the talmud as a template for digital publishing
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The Talmud as a Template for Digital Publishing. Alte is Neue Again. The Jewish Canon. The Jewish Canon-Reasons. The Talmud. The Talmud. Kilayim Chapter 7, Mishnah 3. The following are forbidden, but they do not prohibit: The remainder of a karahat of a vineyard. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
The Talmud as a Template for Digital Publishing
Alte is Neue Again
The Jewish Canon
Torah
Tanach
Mishnah
Gemorah
Rashi
Tosafot
Maimonides
Kabbalah, Hasidut, Musar
Modern Jewish Literature
The Jewish Canon-Reasons
Torah-The Be All and End All
Tanach—Prophets and Writings
Mishnah—The Oral Law
Gemorah—Explication on the Mishnah
Rashi—Commentary on Mishnah and Gemorah
Tosafot—Followers of Rashi
Maimonides-Dealing with the Renaissance
Kabbalah, Hasidut, Musar-Dealing with Emancipation
Modern Jewish Literature-Dealing with Modernity
The Talmud
The Talmud
Kilayim Chapter 7, Mishnah 3
The following are forbidden, but they do not prohibit:
The remainder of a karahat of a vineyard.The remainder of a mehol of a vineyard.The remainder of an aris-gap.The remainder of papyrus-ropes. But beneath a vine, and within the place left
to work a vine, and the four cubits of a vineyard, these do prohibit.
www.digg.com
Digg.com vs. Talmud
The Problem with Digg.com: Ron Paul
Mob: Wisdom or Tyranny• I stopped reading digg because I was sick and tired of finding out
what Ron Paul had for lunch that day. I was also annoyed when my reasonable comments (”Is there any evidence that, as RonPaulFan2008 says, ‘the Federal Reserve is a sinister conspiratorial cabal?’ I’d really like to see the proof.”) were buried under a raft of thumbs-down votes.
• Digg seems almost completely void of humanity - filled with gutter-snipe misogyny, fringe politics, and the crassest kinds of juvenile behavior.
• All these sites start with a nucleus of dedicated people. Then as the gawkers join in you see a dilution. People who were there originally feel alienated and feel that the thing they helped created is being perverted…it’s the wisdom of the crowds or the tyranny of the mob. You never know what you’re going to get.
The Ron Paul Problem
• Too easy to game.
• Time commitment of commenters.
• Overload of information vs. too narrow a filter.
Result: Value of information declines.
www.instapundit.com
Instapundit Structure
• One editor (rabbi)
• No comments
• Broadcasting model
Fundamental Problem: One filter leads to bias and one person’s overstretched schedule.
www.boingboing.com
Structure and Flaws of boingboing.net
• Cabal of hip editors (rabbis) finding hip things
• Not much community interface
• The good: ultrahip
• The bad: ultrahip
• Boingboing works very well for a specific target niche, but not for everyone.
Talmud Versus News Sites
Other Online Models
• Wikipedia• Knol• Facebook/MySpace• Search Engines• Scientometrics• Flickr
• They all face the same fundamental challenge: creating value from free, digital content.
About Sam Jaffe
• Fifteen years in magazine journalism.• On staff at SmartMoney, Bloomberg,
BusinessWeek, The Scientist• Freelance for Scientific American, Popular
Science, Wired among others• Book on Torah and business to be published by
Amacom in November, co-written with Rabbi Levi Brackman.
• Evergreen, CO• [email protected]