451 THE ROLE OF CYBERMEDIA IN CONTEMPORARY IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION WITHIN GLOBAL SAIISM I Made Budiasa (imadebudiasa@ihdn.ac.id) Lecturer of State Institut of Hindu Dharma Denpasar ABSTRACT This paper is a new ethnographic study of the role of cybermedia in contemporary identity construction within Saiism (a global neo-spiritual) movement and its various centers in Bali, Indonesia. Saiism could be interpreted as the ideology of Sathya Sai on His Organization. The focus of this article: firstly, to explore the role of cybermedia and to address the question of why people of different structures, ethnicities and religious orientations join the movement and the various processes of establishing a collective identity in harmony with the spirit of multiculturalism. Secondly, particular attention is devoted to the movement with all of the programs and their participation in charitable activities. Specifically, what are the socio- religious inclinations in the promotion of charity in the movement? Internet or cyberculture has become a domain of engagement for purposes of experimentation and experience. Cyber- space as a social transnational construct a nexus for Sai virtual community and how the local movement (especially Sai-Balinese people) approaches and rationalizes devotion over the web is explored last. These questions have analyzed with a new ethnographic gaze, supported by some identity construction theoryand cyberculture theory. Key Word: Role, cybermedia, contemporary identity construction, global Saiism INTRODUCTION This paper is about new ethnography on cyberspace and cyberculture in the spirituality life; its aim to introduce a small handful of key thinkers and ideas about ethnography on cyberspace and cyberculture in a new global spiritual movement. It takes the study case about the Sathya Sai Organization movement in Bali. Castell & Haraway (2006:1) have argued about all kinds of things together in cyberspace; not only computers and software, but also digital devices such as MP3 players, or BlackBerrys or new medical imaging technologies, cyber pets, all kinds of digital animations and simulations, and so on. Bell (2001) has argued that cyberspace also exists in the imagination, in fiction, in the stories we tell ourselves about the world. Today in the digital era, we often find that in spirituality or religious field many spiritual aspirants or devotees use the internet to explore their desire or need for achievement on spiritual fulfills. Sai Devotees from Bali which is far off from the source communities in the Sai Baba Ashram at Prashanti Nilayam, they usually search the detail information on cyberspace. It produces new cultural as a result of the interaction between human and digital technologies. This reality makes thinking about the cyberculture phenomenon. Castell & Haraway (2006:5) have argued that cyberculture is a way of thinking about how people and digital technologies interact, how we live together –so the suffix ‘culture’ is used in that elastic way that one of the founding fathers of British cultural studies Rymond Williams (1976), uses it, to talk the ways of life. This article also talks about culture as cultural studies used. Frow and Morris (2000:316) have argued, the culture is a network of embedded practices and representations (texts, images, talks, codes of behavior, and the narrative structures organizing these) that shapes every aspect of social life. Cyberculture therefore refers here to the ways of life in cyberspace, or ways of life shaped by cyberspace, where cyberspace is a matrix of embedded practices and representations. Meanwhile, cyberculture is certainly a ’contested and evolving discourse’ (Bell et al.2004: xiii in Castell & Haraway, 2006:5). Bali is a province of Indonesia which is located between the island of Java and Lombok. Bali island is commonly referred to as the island of thousands of temples, the island of Gods, and Bali Dwipa. Bali is also common with unique traditions and religions. There are many new