Distributed Knowledge Networks in Youth Communities: A Multiple-Case Study of Everyday Digital Practices

Abstract

Informal youth communities often use digital tools without dedicated knowledge management systems or regular external support. This study examined how practical digital knowledge remained available and how routine digital work continued across six Karang Taruna communities in Depok and Tangerang. Using a qualitative multiple-case design, the study combined six focus group discussions with 21 key participants and one or two visits per community. Cross-case analysis covered peer teaching, expertise distribution, transfer practices, member regeneration, and the continuity of everyday digital practices. Peer teaching, expertise distribution, and transfer practices appeared in all six cases, although their forms varied. Members passed practical steps through screenshots, messages, voice notes, demonstrations, buddy support, and group practice. Expertise was organized through informal helpers, rotating assistance, application specialists, backups, or shared basic skills. Participants reported routine tasks being reassigned when usual helpers were unavailable despite unequal digital abilities. Clear member regeneration was evidenced in KT-D3, where other members took over after three digitally skilled members left, but it was not established to the same degree elsewhere. The recurring pattern was not equal mastery or one standard learning model, but access to familiar helpers and another member who could handle routine work. The main contribution is to distinguish expertise distribution from member regeneration and clarify their different roles in participants’ accounts of continuity. These working relationships are treated as distributed knowledge networks, not formally measured networks. The study does not compare effectiveness, establish causality, or assess long-term sustainability or information system resilience.