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(UKWMS-5/10/2018) – Today, technology development makes everything more accessible, especially information. With just one click, internet users know about the world. All other layers are then, as a result, required to adjust to the technological advances that are taking place.
This topic was then discussed in depth at the Kompas Saba Kampus event, which was held by the Harian Kompas, a newspaper industry, in collaboration with Widya Mandala Catholic University Surabaya’s Institute for Development and Collaboration on Friday, October 5th. The event that was held at the Benedictus Auditorium of Dinoyo Campus, presented three Kompas practitioners who spoke in accordance with their respective fields.
The three seminar sessions were moderated by Anastasia Yuni Widyaningrum, S.Sos., M.Med.Kom, a faculty member of the Faculty of Communication Science of WMCUS. The first topic was the “Challenges Faced by the Media Industry in Maintaining Journalistic Credibility and Quality in the 4.0 Industrial Revolution” that was given by Mohammad Bakir as the Kompas’ Managing Editor.
On that occasion, the speaker who is more familiarly called Bakir, talked about the policies taken by Kompas in the face of information explosion. It is undeniable nowadays that Indonesian society is experiencing the phenomenon of “information flooding” due to the fast development of communication technology. All information arrived on our door through social media, starting from what was not too important until the very important ones to know. This is also a challenge for the existing media companies to maintain credibility in journalistic activities.
Bakir then highlighted the problem of many journalistic media that seemed to be “easily repeating (or latah in Bahasa Indonesia)” what was viral on social media, which makes other information that were of higher urgency to be buried or not as easily seen. “Kompas wants to change those noises to become voices. We don’t want to make the atmosphere noisy,” Bakir said.
Furthermore, Bakir talked about the steps taken by Kompas to follow the pattern of millennial generation in consuming news. One of them is by launching Kompas.id online media. He then presented a story titled “Story about the Citarum River” on that platform. The news has been complemented by an interactive infographic display. While reading, users can also browse the Citarum river map on the right side of the screen, which appears as the article progresses. “This is millennial, right? Usually, the older generations like me are only in charge of collecting data, and the young ones have the duty to package it like this,” he said. Bakir then explained that this kind of adaptation had to be done so that journalism could stay alive.
The session was then continued with Ayu Kartika from the Human Resource Development of Kompas. She delivered a material about the “Organization in the Challenge of Changes in the 4.0 Industrial Revolution”. Ayu began with a brief explanation of the 4.0 industrial revolution which was marked by the emergence of cyber-physical systems, the internet of things (connected all online and offline artifacts to local networks, and globally continuously through the internet), cloud computing (the internet as a central server for managing data and user applications), as well as cognitive computing (systems with continuous learning and adaptation features such as human brain).
She then presented data from the World Economic Forum (WEF) which estimated that between 2015-2020, about millions of jobs would be reduced and replaced by technologies such as machinery, artificial intelligence, and other computer devices. “Speaking of Kompas, we truly appreciate the soft skills possessed by prospective workers. The thing is hard skills can always follow later, but soft skills are important,” Ayu said. She explained, that the ability to adapt to industry demands was also one of the important skills for prospective workers, especially in addition to the increasingly fierce job competition.
Another way to address this revolution is to form an agile (not too rigid) organizational structure. Usually, companies implement an organizational structure that requires coordination with superiors simultaneously, but nowadays, a better choice for systems is the agile system. “In the agile structure, the way it works is by using collaboration. On each project, a team of people from different divisions will be formed. For example, for project A, one person will be taken from the HRD team, one from the IT team, and one from the marketing team,” she explained. Ayu also urged students to prepare themselves as early as possible. “This is what you will face later when entering the workforce. Therefore, prepare from now on,” she said.
The last session was presented by Sumpono Banuardi, who is the Digital Technology Manager of Kompas. The man who is familiarly known as Didit, explained the topic of “Information Technology Age in the Development of Global Industry and Its Impact on the Media”. Didit talked about the shifting that occurred on the internet, including regarding the chat system. He made the example of chatting via Telegram with his colleagues who now use more expressive stickers to communicate. Now, internet users can also get information from chat services.
In this occasion, Didit also talked about the development of businesses that now dominate the world, compared to several years before. “It can be seen, the number one company in the world in the past was an oil company, but now the number one position has been changed by a technology company. This shows that current technology has played a very big role in our lives,” he explained.
Again, Didit also underlined adaptations that the media has made in order to reach the millennial readers via internet. “Why bother made an online version of Kompas? Well, because this is one way to maintain Kompas’ business continuity for some time to come. If it has been made like this, then it should also be used well,” Didit said.
To make the Kompas Saba Kampus even merrier on that day, it was closed with the delivery of door prizes in the forms of board games, exclusive merchandise, and Gramedia vouchers for the lucky audience. In addition, job seekers who attended were also able to submit their CVs and attend the walk in interview directly. (nan)
