CITIZEN JOURNALISM

Edgeless Expedition

By Rivani

A ship is captained by a group of people with unrest, doubt and distrust of the government. At that time, precisely in March 2020, the ship called Laporcovid-19 started its expedition. This ship has the aim of sharing information about events related to COVID-19 that are discovered by residents but are not reached by the government. The information shared is obtained from a crowdsourcing approach which involves citizen participation to be involved in recording COVID-19 numbers and reporting issues surrounding COVID-19 in the surrounding area, becoming a bridge for recording the number of COVID-19 incidents in the country. Of course, this helps the government formulate policies and steps to handle COVID-19 based on data in the field. What a humanistic and enjoyable expedition.

One of the captains was named Irma Hidayana, a great woman who was an independent public health consultant. Thanks to his courage, this ship sailed in coalition with many crew members. He embraces not only crew members who focus on public health. He embraces those who focus on journalism, law, public data transparency, medical personnel, musicians, policy and financial supervisors to those who focus on technology. Until finally this crew involved many inclusive young people. Everything is not easy, going on an expedition with new people. However, the captains and crew took us, these young people, through the process in an equal and humane manner. There is no seniority, no discrimination, everything runs as a mutual learning process.

I, Rivani, a student, joined this humanitarian expedition. Seeing that at that time the sea was so quiet and everything seemed to stop. Not a single ship was sailing, the waves only occasionally greeted the beach and the sun seemed to be shining. After two months on the same day, I was finally offered a free ticket to sail on the Laporcovid-19 ship. A beloved musician, Danang invited me to join. Maybe the first day of sailing was very confusing, being a volunteer to report data and advocate on Laporcovid-19. Everything is not practical, but everything is about process. There is no such thing as the greatest and the stupidest. On this ship everyone learns and teaches each other. The encounter on this ship continues without just repeatedly inputting data. There is a lot of new knowledge to be gained with the bonus of meeting new people.

Different stories came from other ship passengers. We start with a person named Yemiko. A pastor who will stand up to serve the congregation with his enthusiasm to join. Armed with his research skills, he joined the citizen reporting division. He said this was a pleasant encounter. Not only talking about what can be done, but learning together in equality, accessing many things and most importantly establishing mutual warmth.

A passenger on this ship admitted that his family had become victims of the government's chaotic narrative. Also, his ignorance about the Covid-19 virus knocked on his heart's door so he had to contribute to sailing together. He said that at that time there were not many organizations that opened up opportunities to share information and volunteer opportunities. She is Amanda Tan, a foreign graduate. He set navigation to learn how to criticize government policies that are not in accordance with human rights. He felt that this expedition felt easy because of the extraordinary support of the Covid-19 volunteers. He added that this expedition is an open organization to invite many people to sail together with new views. He was very impressed with the Covid report which continues to network with people and institutions willing to strengthen the advocacy of this ship. Also, the warmth and friendliness on this ship means it still survives today.

The expedition was not only carried out by them. A researcher at a media outlet caught his senior's invitation. At the end of April 2020 he officially took part in sailing. He said he was joining because the pandemic issue would be a big part of human history in the 20th and 21st centuries. Therefore, this is the right moment for us to provide benefits to society. He also said that the Laporcovid expedition would grow in the future because our dedication to this expedition was truly sincere. Then it was built by people who were qualified in their fields and already had a lot of knowledge but they wanted to do something for the community. In short it has positioning and share his vision. That's how Joseph defined his expedition on this ship.

According to him, the most enjoyable thing about Laporcovid is Laporcovid's desire to develop and proceed. This means that at the beginning we were reactive because the issue was very fast and needed immediately. But we always respect the process, such as the citizen reporting division which was previously only held by a few people and had not been specified, now there are significant changes with many personnel and developments until we are at the report follow-up stage. The most important thing on this ship is openness to discussion, there are no age and caste gaps so there are no limits to learning. That's enough to survive here.

The final story comes from Hana. Hana admitted that she joined this expedition at that time exchanging information via Instagram Laporcovid19. He provided a spreadsheet of hospital telephone numbers, then offered to be a passenger on this expedition. Apart from having just graduated, not yet getting a job and wanting to contribute regarding Covid because he was anxious, he decided to join the citizen reporting division. He said that at first he was confused about this expedition, starting from receiving the report, contacting the reporter and following up on the report. He also felt very difficult when the Covid case occurred in July-June. This is because the reports come in a row. As time goes by it doesn't become a problem, it starts to get resolved. By studying together, diligently asking questions if you have difficulties and sharing with other volunteers. In short, this expedition became a new family for him.

Today I realized this edgeless expedition had a lot to offer. It's not just about meeting new people, but teaching things I previously thought were unimportant. Starting from learning to create content with citizen reports to understanding data that is sometimes new to me. Almost the same as them, I found a new family that was equal and inclusive. Thank you Laporcovid, you are amazing, let's always learn.