About Issuenetwork

Issuenetwork.org is the workshop site by the Govcom.org Foundation, Amsterdam. Like the name of the Foundation, issuenetwork.org is also a conceptual URL. It describes the types of networks we seek and analyse at the workshops, through specially developed software that locates, analyses and visualises densely interlinked pages on the Web. Whenever these pages (be they organizations, documents, news stories) all discuss, debate and configure around the same issue, we call it an issue network.

Palestinian-Israeli Conflict Language Analysis

Categories » General news

October 2005

Coming to Terms. A conflict analysis of the usage, in official and unofficial sources, of ‘security fence,’ ‘apartheid wall,’ and other terms for the structure between Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

Richard Rogers and Anat Ben-David

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The official terms are ‘security fence’ on the Israeli side, and ‘apartheid wall’ on the Palestinian. Both terms fuse two contextually charged notions to describe the construction project. Beyond the two official terms, the structure has been given other names within the region and beyond. The study describes the connotations and implications of approximately ten terms used for the structure, including the names given by diplomatic and NGO sources appearing in the media space (e.g., the International Court of Justice’s ‘West Bank wall’) and by news organizations covering the issue (e.g., ‘barrier wall’).

The Palestinian-Israeli peace process

August 2005

The Palestinian-Israeli peace process and transnational issue networks: The complicated place of the Israeli NGO.

Richard Rogers and Anat Ben-David

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The study investigates the potential consequences of the predominance of the
human rights frame in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The human rights
framing of issues is increasingly prevalent amongst actors working in

NewsTalk, BlogTalk: Post-Workshop Thoughts on the U.S. Elections

Categories » Workshop | The News about Networks 2

Introduction: Elections Analysis and New Media

Historically, the most reliable indications of likely voting behavior have been gained from demographics and polling. Attention also has been paid to news and media exposure - whether candidate coverage and commercials may be significant factors behind swaying the voter. Candidate communication strategies and media bias of one form or another remain the focus of critical study. Referenced in such popular books as The Tipping Point, the study of the changing facial expressions by TV news anchormen as they speak of the candidates stands out. Most recently, analysts are turning to the role of conversations. Inspired by the ignition of the grassroots by Howard Dean and moveon.org's “meet-up's,” the first articles about peer-to-peer voter decision-making are appearing. Conversations at house parties and other informal gatherings may turn a voter, though data are difficult to impossible to obtain. (For the purposes of analysis 'blogs' as well as discussion lists take the place of conversations.) In all, to create likely voter profiles, the leading election analysts now consider demographics, poll results, media exposure as well as loosely organized conversation.

The News about Networks 2: Making Issues into Rights?

Categories » Workshop | The News about Networks 2

June 21-24, 2004 Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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The Govcom.org Foundation, Amsterdam is organising a workshop for public interest groups, advocates, activists as well as academics researching media justice as well as communications and information rights. The workshop is dedicated to exploratory analysis into the depth of the communication between and among these networks.

Over a four-day period, the workshop will provide an immersion experience in Govcom.org's work in the specially constructed media laboratory at de Balie Center for Culture and Politics, Amsterdam. All participants will be invited to use state of the art information tools created by govcom.org and its collaborators. The participants also are invited to present and share their own tools and information.

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