DIGITAL GOVERNANCE COMMUNICATION IN GAMPONG: COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN REALIZING ONE DATA ACEH THROUGH SIGAP

Village governments in Aceh Province have adopted the Gampong Information System (SIGAP) as the primary digital instrument for realizing Satu Data Aceh (One Data Aceh), yet studies of Indonesian village digitalization have largely examined e-governance as a technical infrastructure problem, leaving the communicative and socio-cultural dimensions of implementation underexplored. This study addresses that gap by analyzing SIGAP as a digital communication practice, focusing on the opportunities and challenges of implementation and, distinctively, on the forms and depth of community participation in validating gampong (village) data. Using a qualitative descriptive-analytical case study design, data were drawn from regulatory documents, scientific literature, and credible news reports, triangulated with the author’s field observations as an official of the Aceh Office of Community and Gampong Empowerment (DPMG Aceh), and analyzed thematically. The findings show that SIGAP accelerates public services and strengthens administrative transparency, but its implementation is constrained by digital literacy, infrastructure gaps, data-hoax risks, and unresolved questions of data security. Read through Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation, community involvement in SIGAP currently sits mostly at the informing and consultation rungs, with only isolated cases approaching genuine partnership. The study contributes a communication-centered, participation-based framework for understanding village data governance, and recommends that DPMG Aceh strengthen participatory mentoring models grounded in Acehnese customary deliberation (musyawarah) and the Islamic principles of amanah (trust and responsibility) and tabayyun (information verification) to move community involvement toward higher rungs of the participation ladder.