Communicating: The 8th annual graduate student conference in memory of Mark Biano

The conference will take place on Sunday the 25th of December on the Mount Carmel Campus of the University of Haifa (program, in Hebrew). The keynote speaker will be Prof. Joshua Meyrowitz who will lecture on "Surveillance and the social reconstrcution of reality" (11:45, Rabin Observatory).

What is Newsworthy? Reexamining News Criteria
Research workshop of the Israel Science Foundation

Organizer: Dr. Yariv Tsfati

23/10/11-26/10/11

(The workshop will take place on the campuses of the University of Haifa)

Starting with a landmark article by Galtung and Ruge (1965), researchers have struggled to decipher the criteria journalists and editors use to define the extent to which different events are perceived as newsworthy. The methodologies, concepts and theories they brought to this intellectual endeavor were diverse. The last decade has seen a substantial revival of empirical research and conceptual work revolving around newsworthiness, gatekeeping and news criteria.

The workshop is intended to encourage exchange of views within the community of scholars interested in this area of research, share ideas about methodological issues and advance theory building. The questions that will be asked include: Is it possible to come up with a list of criteria that journalists utilize to decide what news is and what is not news? Are these criteria stable over time and place? Do news criteria apply to events only, or also to news protagonists? Are they constant for every type of news protagonist? To what extent do journalists' and editors' expectations shape their news values? Are the same criteria that guide news selections apply to new forms of communications, such as user-generated content (blog posts, audience reactions, social networking websites etc.)? Each participant will be asked to present his or her perspective on news values or news criteria and related areas of inquiry.

Beyond Baron and Kenny: Statistical Mediation Analysis in the New Millennium

Prof. Andrew Hayes
Department of Communication, The Ohio State University

Tuesday Feb 8th at 10:30
Room 7004, Rabin Building

Abstract: The analysis of intervening-variable models in social
science predominantly relies on an "old millennium" approach popularized
by Baron and Kenny (1986). This approach conditions the hunt for
intervening variable effects (X->M->Y) on evidence of a total effect
(X->Y), focuses on the constituent paths of the intervening-variable
effect rather than directly estimating it, or relies on
assumption-constrained methods for making statistical inferences that
are lower in power compared to alternatives. This approach is contrasted
with the "new millennium" approach, which emphasizes the direct
estimation of intervening variable effects, uses inferential methods
with more realistic assumptions, and acknowledges that intervening
variable effects can exist in the absence of evidence of an effect to be
mediated. In this talk I introduce some of my work over the last 5 years
that has made new millennium approaches easy to implement on popular
software packages (such as SPSS) and, if time is available toward the
end, I describe some of my latest work on the analysis of intervening
variable models.

Biographical note: Besides a being a scholar of political
communication, Prof. Hayes specializes in advanced methods of
statistical analysis. He is the Editor of the journal Communication
Methods and Measures and author of Statistical methods for
communication science (Erlbaum, 2005). You can learn more about Prof.
Hayes here, and find his most cited article on mediation/moderation analysis here.  

John Durham Peters (university of Iowa) will lecture on "What are Mass Media" on the 30th of December 2010 at 13:45 in room 3044 (Terrace Building).

The "Metaksherim" (communicating) graduate student conference will take place on the 5th of December 2010. The keynote speaker will be Prof. Dr. Helena Bilandzic (University of Augsburg) (See abstract below).


The power of media narratives: Phenomenological experience and effect mechanisms
Prof. Dr. Helena Bilandzic

This talk gives an introduction into the state of the art research in narrative experience and effects. Specifically, it focuses on the way in which narrative engagement is created, and gives a recent account of mechanisms in narrative persuasion, in which emotional processes play the central role. Two very different examples of research in this field of inquiry will demonstrate the range of research options in narrative persuasion: one study investigating changes in social norms through an entertainment-education series conducted in Kenya; another study exploring the effectiveness of narrative strategies in journalistic coverage, comparing German and US-American audiences.

The "Metaksherim" (Communicating) conference, the 6th conference of communication graduate students in memory of  Mark Biano, will take place on the 13th of December 2009 at the University of Haifa (Mitzpor Rabin) (Invitation and program - in Hebrew). The keynote speaker will be Lynn Schofield Clark (University of Denver).

Fantasy & Reality: Depictions of Past, Present & Future

March 18-19, 2008, University of Haifa

Communicating

The 4th Annual Student Research Conference in Memory of Mark Biano

University of Haifa, Decmber 9th, 2007

Conference program (Hebrew)

Keynote Talk:

Prof. Robin Nabi,

University of California, Santa Barbara

Testing the Limits of Social Cognitive Theory:

A cautionary tale for media effects research

Abstract

In the past decades, media researchers have tended to focus on just a few "well-established" theories of media effects, mostly using them as frameworks for research, rather than offering critical tests. This talk will highlight the limitations of this approach, focusing specifically on social cognitive theory. Data from two studies will demonstrate that social cognitive theory may not be particularly well applied to media contexts, particularly for risky behaviors. Implications for the future direction for theory-driven empirical research will be addressed.

Public Opinion, Communication and Elections

A regional seminar of the World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR)

Jerusalem and Haifa, June 26-29, 2007

Seminar program

Studying Social Networks: Markets, Communities and Organizations.

A conference followed by a workshop hosting

Prof. Ronald Rice & Prof. Noshir Contractor.

University of Haifa, June 17-18, 2007

The Inaugural Distinguished Lecture in Communication  

Doomed to Repeat: Media, War and the Unlearned Lessons of History

Robert M. Entman

J.B. & M.C. Shapiro Professor of Media and Public Affairs

School of Media and Public Affairs, The George Washington University

University of Haifa, May 17, 2007

Abstract

The Influence of Presumed Media Influence

Research Workshop of the Israel Science Foundation

 University of Haifa, June 20-23, 2005

Program