Neta Kligler-Vilenchik

Setting the collective memory agenda: Examining mainstream media influence on individuals’ perceptions of the past:

Memory studies scholars tend to stress the significance of the media in shaping collective memories. This study offers a quantitative–empirical examination of this phenomenon. Applying a “memory-setting” research design, inspired by agenda-setting theory, the study examines correlations between the “media memory-agenda” and “public memory-agenda,” to illuminate the influence of the media on the shaping of collective perceptions of the past. Findings point at a significant correlation between media and public memory-agendas, one that increases during periods of heightened coverage of past events. On the individual level, the role of media exposure to commemorative content is significant, surpassing that of direct participation in public commemoration. At the same time, some of the findings point to the resiliency of the public memory-agenda. Therefore, the study’s findings offer a novel understanding of the role of mass media in shaping collective memory, as well as the limits to its influence.

Learning connected civics: Narratives, practices, infrastructures

Abstract Bringing together popular culture studies and sociocultural learning theory, in this paper we formulate the concept of “connected civics,” grounded in the idea that young people today are engaging in new forms of politics that are profoundly participatory. Often working in collaboration with adult allies, they leverage digital media and emerging modes of connectivity to achieve voice and influence in public spheres. The rise of participatory politics provides new opportunities to support connected civics, which is socially engaged and embedded in young peoples personal interests, affinities, and identities. We posit three supports that build consequential connections between young peoples cultural affinities, their agency in the social world, and their civic engagement: 1. By constructing hybrid narratives, young people mine the cultural contexts they are embedded in and identify with for civic and political themes relevant to issues of public concern. 2. Through shared civic practices, members of affinity networks lower barriers to entry and multiply opportunities for young people to engage in civic and political action. 3. By developing cross-cutting infrastructure, young people–often with adults–institutionalize their efforts in ways that make a loosely affiliated network into something that is socially organized and self-sustaining. Drawing from a corpus of interviews and case studies of youth affinity networks at various sites across the US, this paper recasts the relationship between connected learning, cultural production, and participatory politics.

Together, nevertheless? Television memories in mainstream Jewish Israel

Drawing on 40 life-stories of Jewish-Israeli television viewers collected over the years 2004—6, this article makes three claims. First, it suggests that the formation of memory is tightly intertwined with television viewing, both at the individual level and the collective levels of the family and the nation. It elaborates on a typology of television memories, differentiating between wallpaper memories, flashbulb memories, media events and close encounters. Second, it asserts that in Israel, the nation remains a major framework for apprehending collective memory. Nevertheless, fragmentation can be felt: immigration and ethnicity play a role, as does commercialization. Finally, it makes a methodological claim about the ways collective memory can best be studied. Examining the reception of audiences, in addition to the common focus on memory texts, reveals that even with commercialized, fragmentized television, Jewish-Israeli viewers share a strong sense of common memories and a collective past.

Good citizenship as a frame contest: Kony2012, memes, and critiques of the networked citizen

The rise of networked media has brought new opportunities and challenges for individuals’ engagement with politics. Some scholars propose that norms around “good citizenship” are evolving as well. Yet, little attention has been paid to how those debates play out in everyday cultural understandings. Drawing on the case of Kony2012, a highly visible social change campaign, we illustrate how perceptions of good citizenship can be understood as a contest between frames, one conducted not only by elites but also by individuals as they create and spread user-generated content. Using the theoretical lens of the frame contest, we contrast the hopeful image of the “networked citizen,” presented in the Kony2012 campaign, with counter-frames of “slacktivism,” presented in memes circulated in response to the campaign and its supporters. We posit the frame contest as a mechanism through which to understand how conceptions of good citizenship may change over time.

Alternative citizenship models: Contextualizing new media and the new “good citizen”

Much current literature examines ways in which civic norms and practices are being enacted, developed and experimented with in the realm of new media. Yet an open question pertains to the role the new media environment plays in this process: Are changes in civic conceptions reliant on new media, or is it an arena in which such changes are enacted and enhanced? This essay addresses this question by contextualizing citizenship models that theorize the role of new media, as part of a broader paradigm of “alternative citizenship models.” What threads together this paradigm is an argument about a change in what constitutes “good citizenship”; a change seen not as a decline from a previous standard, but as the manifestation of a new citizenship model. This article maps the landscape of alternative citizenship models and investigates the role of new media in reshaping citizenship.

Political Expression on Facebook in a Context of Conflict: Dilemmas and Coping Strategies of Jewish-Israeli Youth

Social media, and Facebook in particular, embody a complex and challenging context for impression management, particularly when it comes to political expression. The Israeli case presents a unique context in which to examine these questions as Jewish-Israeli youth are embedded in a divided society involved in the protracted Israeli–Palestinian conflict. A thematic content analysis of 15 in-depth interviews with Israeli-Jewish students who are regular Facebook users revealed distinct dilemmas. Jewish-Israeli youth are highly motivated to discuss politics on Facebook, while also aware of social risks involved in such discussion. Thus, they adopt unique coping strategies in which political expression is an integral part in the delicate act of impression management. This research extends our understanding of Facebook as a platform for expressing political content in divided societies, characterized by considerable internal and external conflict as well as high levels of political involvement.

Analyzing youth digital participation: aims, actors, contexts and intensities

ABSTRACT Participation is often used as a blanket term that is uncritically celebrated; this is particularly true in the case of youth digital participation. In this article, we propose a youth-focused analytical framework, applicable to a wide variety of youth digital participation projects, which can help facilitate a more nuanced understanding of these participatory practices. This framework analyzes the aims envisioned for youth participation, the actors and contexts of these activities, and the variable levels of participatory intensity, in order to more accurately assess the forms and outcomes of youth digital participation. We demonstrate the value of this framework by applying it to two contemporary cases of digital youth participation: an informal online community (Nerdfighters) and a formalized educational initiative (CyberPatriot). Such analyses facilitate normative assessments of youth digital participation, which enable us to better assess what participation is good for, and for whom.

Youth online political expression in non-political spaces: implications for civic education

ABSTRACT Based on an in-depth qualitative content analysis of post-election discourse in three online creative communities (Scratch, Archive of Our Own, and hitRECord), we examine the significance of youth political expression in non-political online spaces, and its implications for civic education. We find that these spaces offer a valuable window into the main concerns experienced by youth around the election, which they voice through unique modes of expression. Online spaces facilitate connections between the personal and the political, while highlighting the social aspects of youth participation and learning in regard to civic issues. At the same time, participants exhibit uncertainty regarding the limits of online expression and the potential consequences of speaking out. We argue that online spaces should be acknowledged as a significant channel for youth political expression and socialization, and consider how the practices encountered there could shape our approach to civic education.

Digital contestation in protracted conflict: The online struggle over al-Aqsa Mosque

ABSTRACT This study explores the ways in which social media platforms are used by East Jerusalem Palestinians to mobilize religious practices and political activism in the struggle over one of the central issues of contestation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: al-Aqsa Mosque. A data set containing 166 posts and 485 comments from five major Facebook pages was qualitatively analyzed, thus revealing how these networked platforms mobilize and call their followers to join the on-the-ground action.