Event Details

Since the outbreak of the Iron Sword War on 7th October, social media have been buzzing. Alongside those seeking to provide information and advocacy, the online space has also been filled with misinformation, and in the worst cases, it has included content laden with hatred, violence, and antisemitism, sowing fear and, some would argue, even psychological terror.

In a special webinar "The Digital Frontline: The Israel-Hamas War on Social Media" that took place on Wednesday, 6th December 2023, Chair of the Communication Department Prof. Amit Pinchevski moderated an all-star panel of Prof. Neta Kligler-Vilenchik, Prof. Paul Frosh, Dr. Lilly Boxman-Shabtai and Tom Divon, who explained why this arena has become a boiling point and what tools are at our disposal to cope with it.

MODERATOR
PROF. AMIT PINCHEVSKI is a Full Professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at Hebrew University where he's been teaching since 2004, after completing his doctoral research at McGill University, Canada. His research interests are in theory and philosophy of communication and media, focusing specifically on the ethical aspects of the limits of communication; media witnessing, memory and trauma; and pathologies of communication and their construction

PRESENTERS
PROF. NETA KLIGLER-VILENCHIK is Associate Professor of Communication and Journalism at the Hebrew University. Her work focuses on political expression in the context of the changing media environment, particularly among young people. Neta has published work in leading communication journals and is a co-author of the book By Any Media Necessary: The New Youth Activism published by NYU Press in 2016. Neta received her Ph.D. in Communication from the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California.

PROF. PAUL FROSH is a Full Professor and the Head of the Department of Communication and Journalism. His interests span visual culture, photography theory, the aesthetics of digital media, cultural production, cultural memory, media and national sentiment, and media and moral concern. Prof. Frosh studied English Literature at Cambridge University and conducted his graduate and doctoral research at Hebrew University. His most recent book, The Poetics of Digital Media, was published in 2018.

DR. LILLY BOXMAN-SHABTAI is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the Hebrew University. She received her Ph.D. from the Media, Technology, and Society program at Northwestern University in 2019 and was a visiting scholar at the University of Colorado, Boulder between 2018-2020. Her research examines meaning-making at the intersection of media producers, texts, and audiences.

TOM DIVON is a researcher of digital culture with expertise in platform affordances, user-generated content, and playful behaviors. As a Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the Hebrew University, his research focuses on TikTok’s social-political playful cultures in three key areas: Holocaust and history-related commemoration and education, antisemitism and religion-based community building, and Palestinian and Israeli memetic practices (#challenges) for playful content creation in times of conflict

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