The Internet & Social Media in Indonesia

for a complete list of publications beyond Indonesia click this link.

Social media

  • Lim, M. 2022. Alternative Imaginations: Confronting and Challenging the Persistent Centrism in Social Media-Society Research. Journal of Asian Social Science Research, 4(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.15575/jassr.v4i1.59 [PDF]
  • Lim, M. 2021. Rhythm & Algorithm of Us (English); Ritme & Algoritme Kebudayaan (Bahasa Indonesia), Pidato Kebudayaan (The Speech on Culture) DKJ, Dewan Kesenian Jakarta (Jakarta Arts Council), Ottawa-Jakarta, 10 November. PDF: https://dkj.or.id/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ritme-dan-algoritme-kebudayaan.pdf (text in English and Indonesian). Video: https://youtu.be/mh9nydACB1U (Indonesian with English subtitle).
  • Lim, M. 2018. Dis/Connecting: The co–evolution of socio–cultural and material infrastructures of the internet in Indonesia. Indonesia, 105(April): 155-172. [PDF]
  • Lim, M. 2017. Freedom to Hate: Social Media, Algorithmic Enclaves, and the Rise of Tribal Nationalism in Indonesia. Critical Asian Studies. 49(3): 411-427. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2017.1341188 [PDF]
  • Lim, M. 2013. Many Clicks but Little Sticks: Social Media Activism in Indonesia, Journal of Contemporary Asia, 43(4): 636–657. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00472336.2013.769386. [PDF] Translated into Indonesian and republished as: Lim, M. (2015) Klik yang Tak Memantik: Aktivisme Media Sosial di Indonesia, Jurnal Komunikasi Indonesia, 3(1). [PDF] Reprinted in: Shah, N. et al. (2015) Digital Activism in Asia Reader, Leuphana University of Luneburg, Germany: Meson Press, 127–154.
  • Lim, M. 2013. The Internet and Everyday Life in Indonesia: New Moral Panics? Bijdragen tot de Taal–, Land– en Volkenkunde (BKI) / Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia and Oceania, 169(1): 133–147.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/22134379–12340008. [PDF]
  • Lim, M. 2012. Life is Local in the Imagined Global Community: Islam and Politics in the Indonesian Blogosphere, Journal of Media and Religion, 11(3): 127–140. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2012.706144 [PDF]

Social media, beyond/including Indonesia; + some conceptual/theoretical essays

  • Lim, M. 2023. “Everything everywhere all at once”: Social Media, Algorithmic/Marketing Culture, and Activism in Southeast Asia. Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, 24(2): 181-190. [PDF]. https://doi.org/10.1353/gia.2023.a913644.
  • Lim, M. 2023. From activist media to algorithmic politics: The Internet, Social Media & Civil Society in Southeast Asia, in E. Hansson & M. Weiss (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Civil and Uncivil Society in Southeast Asia (pp. 25-44). New York & London: Routledge. [PDF].
  • Lim, M. 2020. Algorithmic enclaves: Affective politics and algorithms in the neoliberal social media landscape. In M. Boler & E. Davis (eds.), Affective Politics of Digital Media: Propaganda by Other Means (pp. 186-203). New York & London: Routledge. [PDF]
  • Lim, M. 2020. The politics and perils of dis/connection in the Global South (Crosscurrent: The Limits and Boundaries of Digital Disconnection). Media, Culture & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443720914032 [PDF]
  • Lim, M. 2019. Disciplining Dissent:Freedom, Control, and Digital Activism in Southeast Asia, in R. Padawangi (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Urbanization in Southeast Asia, Routledge, 478-494. [PDF]
  • Lim, M. 2015. A Cyber–Urban Space Odyssey: The Spatiality of Contemporary Social Movements. New Geographies, 07: 117–123. [PDF]
  • Lim, M. 2014. Seeing Spatially: People, Networks and Movements in Digital and Urban Spaces, International Development Planning Review, 36(1): 51–72.   http://dx.doi.org/10.3828/idpr.2014.4  [PDF] A shorter version is translated into Indonesian and republished as: Lim, M. (2015) Media Baru, Meninjau Ruang Masyarakat, Jejaring dan Gerakan dalam Ruang Urban Digital, Etnohistori, http://etnohistori.org/media–baru–meninjau–ruang–masyarakat–jejaring–dan–gerakan–dalam–ruang–urban–digital–merlyna–lim.html.
  • Lim, M.  2009. Global Muslim Blogosphere: Mosaics of Global–Local Discourses, in M. McLelland and G. Goggin (eds.) Internationalizing Internet Studies: Beyond Anglophone Paradigms, London: Routledge, 178–195. [PDF]

The Internet, pre-social media

  • Lim, M.  2011. Islamism in Indonesia and Its Middle Eastern Connections, The Middle East Review of International Affairs, 15(02, June.  http://www.rubincenter.org/category/2011-06-14-02/
  • Lim, M.  2008. Bundling Meta–Narratives on the Internet: Conflict in Maluku in S. Tekwani (ed.), Media and Conflict Reporting in Asia, Singapore: Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC), 170–198. [PDF]
  • Lim, M.  2008. Lost in Transition:  The Internet and Reformasi in Indonesia, in J. Dean, J. Anderson, and G. Lovink. (eds.), Reformatting Politics: Information Technology and Global Civil Society, New York NY: Routledge, 85–106. [PDF]
  • Lim, M. 2006. Cyber–Urban Activism and Political Change in Indonesia, Eastbound, 1(1): 1–19. [PDF]
  • Lim, M. 2005. Radicalism and Anti Americanism in Indonesia: The Role of the Internet, Washington DC/Honolulu: East West Center (Policy Studies Series). [PDF]
  • Lim, M. 2004. The Polarization of Identity through the Internet and the Struggle for Democracy in Indonesia, Electronic Journal of Communication/La Revue Electronique de Communication, 14(3–4), 18p. http://www.cios.org/EJCPUBLIC/014/3/01437.html
  •  Lim, M.  2004. Informational Terrains of Identity and Political Power: The Internet in Indonesia, Indonesian Journal of Social and Cultural Anthropology, 27(73): 1-11. [PDF] Translated to Indonesian and republished as: Lim, M. (2014), Internet dan Kekuasaan Politik di Indonesia, in AE Priyono & Usman Hamid (eds.) Merancang Arah Baru Demokrasi: Indonesia Pasca Reformasi, Jakarta: Kompas Gramedia, 703–720.
  •  Lim, M. 2003. From War–net to Net–War: The Internet and Resistance Identities in Indonesia, International Information & Library Review, 35(2–4): 233–248.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1057–2317(03)00019–5 [PDF]
  • Lim, M.  2003. The Internet, Social Network and Reform in Indonesia, in N. Couldry and J. Curran (eds.), Contesting Media Power: Alternative Media in A Networked World, Lanham MA: Rowan & Littlefield, 273–288. [PDF]
  • Lim, M.  2003. From Real to Virtual (and back again): Civil Society, Public Sphere, and Internet in Indonesia in K.C. Ho, R. Kluver, & C.C. Yang. (eds.), Asia.Com: Asia Encounters The Internet, London: Routledge, 113–128. [PDF]
  • Lim, M.  2002. From Walking City to Telematic Metropolis: Changing Urban Form in Bandung Indonesia, in T. Bunnell, L.B.W. Drummond & K.C. Ho (eds.), Critical Reflections on Cities in Southeast Asia, Singapore: Brill Academic Publisher & Times Academic Press, 75–100. [PDF]
  • Lim, M. 2002. CyberCivic Space in Indonesia: From Panopticon to Pandemonium? International Development Planning Review, 24(4): 383–400. http://dx.doi.org/10.3828/idpr.24.4.3 [PDF]

Media Landscape

  • Lim, M. 2012. The League of Thirteen: Media Concentration in Indonesia, Participatory Lab & Ford Foundation, research report, open access.  [PDF]
  • Lim, M. 2011. @crossroads: Democratization and Corporatization of Media in Indonesia, Participatory Lab & Ford Foundation, research report, open access. [PDF]