The social contractual utilitarianism of a digital village in rural Indonesia

Abstract

Social contractual utilitarianism is concerned with the values of a community in adopting new technology. In terms of implementing new technology, access to the community should include consensus. By applying the intertwined concept of social contractual utilitarianism and technology, this study explored how and why a community adopts and implements new technology in a digital village. A digital village was the sample of this case study because of the accolades it received from the government and the coverage of news media. This study applied three steps to collect the data: reviews of online news coverage, observations, and in-depth interviews. A narrative, thematic analysis was conducted to explore the social contractual utilitarianism aspect of new technology. This study found that the integration of togetherness, agreement, interest, and need in the context of the aspects of social contractual utilitarianism played an important part in the adoption and implementation of the new digital technology in rural areas. The finding shows that the consensus led to a circularity dynamic between the social and technological processes to achieve the goal set by the community.