309 GOVERNMENT DIGITAL COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT IN FACING THE HEALTH CRISIS Volume: 4 Number: 1 Page: 309 - 322 Erna FEBRIANI1, Alo LILIWERI2, Mirza RONDA3, Catur SURATNOAJI4 1,3 Sahid University, Jakarta, Indonesia 2Nusa Cendana University, Kupang, Indonesia 4Veteran National Development University of Surabaya, Indonesia Corresponding author: Erna Febriani E-mail: ernafebriani1302@gmail.com Article History: Received: 2022-12-14 Revised: 2023-01-08 Accepted: 2023-01-17 Abstract: The covid-19 pandemic has caused an information overload resulting in unclear information. The unclear information or equivocality received by the provincial government comes from stakeholders, so the government's digital communication management experienced problems and needed to be improved. Therefore, there is a need for adequate government digital communication management. This study aims to understand and analyze the digital communication management model implemented by the government in handling information during the Covid-19 pandemic and to recommend the ideal digital communication management model to deal with the pandemic that occurred at the provincial level. The research methodology uses a post-positivist paradigm with a qualitative research type and a case study approach. The theory used in this study is Karl Weick's organizational information theory and is complemented by the four-step communication management model from Cutlip, Center and Broom. The study found that the provincial government had done digital communication management. However, its implementation needed to be optimized because there was much unclear information received during the pandemic, so it was necessary to prepare and optimize human resources who had digital communication competence, good rules and cycles and digital tools as support for optimizing the management of communications. Keywords: Digital Communication Management, Government Digital Communication, Covid-19 Pandemic, Information Ambiguity, Information Overload, Digital Communication Competence, Organizing Information. Cite this as: FEBRIANI, E., LILIWERI, A., RONDA, M., & SURATNOAJI, C. (2023). “Government Digital Communication Management in Facing the Health Crisis.” International Journal of Environmental, Sustainability, and Social Sciences, 4 (1), 309 - 322. INTRODUCTION Communication is one of the essential components to building an understanding of the crisis between the government and the community. Mainly digital communication is one of the strategies currently widely used to accelerate and streamline the dissemination of information. Digital communication media is essential in producing new communication strategies between government organizations and the public to create content, monitor potential crisis issues and engage in rapid decentralized communication (Lev-on, 2012). In this situation, the flow of information received by the provincial government is hefty and fast, so the communication team needs to have the ability to deal with information and manage it into an adequate communication strategy. The government, in this case, as an institution that depends on information to function effectively and achieve its goals by seeking information from internal and external sources, will create an information environment through this process. As stated by Weick (1979), information received has different levels of ambiguity to be understood, so organizations need to engage in joint activities to make the information received mailto:ernafebriani1302@gmail.com 310 more understandable. Weick (1979) saw the process of reducing ambiguity as a shared activity between organizational members (West & Turner, 2017). One of the recent crises is the Covid-19 pandemic which requires adequate management of digital communications to avoid confusion communications and difficulty in building public awareness of the dangers of Covid-19. In this situation, information overload becomes one of the obstacles to realizing adequate communication between the government and the people. For example, the search and retrieval of information could be more systematic and thorough (Eppler & Mengis, 2004). To handle this high-speed and heavy flow of communication during this pandemic, the government needs to have adequate communication management because it is undeniable that an information crisis will follow a crisis. The information overload received often needs to be clarified due to unclear or ambiguous information during a crisis. The government, in this case, needs to have adequate communication management in managing the information received to serve as initial data in designing public communication strategies. In times of crisis, the most effective communication style is an open and empathetic style that engenders public trust when government officials try to encourage their citizens to take positive action or refrain from harmful actions (Reynolds & Quinn, 2008). Digital communication media during a crisis can be one of the channels used to help the government disseminate public information. It is, of course, an effort to control the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Because in this condition, people's activities in cyberspace are increasing and showing an increase in the use of new media to find information to change behavior. New media is a channel that is easily accessible to anyone, including any organization, in responding to risks defined as the physical, psychological, social, political or economic aspects of a person or organization. In times of crisis, people are increasingly encouraged to seek information related to their needs and find out what is going on, how the relevant organizations are responding to the crisis, and how it impacts their lives (Heath & O'Hair, 2009). Therefore, digital presence or the presence of crisis managers in cyberspace is significant in order to be able to provide accurate information regarding the crisis that has occurred. The information conveyed by crisis managers must completely describe the conditions of the crisis and the risks involved to help the public make rational decisions. This digital communication media includes social media, which plays an essential role for public and government health agencies and stakeholders (actors) to disseminate information about situations, risks, and personal protective measures that inhibit the spread of disease (Wang. et al. l, 2021). Unfortunately, in handling social media, there needs to be more adequate and consistent communication regarding the pandemic and its risks, which is especially prominent in the early stages of an outbreak. Whereas adequacy, appropriateness and consistency in health risk communication have important implications for effective health safety instruction and interpretability and retention of critical content. It also influences individual and community-level responses to information. In the case of Covid-19, Indonesia is recorded as one of the countries with the highest case rate. Where, there is the province with the highest distribution of positive cases since early March 2020, it was recorded that since the first time, the Covid-19 virus was detected in that province on 2 March 2020, the number of positive and death cases has consistently ranked first in the period 2 March 2020 – 31 December 2020. Based on a report by the Head of the Disease Prevention and Control Division, the number of positive cases of Covid-19 as of 31 December 2020 recorded 183,735 cases. (https://megapolitan.kompas.com/read/2020/12/31/18094031/update-31-desember-bertambah- 2022-kasus-baru-pasien-aktif-di-jakarta-kini). https://megapolitan.kompas.com/read/2020/12/31/18094031/update-31-desember-bertambah-2022-kasus-baru-pasien-aktif-di-jakarta-kini https://megapolitan.kompas.com/read/2020/12/31/18094031/update-31-desember-bertambah-2022-kasus-baru-pasien-aktif-di-jakarta-kini 311 Besides that, the provincial government received unclear information from external and internal parties, causing the organization to face obstacles and challenges in designing and implementing communication management to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. Of course, it will impact the effectiveness of government communication to the public as well as delays in forming an understanding and awareness of the risk of Covid-19 transmission in the community and making the transmission rate of the Covid-19 virus increasingly uncontrollable. This situation requires more integrated communication and encourages community participation. With various communication strategies the provincial government is also trying to control the pandemic using various forms of digital communication strategy, one of which is through social media. The attributes of social media, such as participation, openness, connectedness, community, interactivity and conversation, can be used as one of the considerations why social media is appropriate to be used as a crisis communication strategy in handling the Covid-19 pandemic. By disseminating information through several social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Youtube, the government disseminates the information to the public. Even though social media was not used optimally in the pre-pandemic period until the pandemic, there was only one-way communication on the Provincial Government's social media regarding content regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. From the problems that have been presented, it is necessary to have an adequate government digital communication management that is not only used to deal with communication problems during the current crisis but also to deal with crises that might occur in the future so that researchers make the Covid-19 pandemic as a case that can be used to propose a digital communication management model that is expected to be used in dealing with other crises. Based on this description, the researcher conducted a study entitled "Government Digital Communication Management in Facing the Health Crisis”. METHODS This study uses a post-positivism paradigm. This paradigm is used to build problems related to organizing information through digital communication media in managing digital communications for the Provincial Government in handling the Covid-19 pandemic. Post positivism paradigm, also called post-empiricism, is a meta-theoretical attitude that criticizes and improves positivism. While positivism emphasizes the independence between the researcher and the person being studied, it accepts that the researcher's theory, background, knowledge and values can influence what is observed (Collin, 2002). Post-positivists pursue objectivity by recognizing the possible impact of bias. If positivists emphasize quantitative methods, then positivists consider both quantitative and qualitative methods to be valid approaches (Taylor & Bryan, 2011) The research method used in this study is the first type of case study method. Case studies are used as a comprehensive explanation relating to the aspects of a person, a group, organization, group, program or social situation being researched, pursued and studied as profoundly as possible. Case studies are also related to detailed research on a person or a social unit within a particular time. A case study, according to Yin (2003), is an empirical inquiry that investigates phenomena in real- life contexts, especially when; the boundaries between phenomena and contexts are not evident, and the case study inquiry copes with the technically distinctive situation in which there will be many more variables of interest than data points, and as one result; relies on multiple sources of evidence, with data needing to converge in a triangulating fashion, and as another result; benefits from the prior development of theoretical propositions to guide data collection analysis. Through the case study method, data collection techniques were carried out in two ways: 312 1. Interviews were conducted with informants involved in the digital communication provincial government management. At least 10 informants had been interviewed with valid information that could be accounted for. 2. Documentation study. Provincial government's social media content documents from three platforms, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, where the content is used as supporting data in conducting interviews. In addition, social media monitoring documents, decrees and provincial government policy documents related to communication management in handling the Covid-19 pandemic are also used. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Government Digital Communication Management in Facing the Covid-19 Pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic became one of the world's biggest health crises at the end of 2019. This virus was first discovered in Wuhan, China and spread worldwide. The Covid-19 case in Indonesia is known to have been detected for the first time in early March 2020, when two cases were found in the Depok area from a mother and child confirmed positive. Since its first discovery, the virus has spread rapidly in Indonesia, there are one of the areas with the highest cases. In this situation, the government has a significant role in conveying data and information related to the crisis. It underlies that the government must have good digital communication management so that the data and information conveyed to the public are precise, fast and accurate information how health organizations address the health crisis in their social media engagement, which states that Twitter and Instagram are beneficial platforms for building meaning and interactive communication with the public. In times of global health crises, this is evidenced by the significance of greater levels of engagement between health organizations and their public (Guidry et al., 2017). In addition, government public relations must also aim to provide education and campaigns to the public. Therefore proper communication management is needed in carrying out the role of public communication. Communication management is a person's way of managing communication through the interpretation of meaning in human relations in various settings. Communication management is a tool, not an organizational goal. In public relations management, there are four stages of communication management carried out by the Provincial Government in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic through the stages of defining problems, planning and programming, action and communication and evaluation (Cutlip, Center and Broom, 2013). The first stage is defining the problem. This first stage determines "what is happening now?" (Cutli, Center and Broom: 2013). At this stage of defining the problem, the research conducted is related to the community's opinions, attitudes and reactions to the actions and policies of the provincial government. After that, an evaluation of the facts and information entered through the public information field was carried out to determine the planning of a digital communication strategy. At this stage, the provincial government determines facts and information directly related to the institution's interests. The stage of defining the problem through this research is used as a foundation for determining communication strategy planning. In this communication management, the role of scientific research using survey methods or focus group discussions can be carried out to maximize this stage. However, unfortunately, the scientific method used by the provincial government could be more optimal due to the need for digital tools. The next stage is the planning and programming stage. Information gathered in the first step is used to make strategic decisions about program goals, target public, objectives, action and communication (Cutlip, Center and Broom, 2013). At this stage, the results of the problem definition in the first stage are used as material for planning. In this stage, attitudes, opinions, ideas and reactions related to policies and the establishment of organizational work programs that are in line 313 with the interests or desires of interested parties are started to be given where the provincial government public relations, in this case, the organization formulates the stated achievements or objectives. In objective and measurable terms and can be realized in a precise time duration. Planning and programming with a robust research foundation will result in an effective communication program. Planning for digital communication management in dealing with health crises must be based on facts, a strong thinking foundation, and clear directions and goals to achieve. Therefore, strong research data is needed to make communication program planning. The provincial government uses the results of primary and secondary research from the public information sector to design a communication strategy that will be conveyed to the public. This planning stage also refers to the disposition given by the provincial leadership and the head of the communications service. The grand narrative or critical messages are determined by the planning of communication tactics to be carried out. Key messages are one of the essential components in digital communication management. The important messages must address the problems discovered during the preliminary research stage to reach the aim, constantly following the five Ms of health care (5Ms), washing hands, wearing masks, maintaining a safe distance, minimizing mobility, and avoiding crowds. Key messages in the planning and programming stages are used to build awareness of the importance of maintaining health protocols to reduce the impact of the ongoing crisis. The third stage is the action and communication stage. In digital communication management, this stage is the implementation stage of the plans that have been made. At this stage, the provincial government is implementing research-based communication plans designed previously through digital communication channels. Digital communication channels used include social media YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. It has also created a special website to convey and store information related to the Covid-19 pandemic. An organization can create a separate website for crises or designate parts of the current crisis. Taylor and Kent's (2007) study found that using a website during a crisis is a best practice. At the implementation stage, the use of websites and media as digital communication media was due to the situation when the pandemic occurred. More people stayed at home following the Policy on Restricting Community Activities (PPKM) imposed by the government. At the stage of action and communication through social media, the provincial government optimizes the features available on each social media channel. On Youtube media, the government uses live broadcasts or live streaming to convey information related to developments in the Covid- 19 case. The provincial government optimizes informative messages on the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels by using features such as tweets or feeds. At this stage of action and implementation, the government also uses third parties to influence the community through Key Opinion Leaders (KOL). KOL are figures who are active in social networks, like to share ideas with others, and can attract attention and influence the ideas and behavior of others. The identification of KOLs has received a lot of attention because they can be powerful in marketing and directing public opinion (Zhao & Kong, 2017). Using KOL in digital communication management is one of the innovations that can assist the government in disseminating reliable information through the personal accounts of these KOLs. KOLs are usually very aware that they are a source of information and influence to others (Winter and Neubaum, 2016). In addition, in this stage of action and communication, the government carries out activities to reply to comments addressed through the official social media comment column. However, in practice, the digital communication team replies to not all comments due to limited human resources. Some comments are deleted concerning ethnicity, religion, race and intergroup (SARA). The provincial government monitors its social media at this stage of action and communication. However, unfortunately, this monitoring is carried 314 out through the built-in analytic features of social media due to the lack of optimal digital tools in the form of digital research technology. The last stage is the evaluation stage, where evaluation stage in digital communication management is used to measure the effectiveness of the communication program. Evaluation is an ongoing process in the long-term planning of a communication program (Gregory, 2010) in the context of digital communication, evaluation is a measurement made by looking at the performance of the site, social media accounts and digital communication cover. Evaluation can also be interpreted as monitoring and also seeking feedback. There are several benefits of evaluation in institutional digital communication activities: 1) focusing on business and ensuring success in digital communication planning. Also, providing direction and priority on priority matters in achieving this. Another benefit of evaluation, especially in human resources, is that it can provide a record of the development of knowledge or skills through training and education. Also, evaluating and looking at internet developments will be able to formulate a human resource strategy to constantly be updated with developments which will ultimately contribute to digital public relations planning and to the institution itself (Nasrullah, 2021). In digital communication management for the Provincial Government, the evaluation is based on digital research by utilizing built-in research applications from social media. Calculations regarding the level of engagement or engagement rate from the number of likes, followers, comments and the increase of followers and activity in the comments column are also an evaluation that is carried out. In this case, the evaluation of digital communication activities also uses research results from other parties to complete the evaluation data of the implemented communication strategy. Information Overload Causes Information Ambiguity. At the beginning of a crisis, regardless of the type of crisis, rumors or information will appear that are unclear where they came from and who brought them, and the truth cannot be justified. The ambiguity of this information arises because everyone has the opportunity to guess or make their analysis of what happened, "crisis can, and often do, begin with rumors" (Fearn Banks, 2007). It is exacerbated due to a lack of information or, conversely, too much information circulating. The crisis also causes information overload. Organizational scholars define overload as a state induced when the amount of input to a system exceeds its processing capacity (Speier et al. 1999) or when information processing capabilities and the information loads encountered are mismatched (O'Reilly 1980). Perception plays a crucial role in overload as in this definition: overload is the "perceived inability to maintain a one- to-one relationship between input and output within a realizable future with an existing repertoire of practices and desires" (Weick, 1970). The government is experiencing the same in the digital communication management process for handling the Covid-19 pandemic. The information received is too much, so the digital communication team needs to have rules and cycles that can help overcome the ambiguity of information received by the organization. According to Weick, information ambiguity or equivocality refers to the degree of complexity, uncertainty and difficulty in predicting a message. Organizations need to build a framework or work plan to reduce message ambiguity so that the message is easily understood (West & Turner, 2009). In communication through this digital channel, there is much information received by the provincial government. In this case, this misaligned communication is due to the information overload related to actual conditions on the ground received by the organization. Information overload can be simplified by the amount of information circulating so that it can provide benefits. On the other hand, it can also create a situation of confusion in processing it or when receiving it. The dramatic increase in the amount of formal and informal information from the public has created an information overload and caused significant community problems. This information overload from external parties forces the government to have an information organizing system to reduce the 315 ambiguity of information received. The ambiguity of this information also has implications for digital communication management, which must always be quick in responding to situations. In addition to the large amount of information that is unclear and inaccurate, much public perception is influenced by information circulating in cyberspace regarding information related to drugs that can be used and also issues that mislead the public, even the attitude of apathy and mistrust of the public towards the government in dealing with this health crisis. The provincial government, in this case, has a communications agency that is divided into two fields, namely the public information sector and the public communication sector, which both receive information from various sources so that they must interpret the information and determine whether the information is accurate and usable or not. In dealing with this information overload, the provincial government must carry out several strategies because this flood of information will cause ambiguity or equivocality. It is also because not all people have good digital literacy. They can read and hear social media information but cannot interpret it. Well, not all can sort out which information is correct and which is wrong. Rules and Cycles Strategies in Dealing with Information Ambiguity. There are two essential communication strategies if an organization wants to deal with and reduce the equivocality or ambiguity of information, namely rules and cycles (Weick, 1979). Rules strategy requires organizations to determine rules to reduce the equivocality of incoming messages and choose the proper response to the information received. In a sense, the organization regulates itself to achieve goals. According to Weick, regulations refer to organizational guidelines that have been formed to analyze the equivocality of messages and guide responses to information. In contrast, the cycle is a series of communication behavior to reduce ambiguity. The more equivocality of the messages received, the more cycles are needed to reduce the equivocality (Herrmann, 2007). The organization's guidelines are contained in national and regional policies through 144 policies related to handling the Covid-19 pandemic uploaded on the website. Of the 144 policies, four policies are related to government communication management. These policies and regulations are used as rules that are used as guidelines for implementing the duties and responsibilities of managing digital communications within the Provincial government during the Covid-19 pandemic. The communications team also referred to the 2020 Technical Guidelines for Managing Content and Public Communication Media from the Director General of Information and Public Communication. These regulations are used to deal with ambiguity in information during a crisis. Apart from that, in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, the Provincial Government received unclear information due to the large amount of information received from external parties and related regional apparatus organizations, so additional regulations were needed that could be used to deal with this unclear information. In terms of digital communication management for handling the Covid-19 pandemic, there are two areas responsible for managing digital communication management for the provincial government: the public communication sector and the public information sector. The public communications sector also coordinates with the public information sector, whose job is to process data and analyze news from the mass media and public opinion to design the government's digital communications strategy. Referring to Governor Regulation No. 144 of 2019, the field of public information is under and responsible to the head of the service and is tasked with carrying out the management and service of public information as well as public opinion and aspirations. This public information sector has functions in implementation, monitoring public issues in the mass media, digital clipping and analysis of mass media coverage. This regulation is one of the references for implementing the function of the public information sector in supporting the digital communication management process at the problem definition stage. There are four rules: duration, personnel, success and effort (Weick, 1979). First, duration refers to the choices made by the organization to engage in communications that can be completed 316 in at least a minimum time. Organizations need to have a deadline for resolving information ambiguity in dealing with unclear information. This minimum time, also known as the golden hour, is a rule that can limit the duration of problem-solving so that further problems can be resolved. Time regulation in validating and confirming this unclear information helps the organization avoid getting bogged down in one problem. The second component of the regulation is personnel. This personnel rule states that the most knowledgeable people should emerge as the critical resource to reduce equivocality. This personnel rule is stipulated in the provincial government's digital communication management, where the person in the public information and public communication sector consists of 30 people and those who specifically manage social media consist of 5 people in the field of public communication. In this case, the provincial government has placed personnel regulations in managing digital communication in the Covid-19 Pandemic situation based on their capabilities and expertise in digital communication. Where is the regulation of personnel from the digital communication team, namely the Covid-19 handling communication team must have several competencies, namely: 1) ability to analyze news monitoring, 2) ability to analyze social media monitoring, 3) stakeholder mapping, 4) formulation of a communication strategy, 5) compile public relations content, and; 6) establish strategic partnerships to be able to create networks to disseminate information from the provincial government. These abilities and skills are also the personnel code used by the communications team to deal with the equivocality of information in crises. In addition, the digital communication team has a public relations certification or is the result of communication science training and education. The third component of the rule, namely success. According to Weick in West Turner (2017), success is a clear rule that will be applied. The Covid-19 pandemic has become a lesson for all parties, including the government. Communication innovation and transformation in the form of using digital communication technology is a success in dealing with information ambiguity during the Covid-19 pandemic. Success, in this case, is that regulations and policies made by the provincial government have succeeded in making the government's digital communication management more focused and well-coordinated. This digital communication strategy is also one of the government's successful efforts to convey public information and communicate with the public, especially during a pandemic when many people implemented a work-from-home policy so that access to digital media is more frequent and has a higher intensity. The fourth one is effort. The effort is a rule that influences the choice to use effort. This regulation directs organizations to have an information strategy requiring the least effort to reduce equivocality (West & Turner 2017). In this case, the provincial government is taking steps to use digital communication channels because it can reach a broader and easier community. The government chose to use a digital communication channel in the form of an official website that conveys information on the development of the pandemic at the provincial level because this communication channel can reach the public externally and is also more targeted. The field of public communication is under and responsible to the head of the service, where field of public communication has the task of organizing public communication management, media relations services, strengthening the capacity of public communication resources and partnerships with stakeholders. Information and communication public fields synergize and collaborate to realize effective digital communication management for the community. Suppose there needs to be more clarity in managing digital communications in public communication. In that case, there are instructions to ensure that the information received is correct and accurate in stages and is passed on from the social media admin team to the section head and continues to the field. The section head will clarify the provider information from regional organizations. In the process, these stipulated regulations are used to overcome the ambiguity of information received by the social media admin 317 team, both internally and externally. Where the rule states that information received if it is not clear must be confirmed and validated by the head of the section, and if there is no certainty that the information is accurate and precise, then the confirmation process can be continued to the head of the public communication sector and the head of the public information sector. If confirmation and clarification of data received from external parties are required, the communication team will confirm with the Health Office or related regional organization. These stipulated regulations are used as guidelines and references to reduce information ambiguity or equivocality received by organizations in managing digital communications in the Covid-19 pandemic situation. The regulations refer to the organization's established guidelines for analyzing message equivocality and guiding responses to information. The second strategy is the cycle strategy. If the information received is very high in ambiguity or equivocality, the organization may engage in various communication behaviors to reduce ambiguity. Weick called it a behavior cycle system (West & Turner, 2017). In addition to regulations, the government needs to have a cycle that is used in digital communication management in dealing with information ambiguity by creating multilevel and continuous confirmation procedures from receiving external data and information. This cycle aims to ensure that information from outside the organization can be validated and confirmed by the correct party and has the appropriate capabilities. In this case, the government creates a workflow for managing information clarification which is used as an operational procedure for identifying, validating and confirming inaccurate or confusing data and information. This cycle starts with identifying and inventorying unclear information received by the communications team through complaints and reporting from the media. This first cycle is used as an organization's way of inventorying data and information that still need to be considered accurate or equivocal. In this cycle, there is a time duration provision so that personnel in this cycle have a timeline to proceed to the next stage. There is a set time to carry out the identification process, which is 10 minutes. This time is also considered to carry out the identification process and inventory of unclear data and information. The next cycle is collecting data/facts and clarifying information from the public information team on information received from regional organizations (OPD). It is done to ensure that the information to be compiled is accurate. If incorrect information occurs, it will be used as data in compiling narratives or drafting clarification materials. There is a maximum time for collecting and clarifying information, which is a maximum of 60 minutes which will be followed up with. Preparation of narratives or drafts of clarification material with a maximum completion time of 60 minutes. The preparation of this narrative is based on clarified data or facts from OPD carried out in the previous stage. This narrative preparation is then used to create clarification content through statements, text, graphics or videos to be published or disseminated through the official website or social media. Text and graphic content creation take 10-60 minutes, and clarification videos take a maximum of 180 minutes. After the clarification content is created, the next stage is the leadership's verification or validation of the clarification content. This verification can be done through discussion meetings or double-interact loops. These multiple interaction patterns refer to multiple communication cycles used to assist organizational members in reducing the equivocality of information. Interactions and relationships between individuals within the organization are essential elements in addition to the competence and knowledge of personnel. After verification or validation of the content is carried out by the leadership and ensuring that the information conveyed is clear, accurate and correct, the next step is to publish the information on the website, online media and official social media. All 318 stages in this cycle are carried out within 3 hours for clarification in text or graphic form and 5 hours in video form. The cycling strategy has response stages as a reaction to action. In this stage, the government's responsibilities are to make a communication strategy, including a strategy to deal with the ambiguity of information received when a crisis occurs by using a behavior cycle. As a result of the response, the organization formulates a response as a result of the adjustment. If the response to the action has reduced the equivocality of the message, an adjustment is made to indicate that the information has been understood. If the information is still equivalent, adjustments may occur in additional statements to clarify the information further. In this case, the government makes adjustments to the response results by trying to clarify messages that are still unclear by checking with the central government. Enactment, Digital Selection and Digital Retention. Reducing equivocality is necessary, even though it is complicated. According to Weick (1995), organizations go through stages intending to integrate rules and cycles so that information can be easily understood and meaningful. Reducing equivocality is essentially an interpersonal process and occurs through three stages: enactment, selection and retention. When organizations have multiple rules and cycles for interpreting the information environment, organizations must analyze existing knowledge and have the best method to obtain additional information to reduce equivocality further. In a pandemic situation, there is an information overload which results in unclear information received by the organization. In order to reduce this equivocality, according to Weick (1995), the organization processes through stages to integrate rules and cycles so that information can be easily understood. The enactment stage refers to how the organization receives and interprets information. Enforcement begins by framing messages in the environment by an individual (Herrman, 2007). During this stage, the communication team analyzes the input received to determine the number of equivocal presents and gives meaning to any information received from the central government or the health office. Interpreting the information received by the communications team is carried out by finding the main message of each incoming piece of information and analyzing whether the information is accurate and appropriate to be conveyed back to the public. Information obtained from external parties is also compiled by the public information department, which selects which information is accurate and which information has the potential to be inaccurate. This Enactment Stage. Relates to reasoning or attempts to create an understanding of complex and uncertain situations. In the reasoning aspect (sense-making), there is an effort to put things into a frame of mind, understand immediate goals, construct meaning, interact to achieve mutual understanding and create patterns (Weick, 1995). In this case, the communications team attempts to make sense of the situation and identify an information overload to use in making strategic decisions to deal with it. The enactment process carried out refers to the information received, which is sourced from; 1) Internal data owned by the provincial government, for example, daily reports on crises; 2) Press releases and the latest documentation; 3) Research data in the form of other surveys that are relevant to the situation crisis, 4) Data from monitoring and analysis of mass media reports and social media conversations related to crises, 5) Data from literature reviews relevant to crises and 6) Data from institutions or other institutions (data from ministries or agencies) that are relevant to provincial government policies, programs or activities. This determination process is carried out by involving the use of fact checker technology in which the government carries out digital innovations. Digital Selection Stage. The communication team must decide the rules and cycles to be used. The organization should look at available resources if the information is still ambiguous and 319 determine whether additional regulations are needed to reduce ambiguity. In this case, the communication team carries out a selection process for the information received from the regional organization and related services by using rules and cycles to validate the information received so that it becomes information that can be published through digital media. The selection process for this information is carried out in the early stages of planning a communication strategy by the public information sector, whose job is to manage data before it is used as material for conveying public communication messages through digital communication channels. This selection process is carried out so that the data used has been declared accurate and verified to be conveyed to the public. This selection stage also makes it easier for the communications team to sort out information that is considered accurate and verified as well as inaccurate information so that it cannot be used for public publication. The selection stage is based on the grouping of information received. Information selection separates accurate information from inaccurate information. The public information sector carries out the information selection process using digital technology. Digital Retention Stage. The organization analyzes regulatory effectiveness and communication cycles and engages in retention. In the retention stage, the organization stores information for later use. Storing information can help organizations evaluate the management of communications that are carried out. Previously, storage was done manually, relying on written documents stored in organizational files. However, in today's digital era, where organizations also use technology to help carry out the storage process, there has been a change in storage methods from manual to digital storage on a site. In this case, the provincial government carried out the process of storing information that was processed and conveyed to the public during the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic using a data and information storage system on the website where the site contains Covid-19 monitoring data, including visualizations that are complementary to the Health Office's COVID-19 data. This site also stores policies and data related to the handling of Covid-19 by the provincial government. Initially, this site was only used to convey information to the public related to information on the development and handling of the Covid-19 virus, then developed. This site is also used as a data and information storage medium that can be used to manage subsequent government communications. This storage or archive process is a way to store information so that information can be accessed at any time and through any device. Storage of data and information through this site will remain at the change of day, month or year and can be reaccessed easily. There are two things that change archives with the emergence of communication technology, namely: 1) the ability of every internet user to access archives and make changes to them; and 2) the archives themselves are becoming more developed because archives, in this case, are not only seen as only certain official documents that are stored, but the internet itself with networks, information distribution, and mediation between humans and machines is a place for data storage (Appadurai, 2003). According to findings in the field, this digital retention carried out by the government is used to store data and information related to government communications made during the Covid-19 pandemic. Use of digital retention is useful for storing data and information so that it can be used as evaluation material in subsequent cases and also as a data bank when the government will make a follow-up communication strategy. Government Digital Communication Model Recommendations. After the researchers discussed digital communication management for the provincial government in handling the information Covid-19 Pandemic where researchers found a link between Weick's theory (1979) and the four steps of Cutlip, Center and Broom communication management (2013) then through the theoretical dialectic process discussed previously, the researchers recommended a communication management model digital in dealing with a communication crisis during a pandemic which is 320 expected to be used to improve the previous provincial government communication management model, which is as follows: Figure 1. Government Digital Communication Management Model Recommendations This model is a refinement of the communication management model used by the provincial government in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic by linking Weick's theory (1979) which has the concepts of equivocality, rules, cycles, enactment, selection and retention, which are associated with the communication management process of Cutlip, Center and Broom (2013) which has stages of problem definition, planning and programming, action and communication as a form of implementation and evaluation. This model also adapts to digital communication, where the stages of selection and retention use digital technology. As the picture shows, some concepts emerge as rules, cycles, enactment, digital selection, digital retention and digital communication competence. In designing the model, digital tools are a somewhat important concept in communication management. Furthermore, this model illustrates that the Covid-19 pandemic as a health crisis will cause an information overload. The information received is not only clear information but also information that needs to be clarified or clarified. This excess information will lead to ambiguity (equivocality) which will confuse the communication manager, in this case, the party responsible for communication management. This lack of clarity in information will make it difficult for the communications team to design an adequate digital communication strategy. Three things are needed: digital communication competence, organizational information systems conceptualized in the form of rules and cycles to deal with information ambiguity and digital tools that will help manage incoming information and communication. Rules are one strategy for dealing with unclear information in a crisis. Rules consisting of the minimum duration of completion of communication within the organization, personnel or human resources who are knowledgeable and competent in reducing equivocality, success means that effective regulations will be applied and efforts to reduce equivocality. In addition to rules, some cycles become strategies for dealing with the ambiguity of information. The cycle has the first essential concept. Namely, actions that refer to statements and behaviors of members of the communication team used to indicate personnel goals to reduce information ambiguity. Second, the response is a reaction to the action. This response is an act of seeking clarification of an unclear message. The third is an adjustment made by the communications team where when there is still unclear information received, personnel can ask additional questions to clarify the information, 321 Furthermore, digital communication competence requires communication management to prepare digital communication competencies from human resources who manage communication when a crisis occurs. Skill sets and knowledge in digital competencies in crisis management are desired and necessary (Lee & Meng, 2021). Digital communication competence is an important concept to ensure that the personnel in charge of institutional communication are capable of communication management. The government can prepare six human resource digital communication competencies in managing digital communications, namely: 1) the ability to analyze news monitoring, 2) the ability to analyze social media monitoring, 3) mapping stakeholders, 4) developing a communication strategy, 5) compiling public relations content, and; 6) establish strategic partnerships to be able to create networks to disseminate information from the Provincial Government. Another concept that is no less important is digital tools, which the government needs to support the success of communication management. Even though digital tools are only supported, they are still an important concept to prepare. This model was designed through a review of the results of research conducted on government human resources managing digital communications during the Covid-19 Pandemic situation. This approach can only be applied successfully if digital tools are sufficient and the government's digital communication capabilities are optimized. CONCLUSION In this Covid-19 pandemic situation, the provincial government received heavy and fast information. This information overload causes equivocality or information ambiguity, and the organization needs to prepare to face it. Although the provincial government has carried out four steps of digital communication management in the form of problem definition, planning, action and communication, and evaluation in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, the four steps of communication management can be refined. 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