ICONITIES
(International Conference on Islamic Civilization and Humanities)
Faculty of Adab and Humanities, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, Indonesia
July 27
th
, 2023
e-ISSN: xxxx-xxxx | 449
Infographics and Memes on Social Media
New Practice to Disseminate Islamic History Knowledge in the Digital
Age
Taosyekh Nawawi
1
, Wina Sumiati
2
UIN Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin Banten
1,2
[email protected]
Abstract:
Knowledge of Islamic history has begun to decrease in demand, especially for the
younger generation of Islam in Indonesia. For this reason, a change in the dissemination
of information must be more relevant to the times and in demand by the younger
generation. Barisan Ummat Neo (BUMN) is a community on social media on Facebook
and Instagram that is working progressively to disseminate Islamic history. The focus
of the discussion is 1) The root of infographics and memes from their emergence to the
development of learning Islamic History on social media, and 2) The role of BUMN in
excitingly disseminating Islamic history using infographics and memes. The authors use
a qualitative approach by collecting the sources from several interviewees of BUMN and
obtaining several primary sources digitally, such as history infographics and memes.
This research concludes that the way to learn Islamic history has changed to be more
impressive in the digital age using infographics and memes. This dynamic happened
because of the contribution of social media fan-page like BUMN, which has an impact
on disseminating Islamic history regularly on social media and responded more
positively by the young generation.
Keywords
: infographic; meme; Islamic history; digital age
INTRODUCTION
Islam and Indonesia are something that cannot be separated from each other. This
hall is because Islam is part of the history of Indonesian society. Some figures who studied
Islam in Indonesia, such as Hamka, Djajadiningrat, and Snouck Hurgronje, have revealed
that Islam came to Indonesia in the VII century, and its existence continued to develop
into an Islamic sultanate in the XIII century to the XX century before the rule of the
Islamic sultanate was replaced by the Dutch colonial government.
The period of Islamic history is still going on today when Indonesia entered the digital
era. In the era of 4.0, Islamic history is not only concerned with traditional Islamization
but also adapts to the times. The digital era provides an opportunity for Indonesian
ICONITIES
(International Conference on Islamic Civilization and Humanities)
Faculty of Adab and Humanities, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, Indonesia
July 27
th
, 2023
e-ISSN: xxxx-xxxx | 450
Muslims as part of historical actors to Islamize, disseminate information, and study
Islamic history digitally, namely by utilizing the role of social media.
Before the advent of the internet in the late 20th century, people studied and spread
the history of Islam using conventional methods. In Indonesia, the method of teaching
and learning Islamic teachings and history has been going on since the 14th century AD
when Maulana Malik Ibrahim established Islamic boarding schools in Java (Fitri &
Syarifuddin, 2022). At that time, many students from various corners of Java came to
study Islam, then after graduating, taught it again to other students in their area. Along
with its development, the method of learning Islamic history is also growing.
After the emergence of public schools in the early 20th century, a teacher conducted
the study of Islamic history through oral interaction. The source of learning materials still
depends on the books provided by the curriculum. This method is not wrong; it is just too
ordinary and boring for students. Even Abdul Rasyid, in his article, said that the subject
of Islamic History is seen as just a compliment, with a learning ratio of 2 hours/week,
while the material is quite dense and very important (Rasyid, 2018).
In this digital era, anything can happen; even learning Islamic history can be digitized.
Therefore, discussing infographics and memes as a medium for spreading Islamic history
on social media is very interesting to learn. With infographics and memes, Islamic history
can be easily studied by anyone. To use this opportunity, the online community Barisan
Ummat Neo exists as a platform that focuses on sharing Islamic history infographics and
memes through Facebook and Instagram. This community aims to provide easy and
exciting access for social media users, especially the younger generation, to learn and
understand the history of Islam. Infographics and memes shared by Barisan Ummat Neo
combine visual elements and concise information, making it easy for readers to understand
and absorb.
In this article, the author will review more about the role and influence of Barisan
Ummat Neo in building awareness of Islamic history through infographics and memes.
The author will analyze how this innovative method of communication can influence the
way young people learn and understand the history of Islam, as well as explore the positive
impact generated by this community in encouraging deeper discussion and understanding
of Islamic history.
ICONITIES
(International Conference on Islamic Civilization and Humanities)
Faculty of Adab and Humanities, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, Indonesia
July 27
th
, 2023
e-ISSN: xxxx-xxxx | 451
LITERATURE REVIEW
Previously several writings had discussed similar things. First, Suswandri and M.
Badrus Soleh, in their research report entitled “Memes as a Media for Learning History in
Cultural Entities of Millennial Communities,” discuss memes used by millennial
communities in studying history and how the criteria for memes that can be used in history
learning (Suswandari & Soleh, 2020). Second, Suswandri et al. again made a similar article
with the title “Meme as a History Learning Media in The Post-Millennial Generation”
found that memes can be used for learning media that do not eliminate historical facts but
are still attractive (Suswandari et al., 2021). Third, an article by Hendra Kurniawan which
contains the results of research on infographics in history learning with the title “History
Infographics in Social Media: Public History Education Trends,” said infographics could
present history briefly, and interestingly, if presented in visual form, infographics can also
be a golden opportunity to grow awareness of the nation’s history (Kurniawan, 2020).
The research the writers focus on is different from the previous studies above. The use
of infographics and memes on social media for disseminating Islamic history has not been
researched yet. As part of Indonesian Muslim history, Islamic history is one of the
important fields that must be explored. Therefore, this research will fill the gap in the
relationship between social media and Islamic history in the digital age and how the agent
employed the media of infographics and memes to disseminate Islamic history.
RESEARCH METHOD
The writers use qualitative techniques to analyze the role of infographics and memes
to disseminate Islamic history on social media. The method begins with collecting primary
sources, such as Islamic history infographics and memes created by Barisan Ummat Neo
(BUMN), and interviewing several members of BUMN. Oral history is essential to
construct the past event and how it happened. For the secondary sources, previous studies
conducted the relevant topic, such as Dawkins’s masterpiece about memes, Edward
Tufte’s book on infographics, and several Indonesian writers of learning history using
infographics and memes.
To understand how infographics and memes played a significant role in spreading
Islamic history knowledge from person to person on social media, the writers borrow
Knobel and Lankshear’s theory about the impact of infographics and memes. It is said that
ICONITIES
(International Conference on Islamic Civilization and Humanities)
Faculty of Adab and Humanities, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, Indonesia
July 27
th
, 2023
e-ISSN: xxxx-xxxx | 452
using infographics and memes on social media initially reaches a micro basis. However,
they affect macro scales, such as shaping peoples’ mindsets, behavior, and actions of many
people (Knobel & Lankshear, 2015).
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Infographics and Memes Before the Era of Digital
Infographics began in prehistoric times, around 30,000 BC when humans described
what they did during life. They drew it on the walls of the cave where they lived. They
draw visual forms like animals, plants, and their family activities. Infographics then
increasingly developed during the Egyptian civilization in 3,300 BC. At that time, the
Egyptians invented hieroglyphs to tell things related to their religion, work, and life
(Anonym, n.d.).
In the early period of the industrial revolution, an inventor and engineer from
Scottland created charts that made people understand several aspects of economic
circumstances, including graphs about taxes, labor, and product costs (Anonym, n.d.). The
explanation followed by pictures or infographics has been utilized even before the modern
era to make people understand the case quickly. The use of infographics continued in the
modern age in various media, such as newspapers, books, and news programs on TV.
In Indonesia, Kompas Daily newspaper has used infographics since 1965. Because
digital media had not developed yet during the Soekarno Era (1945-1967), infographics in
the form of maps were used to describe the location of natural disasters visually, the point
locations of poverty, industry, and politics, until the travel tracks in Indonesia. The
infographics help to provide contextual information, so they do not need to show all of the
items or even a very long explanation (Patriari & Franzia, 2022).
Infographics are not the only picture used by people in the modern era. Memes are
also famous for explaining information in books, newspapers, and social media. The
origins of modern memes can be traced back to 1976 when biologist Richard Dawkins’s
book titled “The Selfish Gene” introduced the concept of “memes.” Dawkins defines a
meme as a cultural unit that spreads from one individual to another through imitation. He
described memes as analogous to genes in biology, saying that memes can evolve and be
transmitted to the next generation like genes. (Dawkins, 2006)
ICONITIES
(International Conference on Islamic Civilization and Humanities)
Faculty of Adab and Humanities, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, Indonesia
July 27
th
, 2023
e-ISSN: xxxx-xxxx | 453
Because most people easily understand short information followed by infographics
and memes, several creative people on social media began to utilize those pictures to
disseminate information about history. Many social media fan pages on Facebook and
Instagram post information about history using attractive infographics and memes, such
as Neohistoria.id, Neochristposting, Barisan_ummat_neo, spi_uinbandung, and etc. They
progressively used infographics or memes to disseminate history knowledge to social
media users, especially the youth generation.
Infographics and Memes in the Digital Age for Learning Islamic History
Infographics and memes are two visual media that are very popular in today’s digital
culture. Both have great potential for use in the study of Islamic history. Infographics can
present historical information in an easy-to-understand and engaging way, whereas
memes can combine humor with historical content, making it more exciting and
entertaining.
Infographic
In this digital era, there is much information spread with various discussions.
Infographics are a way to disseminate information efficiently and intensely so that it is
shorter and easier to understand. Infographics are information presented along with
visualization in objects and graphic design. The pioneer in data visualization is Edward
Tufte, author of a series of books, “Visual Explanations, The Visual Display of
Quantitative Information, and Envisioning Information,” on infographics. He thinks
information is also an art, so the information he disseminates is not only in the form of
words but also in the form of visual data (Saptodewo, 2014).
Infographics have two kinds: information presented with numbers and information
presented with concepts. Information presented with numbers can be in graphic form,
while that presented with concepts can be in text form. Research shows that 75% of the
information humans can capture is visual. This helps humans understand information
more quickly, and humans are also able to remember thousands of images by looking at a
few seconds (Senjaya et al., 2019).
The history of infographics on social media has begun when social media platforms
such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter exist. With this platform, various visual content
can be disseminated along with its information. With attractive visuals from creators that
make readers feel interested in reading the information in the content they create, this also
ICONITIES
(International Conference on Islamic Civilization and Humanities)
Faculty of Adab and Humanities, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, Indonesia
July 27
th
, 2023
e-ISSN: xxxx-xxxx | 454
benefits creators in reaching more enthusiasts. Several social media communities on
Instagram, such as @spi_uinbandung and @tanyasejarah, actively posted infographics of
Islamic history.
Figure 1: Infographic about Muslims in
Albania, created by @spi_uinbandung
Figure 2: Infographic tells about the
condition of Arab Pre-Islam, created
by @tanyasejarah
Meme
The development of social media memes is an internet marketplace that evolves.
Memes are used to share humorous content, jokes, trolls, sarcasm, and even irony. Like
infographics, memes have also grown on social media since the advent of social media
such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Memes are used to provide context briefly, in
the form of images or videos, and add short text.
In Indonesia, it is uncertain when the beginning of emergence of memes, but memes
in Indonesia are undoubtedly due to influence on the internet. It is suspected that the term
meme in Indonesia is popular because of yeahmahasiswa.com sites that contain parody
content of students in everyday life. Memes are internet cultures available online, but their
sources may represent the real world (offline). For example, memes that contain jokes
come from real-world events and are parodied in the form of memes, then disseminated
to the internet and consumed by the general public in online media (Saptodewo, 2014).
Memes are increasingly varied when they become the consumption by the general
public on the internet, just like a culture that continues to evolve, and human intervention
through ideas and ideas will produce new meme products. Sometimes it is difficult to find
the origin and cause and effect of memes on the internet because everyone also consumes
ICONITIES
(International Conference on Islamic Civilization and Humanities)
Faculty of Adab and Humanities, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, Indonesia
July 27
th
, 2023
e-ISSN: xxxx-xxxx | 455
memes, so it could be that memes made are not explicit about whom they belong to and
where they come from. This can happen because of interactions with each other between
internet users. When someone finds a meme and spreads it, someone else will spread it
again. This is also called ‘viral.’
Memes for history learning have at least a few tools, (1) using images from cartoons;
(2) using good images with attractive colors and non-rigid fonts; (3) creative and not too
long; (4) not insulting historical figures; (5) memes that are made capable of intriguing; (6)
the message conveyed; (7) meme templates that have gone viral (Suswandari et al., 2021).
This is the basis of making historical memes. Of course, making historical memes is not
fixed with these seven tools.
People must be prepared with enough knowledge when spreading historical memes
on social media. Memes are not just spread with humorous context but must be based on
credible sources. When the meme has reached a large enough audience, it will cause
discussion in the comment section. As a disseminator, it would be nice to be responsible
for straightening out information if there is a misunderstanding.
In addition to using credible sources, if people want to create memes, they must
choose a meme template that follows the historical context so as not to cause errors in
memes, also called ‘misused.’ This relatively trivial is only crucial when memes and
historical contexts are not aligned because the history presented in memes is
understandable depending on the meme template used.
Figure 3: Meme created by BUMN about
Thawaf nir-busana (without cloths) in
Makkah Pre-Islam
ICONITIES
(International Conference on Islamic Civilization and Humanities)
Faculty of Adab and Humanities, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, Indonesia
July 27
th
, 2023
e-ISSN: xxxx-xxxx | 456
The Role of Barisan Ummat Neo (BUMN) and their post
Barisan Ummat Neo (BUMN) is a social media community on Facebook and
Instagram that focuses on spreading Islamic history with infographics and memes.
BUMNs are autonomous from the Neo Historia online community under the auspices of
PT Neo Historia Digdaya. BUMN is one of the autonomous engaged in religious wings
other than Neo Christposting and Neo Mystic. All these religious wings are led by Hanafi
Wibowo as different people handle his advisor and each religious wing.
BUMN began with the proposal of five people who initiated establishing a particular
community that focuses on Islamic history. The people who initiated it were Doni, Afga,
Irfan, Hanafi, and Marvel. With the results of discussions with Neo Historia officials,
finally, BUMNs were born as Neo Historia’s special autonomy in the religious wing. The
main objective of BUMNs is to open up the history of Islam that is covered up and explain
Islam rationally to the general public.
BUMN has three divisions, namely, first the writer division, which prepares historical
material that will be discussed and disseminated on social media. The second graphic
design division, engaged in making infographics and memes as an introduction to the
material to be disseminated, is the third editor division. All divisions have their respective
division heads and are responsible by Hanafi Wibowo as an autonomous leader at Neo
Historia. In general, infographics in the spread of Islamic history by BUMN have four
forms: characterization, incident, territory, and Islamic principles. Here is an example:
1. Characterization/biography
This first form of infographic shares information about a character through his
background and the story of the character. With a picture of the character’s face, the text
is added with his name and a brief description of the character, while a full explanation is
written in the description of the post.
Figure 5: Biography of Habib Ali Kwitang
ICONITIES
(International Conference on Islamic Civilization and Humanities)
Faculty of Adab and Humanities, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, Indonesia
July 27
th
, 2023
e-ISSN: xxxx-xxxx | 457
2. Incident
The second infographic form is an image that contains the occurrence of an event with
image visualization that matches the background of place and time. Like the first form,
BUMNs insert the text on the picture while a full explanation is written in the description
of the post.
Figure 6: Massacre of Mulimin in Lucera
3. Territory/geographic
The third infographic is a form that displays Islamic territory, such as the territory of
a caliphate, kingdom, sultanate, state, territory, or Islamic influence, by adding
visualizations in the form of maps, local culture, or showing images of the area.
Figure 7: Map of Turkish Dynasties &; Circrassia in Egypt
4. Islamic principles
Islamic principles, teachings, and doctrines The fourth form of infographics is a
visualization that displays how Islamic teachings, included in this fifth form, are
infographics that explain Islamic teachings, disciplines, the process of spreading Islamic
teachings, Islamic doctrine, and culture.
ICONITIES
(International Conference on Islamic Civilization and Humanities)
Faculty of Adab and Humanities, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, Indonesia
July 27
th
, 2023
e-ISSN: xxxx-xxxx | 458
Figure 8: Rosulullah’s Hope for His Ummah
The target of BUMNs is the younger generation (Millennials and Gen Z) unfamiliar
with their religious history, which, if not appropriately managed, is feared to deviate from
understandings and ideologies that are not following Pancasila. Doni, the manager of
BUMN, said that young Muslims are less interested in studying the history of their
religion. Even if some are interested in religious history, they are more interested in the
history of religions or groups other than Islam. This is because of their curiosity about
groups other than their own.
The presence of BUMNs can attract the younger generation to know the history of
Islam and fight secularism and scooterism. It is also intended that they view Islam more
rationally. The benefits are also felt by BUMN administrators, like the literacy industry.
BUMN administrators also feel benefits such as getting free knowledge, growing
knowledge, and charity that also accompanies because they voluntarily distribute
knowledge for free to the general public.
BUMNs can take responsibility for the historical information they post on social
media because they have strong references. They look for credible sources such as books
and articles that are trusted by being more selective in choosing sources to be used as
references. After they compile the material, they do not necessarily share it casually. They
have to double-check the material to be loaded many times.
ICONITIES
(International Conference on Islamic Civilization and Humanities)
Faculty of Adab and Humanities, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, Indonesia
July 27
th
, 2023
e-ISSN: xxxx-xxxx | 459
Figure 9: Meme About Qabil Losing to
Shith
Figure 10: Memes About Ammar bin
Yasir’s Parents
The positive response from the younger generation tends to like history loaded with
memes. In comparison, the boomer generation tends to be contra because of their layness
to the humor of the younger generation and the development of internet culture. The
contradiction of BUMNs is also caused because the history contained by BUMNs is a
history that is rarely known to people. Besides that, some atheists and agnostics have
different understandings of Islamic teachings. Criticism for BUMN writers also circulated.
BUMN managers do not necessarily reject criticism; they are open to criticism from
history connoisseurs, but they also tend to filter disturbing comments that cause unrest.
CONCLUSION
Infographics and memes are new practices to attract the younger generation to be
interested in Islamic history, considering that the younger generation of Islam lacks
awareness of the importance of studying the history of their religion. Infographics and
memes are practices of spreading a history that is not boring. These two ways have their
characteristics, namely presenting data briefly, concisely, and clearly, so that it is easy to
understand for audiences who like history or not.
Using the opportunity to attract social media users in Islamic history, Barisan Ummat
Neo (BUMN) presents history with infographics and memes on Facebook and Instagram.
ICONITIES
(International Conference on Islamic Civilization and Humanities)
Faculty of Adab and Humanities, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, Indonesia
July 27
th
, 2023
e-ISSN: xxxx-xxxx | 460
They posted Infographics characterized by short and precise information and memes of
Islamic history with humor and not rigid. The reaction of social media users is interesting
to be evaluated more. This could be a new topic of research to be explored by some
historians in the future.
REFERENCES
Anonym. (n.d.). A Look Back at the History of Infographics. Questline Digital. Retrieved
July 10, 2023, from https://www.questline.com/blog/look-back-history-
infographics/
Dawkins, R. (2006). The Selfies Gane (30th Anniv). Oxford University Press.
Fitri, R., & Syarifuddin, O. (2022). Pesantren Di Indonesia Lembaga Pembentukan
Karakter. 2(1), 186.
Knobel, M., & Lankshear, C. (2015). Online memes, affinities, and cultural production.
January 2007, 119–227.
Kurniawan, H. (2020). Infografik Sejarah Dalam Media Sosial: Tren Pendidikan Sejarah
Publik.
Sejarah Dan Budaya: Jurnal Sejarah, Budaya, Dan Pengajarannya, 14
(2), 1.
https://doi.org/10.17977/um020v14i22020p1-13
Patriari, P. L., Jasjfi, E.F., & Budiwaspada, A.E. (2022). Gaya Visual Infografik Sebagai
Identitas Harian Kompas Di Era Digital Infographic Visual Style as Kompas Daily
Newpaper’S Identity in the Digital Era.
Jurnal Seni & Reka Rancang, 4
(2), 255–270.
Rasyid, A. (2018). Problematika Pembelajaran Sejarah Kebudayaan Islam Di Madrasah
Tsanawiyah Al-Khairaat Pakuli Kabupaten Sigi.
Scolae: Journal of Pedagogy, 1
(1), 13–
25. https://doi.org/10.56488/scolae.v1i1.8
Saptodewo, F. (2014). Desain Infografis Sebagai Penyajian Data Menarik.
Jurnal Desain,
01
(03), 163–218.
Senjaya, W. F., Karnalim, O., Handoyo, E. D., Santoso, S., Tan, R., Wijanto, M. C., &
Edi, D. (2019). Peran Infografis Sebagai Penunjang Dalam Proses Pembelajaran
Siswa.
ABDIMAS ALTRUIS: Jurnal Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat, 2
(1), 55–62.
https://doi.org/10.24071/aa.v2i1.2136
Suswandari, S., Absor, N. F., & Soleh, M. B. (2021). Meme as a History Learning Media
in The Post-Millennial Generation.
Paramita: Historical Studies Journal, 31
(2), 270–
280. https://doi.org/10.15294/paramita.v31i2.26854
Suswandari, & Soleh, M. B. (2020). MILENIAL (Studi Kasus: Mahasiswa Pendidikan
Sejarah FKIP-UHAMKA) (308/F.03.07/2020).
https://simakip.uhamka.ac.id/download?type=penelitianlaporan&id=736&nomor
=1