NEWSLETTER BFI - 14092007
Bandung Fe Institute
September 14th 2007
CONTENTS:
01. Complexity Studies to Indonesian Songs
02. Tracing Indonesian Consumer Behavior
03. Book Plan: Complex Indonesian Outlook 2008
04. The new issue of the Journal of Social Complexity is coming ahead
05. Book Available: Indonesian Introduction to Econophysics
As a country of largest Muslim population, it is worth to share the
happiness of Indonesian people as the beginning of the Ramadhan days,
which are articulated with days of fasting - for a month until the
celebrations of the holiday next month. This month should be a good
month where the spiritual joy mixes with the harmony of universal
social life. The latter becomes the task of all people though to keep
up for the sake of our civilization as human being.
01. Complexity Studies to Indonesian Songs
Have you ever felt that some songs give some 'spiraling' effect as
they are played? Or have you questioned why some melodies in some
songs are pretty hard to grasp with? Some researches in the institute
have tried to surge this issue invigorated by the urge to reveal the
complexity behind some melodies or songs. As the great mathematician,
G. W. Leibniz (1646 - 1716), once said, "Music charms us, although its
beauty consists only in the agreement of numbers and in the counting",
the researches give effort to find the patterns of beauty in songs.
Which agreements of number and the counting can be called beauty is
the task in these researches. This effort is conducted in the Dept.
Computational Sociology, and we have uploaded two research papers
regarding to this.
The first paper proposes a way to see melodic features in music/songs
in the terms of "letters" constituting "words", while in return
investigating the fulfillment of Zipf-Mandelbrot Law in them. Some
interesting findings are reported including some possible conjectures
for classification of melodic and musical artifacts considering
several aspects of culture. This paper ends with some discussions
related to further directions, be it enrichment in musicology and the
possible plan for musical generative art.
The second paper can be seen as a sequel of the first. It sees some
complex properties from Indonesian music discography by means of music
as perceived by Indonesian people. Indonesia is place with various
ethnicities with also various aspects of culture. While on of
interesting artifacts in Indonesian modern culture is music, to a
modern Indonesian, there are at least four types of songs popular
among the people: ethnic songs, national anthems, Indonesian popular
songs, and some popular international songs which is dominated by the
western industrial music. Thus, this paper covers the observation to
the traditional Indonesian folk songs, national anthems, popular songs
by Indonesian modern artists and performers and also from western
popular and classical music as reference. The self-similarity is drawn
by using the model of gyration and the internal dynamics of the
pitches and durations used in songs is observed by using the
logarithmic spiral model. The employed entropy model is also
discussed as well as introduction to the calculated dynamic
complexity of melodic structure. Some generalization on the flow of
music respect to the dynamic complexity is also shown. We discover
that at least there are two phases in the played song: the shorter
introductory phase that ends in the peak of complexity of the song and
the attenuating phase of complexity in which the multiple equilibria
of the song is measured. This second paper draws some interesting
aspects regarding to those parameters and variables on Indonesian
melodic corpora.
Both papers are written in English, and can be downloaded for free in
BFI site.
Paper title: An Alternative Postulate to see Melody as "Language"
Language: English
Author(s): Hokky Situngkir
Publication: BFI Working Paper Series WPK2007
URL: http://www.bandungfe.net/?go=xpf&&crp=4661f04c
Paper title: Towards Complexity Studies of Indonesian Songs
Language: English
Author(s): Hokky Situngkir
Publication: BFI Working Paper Series WPT2007
URL: http://www.bandungfe.net/?go=xpf&&crp=46d3de52
Do not forget that you must be a registered visitor before
downloading; however the registration is free of charge for
administrative purposes only and you are assured that your contact
will never be handed to any of third parties. Registration link:
http://www.bandungfe.net/reg/
02. Tracing Indonesian Consumer Behavior
Here is one of research coverage on Indonesian consumer behavior. Not
long ago there have been announcement of the results of the Survey of
Indonesian Branding 2007 publicly accessible in SWA magazine
(http:///////////////). The research employed the self-organized
neural network with competitive learning method to observe data
publicly available data. The motive is to see the slight view to the
consumption pattern of Indonesian people related to branding issues,
advertising, and how the consumers perceive the brands of the products
in order to be able to characterize the consumers of Indonesia to have
measurements on the national consumption patterns. From the relatively
limited data, we can outline some interesting results while some
directions for future researches are also discussed. It is worth
noting that the research shown here is conducted independently without
any consultative agreements with the magazine.
The paper is now available online, and it is written in Indonesian.
Paper title: Antara Merek, Iklan, dan Kepuasan Konsumen: Karakterisasi
Konsumen Indonesia dengan Jaring Saraf Buatan
Language: Indonesian
Author(s): Hokky Situngkir
Publication: BFI Working Paper Series WPS2007
URL: http://www.bandungfe.net/?go=xpf&&crp=46c4ae86
03. Book Plan for Complex Indonesian Outlook 2008 and ahead
The institute in support and cooperation with Surya Research
International Co. Ltd. has planned to write a book about Indonesian
Outlook 2008 covering interdisciplinary social issues in the
perspective of social complex analysis. The book is expected to tell
us some description about Indonesia, from Indonesian, for general
readers interested about Indonesia. The book is planned to be eclectic
and written in Bahasa Indonesia with contents mostly powered by the
institute's researches throughout these years, regarding to some
important issues, e.g.: sociological aspects, political issues,
economic and financial along with interesting aspects of culture and
arts. A writing committee has been lined up and would be chaired by
president of the institute directing the institute researchers, Yun
Hariadi (Dynamical System Dept.), Rendra Suroso (Cognitive Science
Dept.), Deni Khanafiah (Computational Sociology Dept.), Rolan Mauludy
(Computational Sociology Dept.), along with research assistants Ardian
Maulana Effendy and Kurniawan Hadi Yusro. An external writer, Hoferdy
Zawani, would also help the general writing processes. There is
possibility that some other external writers may also contribute to
this book despite the book is programmed to be ready for publication
in the next couple of months. The committee are also open for
sympathetic hands that might want to help the publication of the book.
Please contact the institute if you would like to know in which side
you might want and are able to participate.
04. The new issue of the Journal of Social Complexity is coming ahead
The publication of the next issue of the regular Journal of Social
Complexity is on the road right now. Papers from authors are being
reviewed with management conducted by Deni Khanafiah as the Editor in
Chief right now. We will keep you informed with any recent updates
regarding to this reviewing process in the next issues of the
Newsletter.
05. Book Available: Indonesian Introduction to Econophysics
A book written by BFI scholars to introduce econophysics for
Indonesian readers has been published in the last year and it has been
circulated in national major book stores. However, we have heard some
difficulties to obtain the book. The book is now available by ordering
the book directly to BFI administrative office in Bandung or Surya
Research International office in Jakarta.
Interested readers may contact:
Yohanis Kwee
Surya Research International
Ruko Cyberpark
Jalan Boulevard Gajah Mada no. 2152
Lippo Karawaci
Tangerang 15811 - Banten
Indonesia
ph. +62 21 5512584
mobile. +62 818144552
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BFI Administration
Bandung Fe Institute
Sarijadi Blok 5 No. 151
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INDONESIA
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