About

Hi, my name is Sharon Haleva-Amir and i'm a Doctor of Philosophy from the Faculty of Law, at The Haifa University as well as a research fellow at Haifa center for Law and Technology (HCLT). I'm a faculty member at the School of Communication in Bar Ilan University. My dissertation deals with the use of personal Internet applications such as websites, blogs and social networks profiles by Israeli parliamentarians (Members of Knesset or MK's). The research is rooted in the rather recent discipline of e-Democracy. E-Democracy deals with the Mutual relationship between Internet and Democracy. Technical change can enable democratic patterns of communicative power, empower citizens and reinvigorate the connection between citizens and their elected representatives. The research uses a two stage methodology - websites content analysis as well as interviews and open-ended questionnaires with MKs and their staff members. These might reveal the scope and nature of MK's usage in personal internet applications as a communicative & deliberative means. During my doctoral studies I have been an administrative manager of The Center for Democratic Studies (CDS), a Webmaster and a research assistant for 3 years . My prior academic education includes a Bachelor Degree in Law (LLB) from Tel-Aviv University (1991-1995) and a Master degree (MA) in Information Science with Internet & Knowledge Management expertise from Bar-Ilan University (2002-2005). As a member of the Israeli Lawyers Bar since 1996, I have worked as a legal counselor in Torts & Medical Negligence; a legal editor and a legal partner in a lawyers' firm. I have won Doctoral scholarships for excellent students from the University of Haifa and a SHVIL (Transparency International - TI) Israel Scholarship for Establishing a Doctoral research plan which will advance Governmental Transparency. In May 2013 I won Best Paper award of the Israeli Political Science Association for my Hebrew paper "Present - Absentees: MKs Usage of Personal Internet Tools". Fields of Interest include: e-Democracy; e-Politics; Political Communication; Law & Democracy; Law & Technology; Websites content analysis methodology and Children's educational websites.

Research Interests

Cyber Politics, Democracy, Elections, Media, Parliaments, Political Participation, Campaign, Candidate, Internet, Party Members, Qualitative, Social Media

Current/Upcoming Events

Standing Groups and Research Networks

• Internet and Politics