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. 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 guttersnipe 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 • sjaffe@samjaffe.com