Azi Lev-On

Communication, community, crisis: Mapping uses and gratifications in the contemporary media environment:

The article analyzes how community members who were evacuated from their homes use various media, and especially the internet, to keep in touch, receive and disseminate information and express their opinions. Of particular interest are the differences between members of various groups, who differ in their decision whether to relocate in Israel with the rest of the original community or not, in media usage patterns and sense of community. The findings demonstrate that evacuees use diversity and multiplicity of media, where various media are used for different purposes according to need. Small media, with a rather limited and local reach (such as pamphlets, SMS, niche websites and small-scale meetings) are predominantly used for most of the needs, overshadowing mass media usage. Correlations were found amongst various media usages, and between the usage of various media and users’ sense of community. The study demonstrates how contemporary media users use a variety of media depending on their circumstances and needs, and how media usage assists in establishing and maintaining a sense of community after the forced transition from the communities of origin.

Campaigning Online: Use of the Internet by Parties, Candidates and Voters in National and Local Election Campaigns in Israel

This article analyzes Internet usage by key political players—candidates, parties and the public—during national and municipal election campaigns between 2007 and 2009 in Israel. Parties maintain a presence on a variety of Internet platforms, are aware of the potential of the Internet and are willing to divert budgets for Internet campaigns, but there are extensive differences in the character and scope of online campaigning between large and small parties and between Internet uses in general and in municipal elections. In the municipal elections, incumbency, size of the electorate, competitiveness of the race, and the socio-economic characteristics of the constituency impacted on the probability of having a website. Many sites functioned largely as upgraded message boards, and most had few interactive features. The study concludes by stressing the need for a theory of technology usage in both high- and low-visibility campaigns, taking into account strategic, environmental, and individual-level variables that may influence the scope and character of Internet usage by candidates.

Local engagement online: Municipal Facebook pages as hubs of interaction

Abstract The article presents the results of a comprehensive study of the scope and character of the activities of the Israeli municipalities on Facebook. 1 The study maps the Facebook presence of Israeli municipalities and checks for correlations between Facebook presence, municipality size, and the geographic and socio-demographic characteristics of the municipalities. We then measure several engagement indices of municipal activities on Facebook (number of fans, average likes, comments, and shares of posts) and check for correlations of these engagement indices with municipality size and geographic and social demographic characteristics of the municipalities. The article concludes with a review of several indices of municipality Facebook page activity, including scope of content uploaded by the page and by fans, content formats (statuses, images, and videos) and their reception.

Engaging the Disengaged: Collective Action, Media Uses, and Sense of (Virtual) Community by Evacuees From Gush Katif

Former residents of the evacuated Gush Katif region, once parts of closely knit and cohesive communities, have been spread across Israel in temporary settlements since the disengagement, in 2005. The goal of this study was to learn how the evacuees interacted with one another online to organize politically and retain their social capital. The study focused on Katif.net, the major Internet site in use by the former residents of Gush Katif. This is an unusual case of a virtual community that continues to thrive online even as its offline predecessor has been evacuated.

Internet-Based Collaborations and Their Political Significance

In recent years, we have witnessed the notable accomplishments of numerous Internet-based large-scale collaborations, which typically rely on small contributions by many participants. In the first part of the paper we highlight the political relevance and significance of such collaborations, and we argue that Internet-based collaboration is turning into an important organizing principle for the production of a variety of goods by a range of political actors. In the second part, we analyze why the Internet is conducive for such collaborations and we focus on a number of factors, most significantly on the reduced costs of both individual contributions and the social organization of production, and on the large and excessive number of potential contributors attracted to focal collaborations.

Gaps close, gaps open: a repeated cross-sectional study of the scope and determinants of the ethnic digital divide

The paper is part of a repeated cross-sectional study examining how groups in multi-ethnic states adopt and use information and communication technologies, with focus on the magnitude and the determinants of the digital divide between Jews and Arabs in Israel as a case study. The study examines socio-economic and socio-demographic factors correlated to internet usage in general and usage of social media in particular, based on data collected between 2008 and 2010 by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics Annual Social Survey. The data was collected by means of face-to-face interviews conducted annually among 7500 interviewees aged 20 and above. The study demonstrates the multi-dimensionality of the digital divide phenomena and shows how the digital divide does not diminish, yet, rather, transforms over time. As access differences between Jews and Arabs gradually diminish, a ‘second-level’ digital divide of social media usage actually widens.

The Democratizing Effects of Search Engine Use: On Chance Exposures and Organizational Hubs

In this paper I highlight two implications of the widespread use of search engines, which are often overlooked by commentators. In the first part of the paper I argue that search engines are conducive to unplanned exposures to diverse and even opposing views. In the second part I argue that search engines indirectly contribute to emergent political organization, since they allow large numbers of people to locate and access organizational hubs of collective action. I conclude by pointing to the democratic significance of these properties.

The Medium or the Message? Communication Relevance and Richness in Trust Games

Subjects communicated prior to playing trust games; the richness of the communication media and the topics of conversation were manipulated. Communication richness failed to produce significant differences in first-mover investments. However, the topics of conversation made a significant difference: the amounts sent were considerably higher in the unrestricted communication conditions than in the restricted communication and no-communication conditions. Most importantly, we find that first-movers’ expectations of second-movers’ reciprocation are influenced by communication and strongly predict their levels of investment.

YouTube Usage in Low-Visibility Political Campaigns

ABSTRACT Social networking platforms and video-sharing sites like YouTube generate hopes for a more participatory politics and stronger connections between citizens and representatives, particularly at the local level. This article examines these trajectories by analyzing the YouTube presence of candidates in municipal election campaigns, as well as public involvement in these campaigns.

Group and Dyadic Communication in Trust Games

We study the behavioral consequences of interpersonal communication prior to experimental Trust games. We manipulated the richness of the communication medium and the size of the communicating group. Communication richness failed to produce significant differences in first-mover investments, but the size of the communicating group did: The amounts sent were significantly higher in the dyadic communication conditions than in the group communication and no-communication conditions. We also found that first-movers’ expectations of secondmovers’ reciprocation strongly predicted their levels of investment.