Playing with publics: Technology, talk and sociability in Indonesia

This paper describes an analog chat network in Bandung, Indonesia known as ‘interkom.’ Interkom is a network that links together the homes, food stalls and farms of a segment of Bandung’s urban and peri-urban underclass. Interkom is interesting because it provides the occasion for users to reflect upon and manipulate the material and ideological conditions that shape experiences of self, talk and sociality in a densely mediated world. Interviews with users reveal that interkom constitutes a public that straddles the line between an indefinite community of strangers and a known audience. In playing with this public, users also play with an image of ideal sociality. ! 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. A conversation on the Saluyu interkom line, July 27, 2002: Babay: (Calls out). Uncle! Dedi: What? Babay: Ah, uncle Dedi. (Makes sound of a kiss) Dedi: Ah, Babay! (Makes sound of a kiss) Upay: What about me? Dedi: (Makes sound of a fart). That’s for you. Upay: (I) don’t want (that). Babay: (Laughter) Dedi: (Makes sound of a kiss). That’s for lightning. [Referring to an earlier conversation where Dedi and Babay had compared Upay’s voice to the crackle on the line when lightning strikes]. 0271-5309/$ see front matter ! 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.langcom.2008.01.002 E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Language & Communication 28 (2008) 127–142 www.elsevier.com/locate/langcom LANGUAGE