Bandung, 2024 – A study conducted by Fakhrie Nuryana Syahid, Prof. Ninis Agustini Damayani, and Dr. Edwin Rizal from the Library and Information Science Program at Universitas Padjadjaran explores the information-seeking behavior of cryptocurrency miners in the Facebook Miner Indonesia group.
The research aims to understand how members of this group—now numbering over 58,000—search for, verify, and utilize information related to mining and cryptocurrency. Using observation, interviews, and literature review, the team applied David Ellis’ model, which includes six stages: starting, chaining, browsing, differentiating, monitoring, and extracting.
Findings reveal that group members rely on multiple sources, such as Google, YouTube, Reddit, and Facebook, to meet their information needs. The knowledge obtained is not only used for educational purposes but is also directly applied in mining practices, including hardware and software setup.
The study also highlights challenges, particularly the varying quality of information and the limited digital literacy among some members. To address this, researchers recommend strengthening digital literacy so that group members can critically evaluate and select valid, reliable, and useful information.
From a global perspective, this research supports SDG 4 (Quality Education) by enhancing society’s digital literacy, and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure) by reinforcing digital information ecosystems as a foundation for the growth of the crypto industry and financial technologies in Indonesia.
Through these findings, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of information-seeking behavior in the digital era and supports the development of stronger information literacy infrastructure to meet future technological challenges.
Full article available at: http://media.unpad.ac.id/files/publikasi/2025/rpm_20250123141830_6961.pdf
Writers: Ridha Amalia, Nadziva Shaqeena Firdaus, Shelpi Nur Awaliyah
