The One Question I Get Asked Most Often.

I get asked all the time, what's with social media, and why should I join the Facebook/Twitter/Tumbler bandwagon? Moreover, the question really is, how do I get members to my website, and why aren't they coming when I do try? The answer to these question is simple: most websites don't have the content that these social media sites are using to make them seem interesting.  Let's take Facebook for example.  Why is it that over 50 million people are on it?  What makes this simple, no content website appealing? That's the problem; there is lots of content on the site, just not what you think of, when you think 'content'.  Facebook's content comes from the users.  In this day and age, people are interested in what others are doing, or what others think.  It's the natural evolution of the internet.   When the internet first started it was about information being transferred only one way.  You might go online to find out what constellations are visible where you live, or 'how much wood, would a woodchuck, chuck, if a woodchuck, could chuck wood?'  But now people are interested in the personal lives of others; they are interested in peoples personal thoughts and opinions.  It's still about information, just a different kind of information. This brings me back to my point of 'why can't I get my members to visit my website?'  The answer is, your site lacks the content that people find new and interesting.  A great example of an interesting website, with lots of information, is Reddit.  Reddit is a site where people can post anything they want, from articles, to YouTube videos, and even comics that make fun of life situations.  This site has grown from a small community, to having over a million daily hits.  The content on the site is new and interesting; people want to know about it. But what can you do to make your website more viable?  The answer is new and relevant content.  An example might be having students post short blogs about their daily life, or maybe a weekly Shabbat recipe brought to you by the sisterhood.  Some other great ideas might be to offer 'Groupons' (group/website sponsored coupons).  Also don't forget to notify your members about your website and these updates, Constant Contact is great for this type of thing.  These ideas don't have to be long; in fact, the shorter the better (remember twitter is only 140 character posts).  Try new things, update your site regularly, make it easy to navigate.  All these things contribute to getting people to visit your site, and all these things will effect whether or not these people come back again and again.

Digitizing the Ancient World!

Judaism is one of the world's oldest religions, dating back over 5,000 years. Being this old, there is a lot of history to it. Today we are lucky enough to have the technology to look back in time and get a real idea of how these people lived.  One of the greatest discoveries in the past 60 years has been that of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered by archaeologists between 1947 and 1956.  The scrolls are named for the area where they were found, the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, and date back to the 3rd century BCE.  They found 5 different parchments; The Great Isaiah Scroll, The War Scroll, The Temple Scroll, The Community Rule, and The Commentary on Habakkuk.  Each of these scrolls give us insight into the life of the Jewish people during the time of the Second Temple. This is all great information, but what does it have to do with technology?  Over the past few years, the Israel Museum has been working with Google to put these scrolls online.  For the first time, you can now view these scrolls up close and personal without having to travel to Israel.  James S. Snyder, Anne and Jerome Fisher, the Director of the Israel Museum, explained that, "They are of paramount importance among the touchstones of monotheistic world heritage...Now, through our partnership with Google, we are able to bring these treasures to the broadest possible public."  By hosting these scrolls, Google has made it so that you can now explore the life and times of the past. Google used a 1,200 Mega Pixel Camera (keep in mind the camera on your cell phone is at best 8 mega pixels) that had an exposure of 1/4000th of a second.  This was the least intrusive way to shoot the scrolls as light can deteriorate the scrolls themselves (remember they are over 2,000 years old).  You are able to zoom in and really examine these pieces of history.  "The Dead Sea Scrolls Project with the Israel Museum enriches and preserves an important part of world heritage by making it accessible to all on the internet, " said professor Yossi Matias, the Managing Director of Google's Research and Development Center in Israel. The Dead Sea Scroll Digitizing has been funded by George Blumenthal and the Center for Online Judaic Studies. To see them for yourself, head over to The Dead Sea Scrolls Online.  See what life was like 2,000 years ago without ever leaving your chair!