Avner Kantor

Profile

Data scientist and researcher specializing in data journalism, social network analysis, and time series forecasting. Experienced in both academic and applied settings, bridging computational social science, data visualization, and statistical modeling to generate insights in healthcare, education, and digital democracy.

Education

Academic Positions

Manuscripts Under Review

• Kantor, A., & Rafaeli, S. Information accessibility and network structure: How data journalism shapes deliberation. (Under review, Journalism.)
• Kantor, A., & Rafaeli, S. From data journalism to rationality: A content analysis of audience response in The New York Times. (Revise & Resubmit, Journalism Studies.)

Papers in Refereed Conference Proceedings

• (2025, forthcoming) Kantor, A., & Rafaeli, S. Data, sense, and sensibility: How data journalism style shapes interactivity. Selected Papers of Internet Research (AoIR), Niterói, Brazil.
• (2025) Kantor, A., & Rafaeli, S. Conversations with data: How data journalism affects online comments in the New York Times . Proceedings of the 58th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Waikoloa, USA.
• (2021) Kantor, A., & Rafaeli, S. Independence through data journalism . Selected Papers of Internet Research (AoIR), Virtual Event.
• (2020) Kantor, A., & Rafaeli, S. Open PISA: Dashboard for large educational dataset . Proceedings of the Seventh ACM Conference on Learning@Scale, Virtual Event.

Refereed Conference Presentations

• (2025) A hybrid analytical framework for studying network mechanisms. Sunbelt International Conference on Social Network Analysis, Paris, France, June 23–29. Accepted; not presented
• (2022) Engagement with visualizations in The New York Times. The Israeli Visualization Conference, Shenkar College, Ramat Gan, Israel, May 12.
• (2020) Does data journalism engage its audience? Computation + Journalism Symposium, Virtual Event, USA, March 20–21.
• (2017) Big data and citizen empowerment. Public Policy and Politics in the Age of Media and Data, Open University of Israel, Ra’anana, Israel, December 24.
• (2017) Education data journalism. The Israeli Visualization Conference, University of Haifa, Haifa, June 27.

Seminars & Invited Talks

• (2024) “Data journalism”. Lecture recorded for Learning Analytics Café (Prof. Ido Roll’s MOOC), Faculty of Education Science and Technology, Technion, July 29.
• (2017) “Data journalism and education.” Faculty of Education Science and Technology, Technion, November 14.
• (2017) “How can the public be encouraged to investigate educational questions.” Research Workshop of the Israel Science Foundation, Technion, Haifa, June 25.
• (2017) “Education data journalism.” Open Media and Information Lab, Open University of Israel, Ra’anana, February 22.
• (2016) “Open PISA Project.” National Authority for Measurement and Evaluation in Education, Ramat Gan, December 28.
• (2015) “Data journalism.” Special Seminar for World Statistics Day, Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, Jerusalem, October 22.

Research Grants

• Samuel Neaman Institute. Wikipedia digital footprint project (2018). USD $6,000.
• AllCloud Co. Cloud hosting support for the Open PISA Project (2017). USD $11,000.
• Trump Family Foundation. Developed the Open PISA Project (2015–2020). USD $120,000.
• DAAD Center for German Studies. Narrative, Dreams, Imagination: Israeli and German Youth Imagine their Futures (2010–2011). USD $10,000.

Professional Associations & Activities

• Ad-Hoc reviewer: HICSS, CHI, CSCW, Public Understanding of Science (PUS)
• Memberships: International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA), Israel Association for Information Systems (ILAIS), Wikimedia Israel

Work Experience

Technical Skills

References