Born in Israel and raised partially in East Asia, I have been lucky to travel and live in various countries around the world. Trained in both computer science and design, my professional identity centers around bridging the two worlds.
My personal blog | gilgul on Twitter
I live in New York City and may be reached at giladlotan -at- gmail -dot- com
Latest posts by Gilad Lotan
Israel, Gaza, War & Data – The Art of Personalizing Propaganda
While war rages on the ground in Gaza and across Israeli skies, there’s an all-out information war unraveling in social networked spaces.
Bus Explodes in Central Tel Aviv Hours Before Ceasefire
Hours before a truce was declared between Israel and Hamas, a bus exploded in central Tel Aviv around noon today, injuring some 17 people. Hamas took responsibility for the blast, which many said would put a dent on talks of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, who have been clashing for a week.
Israel: Reality Under Missile Attacks
Israelis have been using social media to document and share their experiences over the past five days as Hamas rockets fall like rain on cities across the Southern and Central regions of Israel. While the IDF has been heavily using Twitter to control the message and rally support online, many Israelis turn to Facebook, YouTube and Instagram to share their day-to-day experiences in dealing with the tense situation.
Israelis Protest Military Operation against Gaza
Yesterday a Facebook group organized hundreds of Israelis to gather in Tel Aviv's Habima square. The group calls for people to “Refuse the election war! Refuse to die or kill in the name of a political spin.”
Israeli Tourist Bus Attacked in Bulgaria
At least seven people were killed in an attack against Israeli youth on a tour bus in Burgus Airport in Bulgaria. Reports claim the attack was most likely carried out by a suicide bomber, who was either next to the bus or who got on the bus.
Israel: Violent Protests Across Tel Aviv #J14
Thousands rushed to the streets of Tel Aviv Saturday evening, June 23rd, after violent clashes erupted between protesters and cops the previous day. On Friday, June 22nd, social justice (#J14) protesters attempted to re-occupy Tel Aviv's Rothshield boulevard with tents and were met with heavy violence from police.
Arab World: Global Voices Bridges on Twitter
As a part of our end-of-year coverage we in the Middle East and North Africa region look back at some of the major events we covered during 2011. The following post highlights the role of the Global Voices Online community in spreading information on Twitter during the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions.
Israel: Whistleblower Anat Kamm Jailed for Exposing IDF Assassinations
Anat Kamm is an Israeli journalist who was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for leaking thousands of classified military documents to another journalist. Information from the documents suggests the IDF defied a court ruling against assassinating wanted militants in the West Bank.
Israel: J14hackers build SMS-Twitter Gateway for Protests
The hacker collective J14hackers put together an SMS-Twitter gateway which enables easy content publishing from a local phone to Twitter. Users in Israel can send an SMS from their phones to 052-5635053, and the content of their message will be posted on the @J14Mobile Twitter account.
Israel: Protests for Social Justice Sweep the Country
What started as a local protest against the skyrocketing housing market in Tel-Aviv has escalated into the largest public uprising that the state of Israel has ever witnessed. The movement for social justice spurred tent cities in major metropolitan hubs across the country, mobilizing over 4 per cent of Israel's total population (one out of every 20 Israelis took to the streets in last week's massive protest).
United Kingdom: #BlameTheMuslims Twitter Hashtag Spins Out of Context
Sanum Ghafoor is a 19-year old Muslim student in the UK. Aggravated at how Muslims were immediately accused for any act of violence, especially following last week's Oslo attacks, Sanum let out steam by tweeting with the hashtag #blamethemuslims. The hashtag was wholly taken out of context, leading to a plethora of frustrated users.
Israel: Goldstone Op-Ed Taken on a Media Spin
The Washington Post published a highly controversial op-ed by Richard Goldstone, who led the UNHRC fact-finding mission to investigate international human rights and humanitarian law violations related to the Gaza war. Netizens debate the article in this post.
Egypt: Social Media in the Middle East as a Tool for Incremental Change
In this post, we reflect on Egyptian blogger Hani Morsi's writing about technology driven activism and the role social media plays in providing incremental societal change. Hani's core argument focuses on the long term effects of social media.
Egypt: Visualizing Topics Shared on Twitter
Twitter has played an instrumental role in keeping the world abreast of the latest developments in Egypt, where demonstrations against the 30-year rule of president Hosni Mubarak have entered their fourth day. The following widget shows Twitter content mentioning the hashtag #jan25 over the last three days, and are all related to terms mentioned in people's Twitter messages.
Egypt: Tweeting the Protests Continues
The blackout on the Internet in Egypt was supposed to thwart efforts to let the world know what was happening on the ground, as massive demonstrations against president Hosni Mubarak enter their fourth day. This attempt has failed as the tweets covering the unfolding events in Egypt continued to dominate our Twitterfeed. Here is a round up of some of the tweets.
Israel: Bloggers Eye Gaza as Egypt Unrest Spreads through Sinai
This is a summary of Israeli perspectives, blog posts, and media shared online over the last two days, in reaction to the unrest in Egypt. Referenced by Israeli sources as the 'Egypt Intifada', bloggers are looking closely at the spread of the violence into Sinai and the possibility of igniting violence in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank.
Israel: Controversial Loyalty Oath Undermines Democracy
The Israeli cabinet approved by a 22-8 vote the proposed amendment to Israel's Citizenship Law, which would require all those seeking citizenship to pledge allegiance to Israel as a “Jewish and democratic state," sparking controversy on the ground and online.
Israel: Rape by Deceit or Racism?
The recent conviction of rape by deceit of an Arab posing as a Jew to seduce a Jewish woman to engage in sexual intercourse has sparked conversations across the Hebrew blogosphere about the dire inequality between Jews and Arabs living in Israel. Gilad Lotan translates some of the reactions from Hebrew.
Israel: A mixed bag of reactions to the flotilla raid
The following post is an assortment of blog entries translated from Hebrew, all taken from the 'hot-topic' page dealing with the flotilla raid, on the Israeli blogging platform Israblog, writes Gilad Lotan.
Israel: Fighting the #Flotilla Digital War
The global impact that social media and the real time web had as this story evolved is undeniable. From Twitter to Facebook and onto active forums and talkback threads, the battleground has shifted from the Mediterranean to a digital cacophony of data. Gilad Lotan has more.
Israel: Flotilla Clashes are a “Serious PR Disaster”
Severe clashes between flotilla members and IDF forces have been highlighted in news organizations and blogs around the world. Massive protests are taking place, calling for justice and for action to be taken against Israel. The exact turn of events is still blurry. What happened at the break of dawn,...
