Political ‘apptivism’ in the Middle East: The case of iNakba

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 658-673
Author(s):  
Oren Golan ◽  
Noam Tirosh
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Educational Tool ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Agents Of Change ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Grassroots Level ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Scholarly Attention

The use of social media in the Arab world has drawn an increasing amount of scholarly attention. Research addressing ‘Arab Spring’ upheavals and Islamic military movements has demonstrated grassroots level and often spontaneous uses of social media platforms. However, little attention has been paid to political apps as an emergent means of communication. Specifically, this study asks how users and developers view the use of political apps within the Israeli–Palestinian context by focusing on iNakba – an app that enables users to navigate Palestinian villages that were destroyed during the 1948 war and its aftermath. Ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative analysis of interviews with iNakba users and developers uncover three key facets of the app: (1) crowd mobilization, (2) educational tool that reanimates the invisible landscape of pre-1948 Palestine, and (3) promoting the Palestinian narrative. The study illuminates the role of political apps as agents of change for identity building and shaping users’ political consciousness.

Social Media for Political Change

2015 ◽  
pp. 55-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamad Alkhouja
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Power Balance ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Online Activism ◽  
Inherent Nature ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Media Firms ◽  
The Impact

This chapter discusses the role of social media in the uprisings of the Arab world. It argues that the seemingly democratizing impact of online activism is not due to the inherent nature of social media as a tool for democracy but rather an outcome of the equilibrium of forces that shaped the use of social media platforms by all three main players. Activists, governments, and social media firms formed a triangle of powers that influenced the use of social media during the Arab movements. In a different context, the outcome of such power balance can arguably inhibit citizens' rights and empower governments. To this end, the chapter first explores the use of social media platforms from the perspective of activists, governments, and social media firms, then presents a framework to understand the impact of all three in shaping the use of social media during the uprisings. The chapter then concludes that the projections of the role of social media on other movements in the world must not be made without understanding the underlying complexities and dynamics of these movements.

Social Media for Political Change

2014 ◽  
pp. 26-36
Author(s):  
Mohamad Alkhouja
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Power Balance ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Online Activism ◽  
Inherent Nature ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Media Firms ◽  
The Impact

This chapter discusses the role of social media in the uprisings of the Arab world. It argues that the seemingly democratizing impact of online activism is not due to the inherent nature of social media as a tool for democracy but rather an outcome of the equilibrium of forces that shaped the use of social media platforms by all three main players. Activists, governments, and social media firms formed a triangle of powers that influenced the use of social media during the Arab movements. In a different context, the outcome of such power balance can arguably inhibit citizens' rights and empower governments. To this end, the chapter first explores the use of social media platforms from the perspective of activists, governments, and social media firms, then presents a framework to understand the impact of all three in shaping the use of social media during the uprisings. The chapter then concludes that the projections of the role of social media on other movements in the world must not be made without understanding the underlying complexities and dynamics of these movements.

scholarly journals The role of social media in e-Government: systematic literature review and case of Jordan

2020 ◽  
Vol 338 ◽  
pp. 363-379
Author(s):  
Nemer Aburumman ◽  
Róbert Szilágyi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Web Of Science ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Main Determinants ◽  
Governmental Institutions ◽  
Use Of Social Media

Social media has become a new revolution in communications and most governments around the world use these platforms as two-way communication between them and the citizens. The Jordanian government started using these platforms early, so this paper came to examine the Jordanian's practice on these platforms. The paper use two way of analysis, the first one was a systematic literature review in the largest two databases (Scopus and Web of Science). After the literature has been analysed and the paper found the best practices for governments around the world, three main determinants were identified for any government to start the use of social media (presence, up to date information and interaction). The most popular Jordanian's social platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) have been selected to start the analyses and 52 Jordanian governmental institutions (all the 25 ministries and 27 institutions belong to the prime ministry) have been analysed. After the institutions' websites and their pages or accounts on social media platforms scanned and analysed, most of the institutions have fulfilled the first two criteria (presence) and 77% shows that they have appearances on social media and (up to date information) 67% of the institutions regularly updated their information. But for the last criteria (interaction) we have found that the institutions still need to improve their interactions with the citizens since the results showed only 38% of these institutions have interaction on their pages or accounts on social media.

scholarly journals Mourning the Commons: Circulating Affect in Crowdfunded Funeral Campaigns

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 205630511774335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara Kneese
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
Digital Commons ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Scholarly Attention

This article focuses on the role of circulated affect in crowdfunded funeral campaigns, which have attracted little scholarly attention so far. This study is based on content analysis of online campaigns ( N = 50) and qualitative interviews ( N = 10) with campaign supporters and initiators. Its aim is to connect crowdfunded funeral campaigns to the larger digital-sharing economy. The findings of the study suggest that in order to gather sufficient funds to cover funeral costs, individuals share emotionally evocative narratives and images with their social networks and an imagined Internet audience with the expectation of attracting compassion. The study shows that political movements, media coverage, and sharing on social media platforms are integral to the success of campaigns for socially marginal individuals. The article contributes to the growing study of crowdwork and finds persistent structural inequalities in crowdfunding campaigns, thereby contesting the ethos of the digital commons.

scholarly journals Use of social media platforms to assess the socio-psychological characteristics of the arab world population

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (Extra-E) ◽  
pp. 32-42
Author(s):  
Olga I. Samosvat ◽  
Konstantin V. Balakin
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Automatic Monitoring ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Psychological Characteristics ◽  
World Population ◽  
Public Sentiment ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Use Of Social Media

The paper studies the socio-psychological characteristics of the population of Syria, Egypt, and the Arab world as a whole. The research methodology is based on the analysis of publicly available records in popular social network environments, in comparison with real facts and estimates contained in the modern scientific literature. Based on this analysis, socio-psychological portraits of representatives of individual ethno-social groups were compiled. Methods were also developed to identify the socio-psychological characteristics of the population of these countries. The results of the work can be used in systems for automatic monitoring and analysis of the information space of social media in Arab countries to assess public sentiment, track and study manifestations of extremism and terrorism, develop specialized recommendations for marketing, PR, information security, HR and business development services.

Data literacies for the postdemographic social media self

First Monday ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony McCosker
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Market Segmentation ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Continuous Production ◽  
Presentation Of Self ◽  
Social Data ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Media Practices

In a postdemographic world, characterized by the continuous production and calculation of social data in the form of likes, comments, shares, keywords, locations or hashtags, social media platforms are designed with techniques of market segmentation in mind. “Datafication” challenges the agency of participatory social media practices and traditional accounts of the presentation of self in the use of social media. In the process, a tension or paradox arises between the personal, curative or performative character of social media practices and the calculative design and commercial usefulness of platforms and apps. In this paper I interrogate this paradox, and explore the potential role of metrics and analytics for emergent data literacies. By drawing together common self-oriented metrics across dominant platforms, the paper emphasizes analytics targets around a) profile, b) activity, c) interactivity and d) visibility, as a step toward developing new data literacies.

Social Media Use in Teaching and Learning

2021 ◽  
pp. 344-357
Author(s):  
Ugochi Chioma Ekenna ◽  
Leonard Anezi Ezema
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Media Effect ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Student Privacy ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Use Of Social Media

The COVID-19 outbreak opened a new scenario where social media use for school educational activities became imperative to teach online and to implement a current and innovative educational model. This chapter provides the most relevant information on types of social media, social media effect of COVID-19 on education, educational social networking, student privacy issues and education technology, safety measures for the use of social media in schools, role of social media and its importance in teaching and learning, application of social media platforms to education, numerous opportunities that social media offer to both students and educators, and challenges of social media in education.

scholarly journals Edmodo: A Social Learning Platform: Literature Review

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (19) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebrahim Abdullah Alkandari
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Virtual Classroom ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Educational Tool ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Learning Platform ◽  
The Social ◽  
The State Of Kuwait ◽  
Use Of Social Media

    The use of social media programs in education is increasing recently. The uses of social media programs in the State of Kuwait mostly are not related to the education processes in schools, such as using of those programs as a tool to communicate between school administrations and parents, announce alerts, show photos and remind of important events in schools. This study had devoted considerable attention to the roles of those programs in the educational institutions. The social platform program Edmodo was selected as a virtual classroom model to be used in education fields. This study was conducted using Systematic Qualitative Review method of the literatures to obtain an objective and comprehensive summary and a critical analysis for the literatures that encompass topics of the relevant study. The study provided a historical overview, the advantages and challenges of using the application and the services provided to the users. Furthermore, results from other studies that encompass relevant topics were presented. One of the most important findings of the study was the effectiveness of Edmodo application in improving academic achievement and increasing students’ motivation towards learning. A number of recommendations were adopted, including demonstrating the role of the social platform program “EDMODO” as an educational tool as well as communication tool with parents and learners, encouraging teachers to use Edmodo due to the positive roles it would play on learning process and increase learning motivation.

scholarly journals Suomalaisten tutkijoiden sosiaalisen median käyttö: sosiaalisen median merkitys työssä, tiedonhankinnassa ja tieteellisen tiedon jakamisessa

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elina Late ◽  
Sanna Kumpulainen ◽  
Sanna Talja ◽  
Lisa Christian ◽  
Carol Tenopir
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Scholarly Communication ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
The Social ◽  
Media Services ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Shed Light

The use of social media in scholarly communication has grown in recent years, and consequently, scholars’ uses of social media has gained importance as a research topic.The aim of this article is to shed light on the role of social media in scholars’ work. The research presents findings from a survey (N=528) conducted in Finland in late 2016. There exists no prior research on the role and uses social media among Finnish scholars. This research specifically focuses on the perceived role of social media in information seeking and sharing. We also study the differences between disciplines, age groups, and positions. Results show that scholars do not perceive social media as being central for their or information seeking and sharing, and that social media services are not replacing traditional publishing forums. Scholars do appreciate the social media services intended and developed for academic use, and find them as having value for their work than general social media services. However, according to our results, social media services have a marginal role in scholars’ information seeking and scholars infrequently share their readings in social media platforms. Some disciplinary differences existed, but there was no connection between scholars’ age or position and the role of social media. Our study shows that the role of social media in academic work and scholarly communication is still rather small. Further research is needed to find out what are the reasons for scholars lack of interest towards social media.

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