Meet Prof. Motti Neiger
Meet Prof. Motti Neiger, of the School of Communication at Bar-Ilan University, who researches these questions and others involving media, culture, and technology.
How do digital networks shape the memory of the Holocaust? Can virtual reality technology be used to boost empathy in society? Meet Prof. Motti Neiger, of the School of Communication at Bar-Ilan University, who researches these questions and others involving media, culture, and technology. Prof. Neiger lectures at the School of Communication in areas relating to journalism during conflicts, political communication, journalistic ethics and press freedom as well as popular culture and reality shows. He published four books, dozens of papers and received many grants and awards. For example, last year, his book “Publishers as Cultural Mediators: The Cultural History of Hebrew Publishing in Israel (1910 -2010)” won the Outstanding Book Award from the Israeli Communication Association.
Prof. Neiger is currently spearheading research on the way in which social media – Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram – shapes the memory of the Holocaust. The project deals with the opportunities and challenges of the new media age (e.g. “Eva’s story”) and raises questions, such as who is authorized to tell the story of the Holocaust on digital venues? How does the platform affect memory flow? And, are we witnessing the globalization of the memory of the Holocaust?
Alongside his academic endeavors, Prof. Neiger is an entrepreneur. His startup company, OtheReality, co-founded with his son Yair, uses the power of virtual reality to allow the user to “walk a mile” in someone else’s shoes and feel empathy (for example, a man will be able to see the world through a woman's eyes). The venture, that won awards and global recognition, is gaining visibility and traction with the new CEO and COO as a part of UnBox, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center of Bar-Ilan University.
Prof. Neiger served as President of the Israel Communication Association, the umbrella organization of all media researchers in the country, and was founding editor of “Media Frames: Israeli Journal of Communication.” He also served as Dean of the School of Communication at Netanya Academic College, and as a member of the Ethics Committee of Israel's Public Broadcasting Service. For a decade, Prof. Neiger has been a volunteer Chair of the Communication & Society Curriculum Committee at the Israeli Ministry of Education.