1. www.langitselatan.com Rigel Kentaurus, INDONESIA A. Yamani, Aldino. A.B, Dewi Pramesti avivah@langitselatan.com Langit Selatan (southern sky) Blog, a Window for Popularizing Astronomy a Window for Popularizing Astronomy in Indonesia Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007

2.  Latitude : 6° 57' S. Longitude : 107° 34' W  Indonesia is a tropical country with 17,508 island  With a population over 234 million people Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007

3. Background  Lack of astronomy information and media in Indonesia language  False conception about certain celestial issued  False information among the people about certain events Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007

4. History  2004, five young astronomer start their dream about astronomy media in Indonesian language and they start a group name Rigel Kentaurus  At the same year, Rigel kentaurus start it first online media name http://centaurusonline.com  2007, we change our service into blogging and change our name to langitselatan (southern sky). http://langitselatan.com Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007

5. Vision  Being an astronomy media in Indonesia.  Giving astronomy education to Indonesia public.  Building awareness of astronomy in Indonesia. Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007

6. langitselatan.com langitselatan forum Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007

7.  Sharing resources and information with the public  Facilitate collaboration and sharing between users  Interactive communication with the readers  Building communities Why blog?Advantage  Reach all the people throughout the country with low cost for the users (Indonesia is the largest archipelagic state) ‏ Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007

8. Statistic of Internet users in Indonesia 16.000.0002005 20.000.0002007 11.226.1432004 8.080.5342003 4.500.0002002 4.200.0002001 1.900.0002000 1.000.0001999 512.0001998 UsersYear source : www.apjii.or.id Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007

9. Statistic of blogs in Indonesia 4408 Total 3.65 %161Education / Career 1.84 %81Kitchen 2.63 %116Popular Science 9.01 %397Opinion 1.54 %68Travel 2.75 %121Entertainment 1.79 %79News 1.32 %58Photo Blog 5.74 %253IT 70.51 %3108Personal Number of Blog per Category Total of registered blog in http://www. blog - indonesia.com/ : 4408 Unregistered blog : more than 10 000 Source : http://www.blog-indonesia.com/, October 4 th 2007http://www.blog-indonesia.com/ Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007

10. Astronomy online media  30 weblog (registered and unregistered) about astronomy in specifics topic : 20 private blogs 4 community blogs 6 institution web 1 media and forum (langitselatan.com)  0.68% of all registered blog Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007

11. October 10 th 2007 Impacts to langitselatan.com Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007

12. With top post :  Heliocentric vs Geocentric  Mars Hoax  Total moon Eclipse  Star Party  Moon Hoax  Lunar Calendar  Habitable Planet  Pluto In Indonesia, astronomy is the most search topic on the internet for false exposition in some particular event, e.g. Mars Hoax, or conundrum of heliocentric/geocentric, which are still hot topics until recent time. Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007

13. Social Impacts from the blog….  Science Camp Salman ITB (Moeslem Mosque Children Group in Bandung Institute of Technology) ‏  Rooftop Star Party at Mitra Hotel (7/7/07) ‏ From langitselatan blog, rigel kentaurus also grow as an event organizer of : Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007

14.  Astronomical Gathering : Southern Sky Star Party 2007 cooperate with student body of Astronomy ITB and Indonesian National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN). (http://www.langitselatan.com/starparty) ‏ Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007

15.  Birthday star party  Star party goes to school and Aidil Fitri camp cooperate with Indonesia UNAWE Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007

16. Langitselatan on media Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007

17. Challenge and problem  Funding  Human Resource  Instruments  Find the best methods to share knowledge to the children.  Make all fields and topics of astronomy as an interesting topic for the people Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007

18. Result  Langitselatan.com adjust misconception and hoax (heliocentric vs geocentric, mars hoax) ‏  A reference for beginner.  A resource of astronomy news and public education to the public.  An aggregator for astronomy blog and resources. (http://langitselatan.com/aggregator) ‏  Since April 2007, forum langitselatan.com become a community with 84 members. (October 3 rd )  Give inspiration to build community in several province.  Being astronomy educator Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007

19. Future Work  Astrokids Club  Mobile Planetarium  Community builder in all province throughout the country  Astronomy Magazine and Newsletter in Indonesia  Collaboration with Indonesia Universe Awareness  Telescope training  Annual Astronomical Gathering : Southern Sky Star Party  IYA2009 Star Party cooperate with Bosscha Observatory Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007

20. Thank you To organizers who for giving me chance to come to this meeting to present my paper To the audience for your participation our RSS : http://langitselatan.com/feeds Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece 8 - 11 October 2007