Avner Kantor
PhD candidate at the Internet Research Lab of the University of Haifa in the field of computational social science. My academic background is in philosophy and education while my work experience includes data science and software engineering.
My research interests are civic engagement and critical thinking in theory and practice. Over the years, my approach to these topics has evolved, from one based on philosophy to one that values data literacy, and practically from education to data science work.
As an undergraduate student, I initiated a program to train philosophy students to teach philosophy in primary schools. During this period, I organized the 13th biennial conference of the International Council of Philosophical Inquiry with Children (2007) and initiated an international workshop for philosophy students from Israel and Germany universities (2010).
In my graduate studies, I use NLP and SNA techniques to study data literacy. I created an open data platform for the OECD’s PISA database (2020). It allows audiences to explore the findings of evidence-based education. My current research analyzes data journalism user comments in order to understand how human behavior is affected by data resources.
Last but not least, I enjoy editing the Hebrew Wikipedia. I believe Wikipedia is in fact a way to change the world because the knowledge I share influences other people’s knowledge. This is also how I met my wife. I was honoured to be part of a video for Wikipedia’s 20th birthday.