, 2011, held in Singapore. It was my first time in this kind of meeting, because I'm normally in the back seat. This meeting was more for the "marketing" staff. I put an apostrophe because what we are "selling" isn't entirely about having monetary revenues.
I've been working for Oracle Education Foundation for three years, it's a wing of the whole Oracle Education Initiatives, a part of corporate citizenship programs by Oracle. We develop ThinkQuest as a free on-demand application for teachers & students to use to evangelise and facilitate project learning in the classrooms. This session in Singapore was an evaluation and a projection on next year's mission. I can say we had a generally successful year.
So, back to the fun.
I've been to Singapore numerous times before, but only for personal reasons, so this time was different. It's definitely the first time I went to such event after three years in Jakarta office, meeting staff from the Japan & Asia Pacific region and having a memorable team-building session.
It's also the second time I met Galvin Sng, a long-time ThinkQuest winner, which I am a pretty big fan of!
The first evening we also had a team-building session at a Clarke Quay establishment called The Coriander Leaf. I thought we were just going to have dinner. I was wrong. We had to cook our own dinner!
The next day involved an all-day meeting, concluded with a short night out with Lisa Siregar, Vanessa Lorein, Rika Safrina and Amudi Sebastian. Bliss!
Also, I got to feel like a bird viewing this from my hotel window!
April 23, 2011
I Studied Design, Graduated, Now What?
filed in:
Design
Indonesia is likely to produce more graphic designers and other designers alike in more years to come. I have no statistics at hand, but when I entered college, interests in graphic design as a field of study for bachelor degree were steep. Competition was high (I believe it still is now). Campuses who organize design education are struggling with a dilemma: delivering quality design education in an economy not entirely driven by commercial arts and design. There is a growing number of institutions that provide design education (mainly undergraduate, there is a scarcity in furthering design education, most Indonesian designers take their masters or doctoral abroad).
Indonesia is no Singapore, or even Malaysia who probably has better shots at design that drives the economy (if not culturally, commercially is fine). Indonesia is also not the Netherlands, Germany or Switzerland whose design roots took place many decades ago. In countries like these, design is a highly-specialised area, evolving, shaping, born and reborn.
Where is Indonesia in this? Is it a crossroad?
Why do parents permit or even encourage their children to study design? What motivates the students at the first place? Most students were inspired by design as part of the commercial arts they see everyday: motion graphics in television, computer & multimedia apps, the world wide web, mobile devices... even in more conventional medias like magazines, books and in some, comic books.
As an economy, it is clear that Indonesia is not fully driven by a consensus that design matters in leveraging values of a product. Most of the products sold in Indonesia where design plays a large role are imported ones. Most design or advertising agencies only communicate a brand through larger campaigns. Some might build a brand, probably thoroughly from all perspectives (some which all 360 degrees branding or anything like that), but how many of those are local products? How many of those are then successful to maintain a consistent brand, and to communicate it further? The most nerving question would be, can the product itself compete?
Where is the place of Indonesian graphic design students and graduates here? Some or most of them would be willing to work in international creative agencies or in-house companies, helping foreign products sell; some others would stick to small yet creative & fulfilling works for local products with less to care about the products; some others would strive in helping design education by teaching. Some others will not deal with design anymore somewhere in the path of their lives.
Another issue is with specialisations in graphic or visual communication design. In many cases, visual communication is taught academically for about four years teaching just about everything, structured autonomously by each institution, some "tailored to industry needs", some "pride on the importance of conceptual strength"; but rarely on something that is related to specific focus: why can't we have focus studies on typography, branding, or illustration? Why can't we have more flexibility?
Then again, how are people outside going to deal with these unfamiliar jargons that only the discerning designers know why those matter?
Is design only for the idealists? Could it be that design students have ample time and money at their expense to explore without worrying about making monthly salary? If you ask design students, "why do you want to study design and what are your plans for your future with design?", would they give tangible answers?
It probably takes Indonesia many more decades for design to be really appreciated, and design graduates have promising careers in their hands. Or, in the worst scenario, this hope might never materialise.