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In many respects, 2017 was a year of digital uncertainty. It was a year in which digital platforms were used to weaponize uncertainty. It was a year in which the societal role of digital platforms became uncertain. It was a year in which the relationship between states and tech gaits became uncertain. And it was... Continue Reading →
Between the 5th and 7th of December the Israeli Foreign Ministry hosted Israel's Second Digital Diplomacy Conference. Attended by diplomats and academics from more than thirty countries, the conference explored the practice of diplomacy in the age of algorithms. As such, conference panels dealt with the issues of online propaganda and disinformation campaigns, countering the... Continue Reading →
Some have traced the origins of digital diplomacy to America's need to counter Al-Qaeda's online narrative and recruitment efforts. As Ellen Hallams has written, already in 2008 it was estimated that the internet was responsible of 80% of recruitment of Jihadi movements. In an attempt to stem the tide of recruitment, and counter Al-Qaeda's narrative... Continue Reading →
American poet Allen Ginsburg opens his masterpiece, Howl, with the lines I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angel headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of... Continue Reading →
From Digital Diplomacy 1.0 to Digital Diplomacy 2.0 When foreign ministries first migrated online, they viewed social media platforms as mass media channels. Much like the radio and television, Twitter and Facebook could be used to disseminate messages among millions of users. The conceptualization of social media as mass media was, in part, the result... Continue Reading →
Introduction The Arab World has always had a strenuous relationship with social media. On the one hand, several countries in the Arab World monitor their citizen’s social media activity, ban social media or shut down social media during times of domestic upheaval. Such was the case when the Mubarak regime attempted to block Facebook at... Continue Reading →
In the early days of digital diplomacy, MFAs and diplomats viewed social media as linear communication tools. Diplomats believed that they could use social media to craft a message and directly disseminate it among online publics. Thus, social media was no different from other mass media such as the radio and television. Yet as the... Continue Reading →
2017 marks a decade since the advent of “digital diplomacy”. What began as an experiment by a select number of foreign ministries has transformed into routine practice for diplomats and embassies the world over. To mark this occasion, I will be publishing a series of working papers. The goal of this series is to reflect... Continue Reading →
Since the late 1930's communications scholars have investigated the influence of masa media on society. At times, scholars assumed that mass media such as radio and film had an immense impact on individuals and could manipulate their thoughts, beliefs and actions. At other times scholars assumed that the effects of mass media were cumulative and... Continue Reading →
Several months ago, Israel's National Institute for Health Policy held an international workshop on the ethical dimensions of using big data in the formulation of public health policy. Israel, which offers its citizens universal healthcare, has four main healthcare providers. The digitalization of health services among all providers has created a vast big data database... Continue Reading →
Exploring Digital Diplomacy 