Oren Soffer
Biographic Data
| ID | 3766699 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Oren Soffer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Oren |
| FAMILY NAME | Soffer |
| SIGNATURE | SOFFER O |
| AFFILIATIONS | Department of Sociology, Political Science and Communication, The Open University of Israel, Israel |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 73 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Mass Communication In Israel
Mass communication has long been recognized as an important contributor to national identity and nation building. This book examines the relationship between media and nationalism in Israel, arguing that, in comparison to other countries, the Israeli case is unique. It explores the roots and evolution of newspapers, journalism, radio, television, and the debut of the Internet on both the cultural and the institutional levels, and examines milesto…
Computational Analysis of Historical Hebrew Newspapers
This article focuses on one decade, 1874–1883, in the relatively long lifespan of the Hebrew weekly Ha-Tzefirah , which was founded in Warsaw in 1862. Applying computational tools to the study of the early Hebrew press requires a unique effort. The Hebrew language in general is distinct in its characters, morphological structure, and word order. The contribution of this proof-of-concept study is two-fold: First, computational analysis provides a …
Algorithmic Personalization and the Two-Step Flow of Communication
This study examines the relevance of traditional mass communication’s two-step flow-of-communication theory in relation to algorithmic personalization. I compare the two-step flow theory’s concept of personalized content through opinion leaders with the current notion of personalized algorithms, arguing that opinion leaders and algorithms both function as gatekeeping agents. I also discuss the nature and role of peer groups in the two cases, argu…
The Role of User Comments in Estimation of the Public Opinion Climate and Perceived Support for One’s Opinion
This article examines how user comments influence assessment of public opinion climate and perceived support for one’s opinion. The effects of user-comment sentiment (positive vs. negative) and of user-comment content (with or without personal exemplification) were tested with an online experiment (n = 1,510). Results show that user-comment effects on estimates of public opinion depend mainly on the sentiment of the comments and not on their fram…
Opinion expression via user comments on news websites
User comments have become an essential part of news websites. In this article, we examine this mode of public expression via the theory of the spiral of silence. This is done while adopting alternative measures, with regard to three major issues on the Israeli agenda, and in comparison to expression in public, as in the traditional theory. Based on an Internet survey (n = 712), the present study results support the relevancy of the spiral of sile…
Assessing the climate of public opinion in the user comments era
This article examines the role of user comments in evaluating the climate of public opinion. It aims to evaluate the relevance of quasi-statistical assessment of public opinion – which was tailored to traditional media – to the digital era. The article, based on 21 interviews with Israeli users of news websites, argues that comments-browsing on the Internet gives a new meaning to the notion of a quasi-statistical assessment of public opinion. The…
Orality
Orality as a term is often used to contrast societies that have no writing technology with literate societies and cultures. Yet the dichotomy of orality and literacy is in many ways artificial. In communication studies, orality more commonly refers to a kind of osmosis between textual and oral spheres. Shifts in the history of communication—such as the rise of writing, print, electronic and digital media—can be analyzed from the perspective of th…
The Oral Paradigm and Snapchat
In this short essay, I argue that the ephemeral nature of emerging instant-messaging applications, such as Snapchat, applies an oral paradigm. While online discourse of computer-mediated communication shares many qualities with oral communication, the case of ephemeral applications is unique, as the oral features are already integrated in the application technology design and as orality is often implemented on highly visual products. Snapchat app…
Mass Communication in Israel
Mass communication has long been recognized as an important contributor to national identity and nation building. This book examines the relationship between media and nationalism in Israel, arguing that, in comparison to other countries, the Israeli case is unique. It explores the roots and evolution of newspapers, journalism, radio, television, and the debut of the Internet on both the cultural and the institutional levels, and examines milesto…
The Internet and National Solidarity
The increasing popularity of the Internet is often seen as eroding the national functions of mass media. In critically evaluating this assumption, this article examines online media consumption through 2 theories of traditional media that are considered of major significance in understanding the constitutive and reproductive roles of media in national experience: the ritual of simultaneous consumption, along with its implications on the imaginati…
The Anomaly of Galei Tzahal
Israel’s Army Radio (Galei Tzahal) has been broadcasting for sixty years. Unlike military stations around the world, Galei Tzahal has always transmitted from the centre of the country, with programming aimed at the civilian population. This article examines how Galei Tzahal became a leading force in Israeli broadcasting and news coverage. Among other points, the article explores how military broadcasts, which are ostensibly foreign to the democra…
The competing ideals of objectivity and dialogue in American journalism
Objectivity and dialogue are competing ideals in the practice of American journalism and in the way the press is analyzed and ethically evaluated. This article examines the relationship of these two ideals using tools from the dialogical philosophy of Martin Buber and Michael Bakhtin. I argue that 'objective' journalism is part of an atmosphere that observes, maps, gathers information, and objectifies social phenomenon while keeping an outsider p…
Antisemitism, Statistics, and the Scientization of Hebrew Political Discourse
Over the past decade, the nineteenth-century engagement of Jews with statistics has become the subject matter for a growing body of literature within the field of Jewish studies.1 As the literature indicates, social scientists, influenced by the natural sciences, began using statistical data as a tool for legitimation and a source of hope for solving social problems. Jews became an important object of social-statistical studies, which were often …
Antisemitism, Statistics, and the Scientization of Hebrew Political Discourse
O ver the past decade, the nineteenth-century engagement of Jews with statistics has become the subject matter for a growing body of literature within the field ofJewish studies.' As the literature indicates, social scientists, influenced by the natural sciences, began using statistical data as a tool for legitimation and a source of hope for solving social problems. Jews became an important object of social-statistical studies, which were often …
The competing ideals of objectivity and dialogue in American journalism
Objectivity and dialogue are competing ideals in the practice of American journalism and in the way the press is analyzed and ethically evaluated. This article examines the relationship of these two ideals using tools from the dialogical philosophy of Martin Buber and Michael Bakhtin. I argue that 'objective' journalism is part of an atmosphere that observes, maps, gathers information, and objectifies social phenomenon while keeping an outsider p…
The Internet and National Solidarity
The increasing popularity of the Internet is often seen as eroding the national functions of mass media. In critically evaluating this assumption, this article examines online media consumption through 2 theories of traditional media that are considered of major significance in understanding the constitutive and reproductive roles of media in national experience: the ritual of simultaneous consumption, along with its implications on the imaginati…
Algorithmic Personalization and the Two-Step Flow of Communication
This study examines the relevance of traditional mass communication’s two-step flow-of-communication theory in relation to algorithmic personalization. I compare the two-step flow theory’s concept of personalized content through opinion leaders with the current notion of personalized algorithms, arguing that opinion leaders and algorithms both function as gatekeeping agents. I also discuss the nature and role of peer groups in the two cases, argu…
The Oral Paradigm and Snapchat
In this short essay, I argue that the ephemeral nature of emerging instant-messaging applications, such as Snapchat, applies an oral paradigm. While online discourse of computer-mediated communication shares many qualities with oral communication, the case of ephemeral applications is unique, as the oral features are already integrated in the application technology design and as orality is often implemented on highly visual products. Snapchat app…
Assessing the climate of public opinion in the user comments era
This article examines the role of user comments in evaluating the climate of public opinion. It aims to evaluate the relevance of quasi-statistical assessment of public opinion – which was tailored to traditional media – to the digital era. The article, based on 21 interviews with Israeli users of news websites, argues that comments-browsing on the Internet gives a new meaning to the notion of a quasi-statistical assessment of public opinion. The…
The Role of User Comments in Estimation of the Public Opinion Climate and Perceived Support for One’s Opinion
This article examines how user comments influence assessment of public opinion climate and perceived support for one’s opinion. The effects of user-comment sentiment (positive vs. negative) and of user-comment content (with or without personal exemplification) were tested with an online experiment (n = 1,510). Results show that user-comment effects on estimates of public opinion depend mainly on the sentiment of the comments and not on their fram…
Antisemitism, Statistics, and the Scientization of Hebrew Political Discourse
O ver the past decade, the nineteenth-century engagement of Jews with statistics has become the subject matter for a growing body of literature within the field ofJewish studies.' As the literature indicates, social scientists, influenced by the natural sciences, began using statistical data as a tool for legitimation and a source of hope for solving social problems. Jews became an important object of social-statistical studies, which were often …
Antisemitism, Statistics, and the Scientization of Hebrew Political Discourse
Over the past decade, the nineteenth-century engagement of Jews with statistics has become the subject matter for a growing body of literature within the field of Jewish studies.1 As the literature indicates, social scientists, influenced by the natural sciences, began using statistical data as a tool for legitimation and a source of hope for solving social problems. Jews became an important object of social-statistical studies, which were often …
Antisemitism, Statistics, and the Scientization of Hebrew Political Discourse
O ver the past decade, the nineteenth-century engagement of Jews with statistics has become the subject matter for a growing body of literature within the field ofJewish studies.' As the literature indicates, social scientists, influenced by the natural sciences, began using statistical data as a tool for legitimation and a source of hope for solving social problems. Jews became an important object of social-statistical studies, which were often …
The competing ideals of objectivity and dialogue in American journalism
Objectivity and dialogue are competing ideals in the practice of American journalism and in the way the press is analyzed and ethically evaluated. This article examines the relationship of these two ideals using tools from the dialogical philosophy of Martin Buber and Michael Bakhtin. I argue that 'objective' journalism is part of an atmosphere that observes, maps, gathers information, and objectifies social phenomenon while keeping an outsider p…
The Anomaly of Galei Tzahal
Israel’s Army Radio (Galei Tzahal) has been broadcasting for sixty years. Unlike military stations around the world, Galei Tzahal has always transmitted from the centre of the country, with programming aimed at the civilian population. This article examines how Galei Tzahal became a leading force in Israeli broadcasting and news coverage. Among other points, the article explores how military broadcasts, which are ostensibly foreign to the democra…
The Internet and National Solidarity
The increasing popularity of the Internet is often seen as eroding the national functions of mass media. In critically evaluating this assumption, this article examines online media consumption through 2 theories of traditional media that are considered of major significance in understanding the constitutive and reproductive roles of media in national experience: the ritual of simultaneous consumption, along with its implications on the imaginati…
Mass Communication in Israel
Mass communication has long been recognized as an important contributor to national identity and nation building. This book examines the relationship between media and nationalism in Israel, arguing that, in comparison to other countries, the Israeli case is unique. It explores the roots and evolution of newspapers, journalism, radio, television, and the debut of the Internet on both the cultural and the institutional levels, and examines milesto…
Orality
Orality as a term is often used to contrast societies that have no writing technology with literate societies and cultures. Yet the dichotomy of orality and literacy is in many ways artificial. In communication studies, orality more commonly refers to a kind of osmosis between textual and oral spheres. Shifts in the history of communication—such as the rise of writing, print, electronic and digital media—can be analyzed from the perspective of th…
The Oral Paradigm and Snapchat
In this short essay, I argue that the ephemeral nature of emerging instant-messaging applications, such as Snapchat, applies an oral paradigm. While online discourse of computer-mediated communication shares many qualities with oral communication, the case of ephemeral applications is unique, as the oral features are already integrated in the application technology design and as orality is often implemented on highly visual products. Snapchat app…
Assessing the climate of public opinion in the user comments era
This article examines the role of user comments in evaluating the climate of public opinion. It aims to evaluate the relevance of quasi-statistical assessment of public opinion – which was tailored to traditional media – to the digital era. The article, based on 21 interviews with Israeli users of news websites, argues that comments-browsing on the Internet gives a new meaning to the notion of a quasi-statistical assessment of public opinion. The…
Opinion expression via user comments on news websites
User comments have become an essential part of news websites. In this article, we examine this mode of public expression via the theory of the spiral of silence. This is done while adopting alternative measures, with regard to three major issues on the Israeli agenda, and in comparison to expression in public, as in the traditional theory. Based on an Internet survey (n = 712), the present study results support the relevancy of the spiral of sile…
Algorithmic Personalization and the Two-Step Flow of Communication
This study examines the relevance of traditional mass communication’s two-step flow-of-communication theory in relation to algorithmic personalization. I compare the two-step flow theory’s concept of personalized content through opinion leaders with the current notion of personalized algorithms, arguing that opinion leaders and algorithms both function as gatekeeping agents. I also discuss the nature and role of peer groups in the two cases, argu…
The Role of User Comments in Estimation of the Public Opinion Climate and Perceived Support for One’s Opinion
This article examines how user comments influence assessment of public opinion climate and perceived support for one’s opinion. The effects of user-comment sentiment (positive vs. negative) and of user-comment content (with or without personal exemplification) were tested with an online experiment (n = 1,510). Results show that user-comment effects on estimates of public opinion depend mainly on the sentiment of the comments and not on their fram…
Computational Analysis of Historical Hebrew Newspapers
This article focuses on one decade, 1874–1883, in the relatively long lifespan of the Hebrew weekly Ha-Tzefirah , which was founded in Warsaw in 1862. Applying computational tools to the study of the early Hebrew press requires a unique effort. The Hebrew language in general is distinct in its characters, morphological structure, and word order. The contribution of this proof-of-concept study is two-fold: First, computational analysis provides a …
Mass Communication In Israel
Mass communication has long been recognized as an important contributor to national identity and nation building. This book examines the relationship between media and nationalism in Israel, arguing that, in comparison to other countries, the Israeli case is unique. It explores the roots and evolution of newspapers, journalism, radio, television, and the debut of the Internet on both the cultural and the institutional levels, and examines milesto…
Sociology (10 works) · Computer Science (9 works) · Political science (9 works) · History (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Politics (6 works) · Social Media and Politics (6 works) · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Media Studies and Communication (5 works)