I am a Digital Culture researcher from Tel Aviv. I wrote my doctoral dissertation on Girls’ blogging at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, wrote a book on Hebrew On-line, and currently I am a visiting scholar at Indiana University. I used to be a journalist specializing both in technology and spirituality coverage in Israel and I traveled to 36 countries before my dog forced me to slow down a bit…
You can visit my English blog at http://www.absolutecarmel.com
and follow me on twitter @carmelva
Latest posts by Carmel L. Vaisman
Israel: The Lie, the Truth and the Meme (of the Soldier and the Girl)
A photograph of a street performance in Bahrain went viral, after it was alleged it depicted an Israeli soldier stepping on an Arab girl. In this age of media manipulation and virility, some Israelis decided the best response to a viral lie is a humorous meme, writes Carmel L. Vaisman.
Israel: Netanyahu Threatens to Replace Interns with Indian Doctors
After months of protests, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested replacing medical interns with foreign labor contractors from India if an agreement can not be reached with them. Interns react online, with humor and sarcasm.
Israel: Netanyahu Rapped for Exploiting Shalit's Return
Kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is back home after 1,941 days of Hamas captivity. It is left for social media and a few marginal sections of the online newspapers to critique Prime Minister Netanyahu's approach to Shalit's release.
Israel: Beyond ‘us’ and ‘them,’ Lihi Yona is an Arab Jew
Israeli woman Lihi Yona, a Moroccan Jew descendent, reclaims her Arab roots and complicates local identity politics on a bus ride to Jordan to attend a Lebanese band performance. The...
Israel: A new participatory online video project
“Bits of my life in Israel” is the title of a new video project, initiated by Israeli journalist and blogger Ziv Kitaro. The project invites Israelis to upload short videos...
Israel: Over 1,500 bikers escorted motorbike guru on his last ride
On Wednesday 2/3/2011, a deadly accident took the life of Tal Shavit (55), a local motorbike guru, the founder of Motto Magazine and an activist campaigning for safe riding. His...
Israel: A Music Video Celebrating Egypt's New Freedom
A group of Israeli indie musicians have gathered to create a song, entitled Children of Liberty, expressing their support of the Egyptian people's newly acquired freedom, and have a “toast”...
Egypt: Mubarak has changed his Facebook status to “it's complicated”
Egyptian and other Middle East activists used the language of social media as means of humor to describe the events as they unfolded. Fake accounts for Mubarak are also in abundance, and kept the moral high in the #jan25 Twitter stream, even in the darkest hours of the clashes on Wednesday and Thursday. Carmel L Vaisman Takes a closer look.
East Jerusalem: Sheikh Jarrah is renamed Tahrir Square by activists
The weekly solidarity march of Palestinian and Israeli activists in the East Jerusalem Neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah this morning, was marked by a solidarity protest with the people of Egypt....
Israel: Jews should be banned from learning Arabic
Arab-Israeli author and Journalist Sayed Kashua wrote a humorous yet sharp column targeting the Israeli narrow view point on the events in Egypt: “I used to think one of the...
Israel: Why this Israeli is so invested in Egypt?
Emily L. Hauser writes memories from Cairo as she prays for the Egyptian people: “I know that the Egyptians don’t love the peace that Sadat signed with us. I know...
Egypt: The Day of (Almost) Departure
After two days of clashes, in which pro-democracy demonstrators were attacked by pro-Mubarak crowds, Friday - labelled as the "Day of Departure" saw increasing numbers of people pouring into Tahrir Square, down town Cairo, where the images of peaceful celebrations returned. Carmel L Vaisman brings us highlights from the day.
Israel: Social Media Offers Alternative Egypt Commentary
On social media and blogs, Israelis express mixed feelings about Egypt: intuitive support of the demand for freedom alongside concerns. Carmel L. Vaisman reports.
Israel: Are Peace Activists Harassed by Palestinian Men Being Silenced?
Israeli human rights activists, who regularly join Palestinian demonstrators in Bil'iin and Sheikh Jarrah, are recently blamed for ignoring and even silencing an allegedly common phenomenon of sexual harassment of women activists by fellow Palestinian demonstrators.
Israel: Activists and bloggers protest against deterioration of human rights
As activists are rounded up and arrested on the ground, Israeli bloggers and Twitter users turn to the Internet to fully employ alternative media platforms to influence public opinion and public opinion and struggle for democracy, writes Carmel L. Vaisman, who also updates us about Israel's new biometric law.
Israel: Cellular firm ad stirs occupation debate
A television ad for Cellcom, the largest Israeli cellular provider, sprung an unprecedented debate on the face of the Israeli occupation over the past two weeks. The advert shows Israeli soldiers playing soccer with unseen Palestinians over the wall separating Israel and the West Bank, to the sound of popular music. The ad was accepted as insensitive at best by many Israelis, becoming an icon of blindness to the occupation in the Israeli society, writes Carmel L. Vaisman.
Israel: would Israeli grassroots support harm the Iranian uprising?
In the past two weeks Israelis were following the tweets coming out of Iran with excitement, but divided on the issue of participation in the twitter revolution. Carmel Vaisman brings us the debate..
Israel: Bloggers Back the Struggle for Workers’ Rights
One of the issues Israeli bloggers truly care about and campaign for is workers' rights. At present, two topics are stirring up the Hebrew blogosphere: supporting the academic staff of the Open University that has been on strike for five weeks and counting, and boycotting AMPM drugstores (the "seven eleven" of Tel Aviv) for their workers' rights infringements.
