Page 257 - PERPUSTAKAAN UNIVERSITAS AIRLANGGA

Kajian Dalam Bidang Ilmu Perpustakaan dan Informasi: Filosofi, Teori, dan Praktik

makes what, what else makes what .. we just communicate WhatsApp.
[Linguitics-1]
Another informant who is his co-worker also confirms this; WhatsApp
is generally used as a means of further communication from the previous
face-to-face communication. He said,
If we do research together .. we use WhatsApp and put literature or
data or any information concerning the research as attachment .. so
that at any time we meet, each (member) already knows the problem.
Reports, inputs, can be sent via WhatsApp. For editing, we use MS
Office application but then the edited draft will be sent via WhatsApp
.. rather than printed or via e-mail [CS-2]
Nowadays WhatsApp is only used to connect with people who are
known in advance. Characteristics of joint research based on friendship
as discussed elsewhere, also seem to cause WhatsApp as a means of
relationship between friends. An informant said:
All this time, I WhatsApp people I know directly, and usually as a
medium of information transfer, data, research results, and team
communication. The language used is more informal. But I use e-mail to
communicate with fellow researchers I just know as a means of formal
communication. In the e-mail, I generally use more formal language
because it is for official purposes. In my status as a researcher, the
people I contact via e-mail are fellow researchers of other institutions
where our institution conducts research collaborations, related experts,
informants, etc. [CS-2]
For the interview with informants, WhatsApp is also a means to update
his knowledge. He said that,
. .. now using WhatsApp is a must. When I do not open WhatsApp a
day, I feel very outdated. [CS-1]
From the above statements, we can see that the use of WhatsApp is
becoming a widespread habit. But for some informants, there is something
that seems to be a problem. For example, as the following informants
conveyed:
What I like about WhatsApp is because Soft copy attached from
other apps can be directly attached, and I can send all at once to multiple
people via a maximum of 3 clicks. But still, WhatsApp cannot replace
face-to-face communication, because body-language is also important
to understand the conversation [CS-1]
At least two informants (CS-1 and 2) assume that WhatsApp also
requires the willingness of both parties to open the application regularly.
As one illustration, the informant (CS-2) tells how a research meeting
cannot last well because the meeting materials are sent via WhatsApp and

Luki Wijayanti dan Putu Laxman Pendit 237