Terima Kasih 'Departemen Pendidikan Nasional'

What has this Indonesian textbook got anything to do with me?? Read on..


Ilmu Pengetahuan Sosial - Kurnia Nandar Wati, Ratih Hurriyati (Departemen Pendidikan Nasional, 2009)


Ilmu Pengetahuan Sosial, page 28 (original source: fotopages)

Today I found out that one of my favourite pictures was being used in an Indonesia textbook (above). So, I'd like to thank the Pusat Perbukuan Departemen Pendidikan Nasional or the (Indonesian) National Education Department for crediting my photo and adding my name in the textbook.

However, to my surprise I later observed that the entire pictures in the textbook were sourced from the Internet (!) - including blog sites such as Blogger and Wordpress; Wikipedia and Flickr. And I thought to myself, what a cheap way of sourcing images for publication! I mean, it's understandable if it was meant for desktop publication, or publication for private purposes, but sourcing images off the Internet for a school textbook? Now, that is something new. I have no idea if the same practice is being adopted in Malaysia, but I hope not.

It is amazing or rather frightening to see how fast things have changed over the years. Fifteen or ten years ago, people would scan texts or pictures and upload them on the Internet. Today, it is totally the opposite. Perhaps such practice would become a norm in the near future when everything in the world are connected and wired to the Internet, or when there are no more "real" books or newspapers or magazines in the market. Or am I imagining too much?

Well, if you're still reading this, thank you for your time. I don't really have anything decent to blog about other than to keep this blog updated. So, there. :-)

Here is another picture used in an Indonesian tourism website, WisataMelayu - Sebagian Besar Objek Wisata Sumbar Masih Bersifat Potensi (Bukittinggi, Indonesia, Aug 2005)

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