The “Bnei Menashe” are a marginalized community that immigrated from India to Israel. The community has diverse information needs, yet they are characterized by difficulties that prevent them from acquiring vital information. In this study, we utilized Sen’s (1993) “capabilities approach” as well as Friedland et al. (2012) “critical information needs” for the identification of the Bnei Menashe’s information capabilities, and the ways in which they answer them. The study was conducted using semi-structured individual in-depth interviews. The findings of the study relate that the Bnei Menashe succeed only partially in realizing the capability of being informed. This is a result of the partial technological exclusion that characterizes the community. This is a first-of-its-kind study, as the Bnei Menashe have not been studied methodically. Furthermore, the utilization of the capabilities approach represents a major contribution to existing communication theories, as the approach allows for a more wholesome understanding of the role of information and communication technologies in society.

中文翻译：

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“他也会成为一个国家，他也会变得伟大”：以色列“Bnei Menashe”移民社区作为能力的信息需求

“Bnei Menashe”是从印度移民到以色列的边缘化社区。社区有各种各样的信息需求，但他们的特点是难以获取重要信息。在这项研究中，我们利用了 Sen (1993) 的“能力方法”以及 Friedland 等人。(2012) 用于识别 Bnei Menashe 信息能力的“关键信息需求”，以及他们回答这些需求的方式。该研究是使用半结构化的个人深度访谈进行的。研究结果表明，Bnei Menashe 仅部分成功地实现了被告知的能力。这是作为社区特征的部分技术排斥的结果。这是一项史无前例的研究，因为尚未对 Bnei Menashe 进行有条不紊的研究。