In the digital age, cultural, social, economic and political processes are undergoing rapid change. Big tech companies such as Facebook, Google and Amazon, social networks such as Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok, and of course the internet itself, have become an integral part of our daily lives. They shape how we consume culture and media, communicate with others, define relationships, and make decisions, including how we work, vote, shop, hang out, choose hiking trails, or find partners (and even separate from them).

Members of the department involved in internet and new media research ask such questions as: Who controls the internet? What are the roles of digital popular culture and social media in shaping our values ​​and beliefs? How are new information and media technologies used for political involvement? How are social connections formed and ended online? How are the creation and consumption of current affairs and cultural content in the new media environment being transformed? The department's researchers are at the cutting-edge of research in these areas: they publish in leading journals and with pre-eminent academic presses, and win prestigious grants from research foundations (such as the European Research Council and the Israel Science Foundation) and from industry to investigate these vital issues.

Research topics of department faculty members include:

Dr. Lillian Boxman-Shabtai

* Media audiences in the digital age

* Polysemy (multiple meanings) in the encounter between media and audiences

* Economic inequality: representations and interpretations in digital culture

Dr. Dmitry Epstein

* Internet governance and policy

* Privacy and cyber-security

* Online public participation in policy-making processes

Personal website: www.thinkmacro.org

Dr. Blake Hallinan

* Technologies of evaluation

* Digital labour

* User-generated content

Personal website: https://www.blakehallinan.com/ 

Prof. Nicholas John

* Unfriending and online disconnection.

* Epistemology and the network

* Internet sharing and beyond

Personal website: nicholasjohn.huji.ac.il

Prof. Neta Kligler-Vilenchik

* Political involvement and political expression among young people online

* How different platforms shape political expression

* Daily political discourse on the net

Personal website: www.netakv.com

Prof. Limor Shifman

* Memes, popular culture and civic participation

* Values ​​in social media

Personal website: limorshifman.huji.ac.il