Community as cultural mediator: cultural downstream practices and digital mediation in UNESCO Global Geopark Ijen

The development of culture-based tourism in geopark areas requires approaches that position communities not as passive recipients but as active mediators of cultural meaning and value creation. However, previous studies have largely treated community participation normatively and viewed digital media primarily as promotional tools, providing limited understanding of how communities communicatively transform cultural practices into sustainable tourism value and why such processes vary within the same geopark area. This study examines community-based cultural downstreaming practices within UNESCO Global Geopark (UGGp) Ijen, Indonesia, focusing on the communicative mechanisms that explain inter-site variations and developing a conceptual typology for analytic generalization. Using an exploratory qualitative multi-site case study design, this research investigated four villages with different configurations of cultural authority, institutional consolidation, digital mediation capacity, and governance position: Kemiren, Tamansari, Kalianyar, and Sumberwringin. Data were collected from 24 sources through interviews, focus group discussions, observations, and document analysis, and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis and cross-case typology development. The study develops a four-mode typology of community-based cultural downstreaming: custodial, entrepreneurial, absent/contested, and hybrid institutional. These modes represent different communicative configurations through which communities transform cultural resources into tourism value. The findings demonstrate that digital media do not independently generate transformation but function as amplifiers of existing mediation capacities. This study contributes to communication and tourism scholarship by extending community-based tourism beyond normative participation, positioning communities as cultural intermediaries, and conceptualizing communication as a constitutive practice through which cultural value, legitimacy, and tourism experiences are produced. Practically, the findings suggest differentiated interventions based on the communicative and institutional conditions of each community.