To install this on a Mac, download JP’s plugin (it is an XML file so “Save as…” to the computer. Then go to the Firefox.app, right-click on it and select “Show Package Contents.” That will show you what is bundled into the program. Now go to Contents/MacOS/searchplugins and drop the file in there. Restart Firefox and away you go! Very nice and convenient.

 

In House – Storehouse
There are two options for SBL. They can manage blogging in house or they can act as a store house. The first, I think, is impractical. There is no way that every session can be blogged. It does, however, make sense to me, as Tyler suggests, that SBL provide an institution blog of major presentations. That such a formal blogging should occur through the SBL Forum makes sense.

What I would find far more useful, however, is that the Forum should instead serve as a storehouse (linkhouse) to other blogs. Inside Higher Ed does this now for a few select blogs on education. Simply providing a page with links to SBL-affiliate bloggers who are willing to make a prior commitment to blogging the conference would be great. (A mashup of their feeds would be even better!) Of course there might be a little bickering and jealousy over who gets selected (*ahem*) but I think such a service would be a great opportunity for biblicabloggers and non-blogging scholars alike. It would certainly be great, and has been when it has already occurred, to read blog-reviews of sessions I could not attend.

How should we blog a conference?
I nearly forgot to add this! As suggested above, I think that those of us who do blog regularly (when not overwhelmed with administrative obligations) should try and compose at least a daily account of the conference. What we found of interest, of use, or offensive (that’s always interesting). Even better is a summary or a live-blog of the sessions and papers we attend. I have found this actually helps me, like taking notes in class, to better “hear” and retain the information being delivered.

Podcasting
In January I exchanged a few emails with Matthew Collins, the Director of Congresses and Professions for SBL, regarding podcasting SBL sessions. SBL used to tape prominent sessions on a regular basis and while the initial, upfront cost would be substantial to purchase equipment to regard all sessions, it is certainly feasible. SBL gave me permission, so long as all speakers gave permission, to post as podcasts the papers from our Aramaic Session. This I did and with permissions will do again this year (albeit with a power cord or at least additional batteries to ensure that I capture all the papers!).

I would also support and encourage SBL to consider Tyler’s suggestion of a regular, daily I should think, podcast from SBL. This could include interviewing prominent scholars, the President, folks on the floor of the books menagerie, etc. In fact, I had hoped to do just that last year and I will make every effort to do so this year. So either SBL could ply me with incentives to do it for them or we can just be in a friendly competition.

So thanks to Leonard Greenspoon for contact Tyler Williams and Tyler for posting this for all of us to comment upon. What other thoughts are out there? Please do share because I think if SBL can do this and do it well it will be a great service to the broader community. (And those who know me will know that I do not use the notion of technology developing community lightly.)

 

Thanks for all the hard work and a great Carnival Jim!

 

Thanks Chris!

 

I suppose this is about like a lightening strike close by. At the first you are just petrified with fear and then, when you realize that you are still alive and unhurt, you are tremendously relieved.

 

Rule 1) List three reasons for your blogging.
Rule 2) List these rules.
Rule 3) Tag three others with the thread.

Working out of order, I have already complied with Rule 2. Now, to list my three reasons for blogging. The truth is, I could just nick Doug’s and it would be accurate.

1. To hear myself think – Although I am now very fortunate to be at a university with several outstanding scholars in related fields, for years I was fairly alone academic wise. I had a great NT colleague, but there was no one directly in my field within an 8 hour drive. I thought that by blogging on my research I could connect with other folks in the field and feel more a part of an academic community. The sad truth is I don’t blog all that often specifically on my research and there aren’t all that many people working on rabbinica who blog (at least I haven’t found them).But the blog still serves as a sounding board for me. I throw out ideas and basically just think out loud, which is how I work best.
2. To share ideas – I do feel that I occasionally have some useful things to say and that they needn’t always go through peer review and editors to get out there. The medium is now here so why not use it to share my thoughts on anything and everything.
3. Community – Although I know of only a few people who are working in my specific academic field there are hundreds of you out here who now make up a community that I am very glad to be a part of and that I would miss if I were to stop. This became clear to me when so many of you asked about me during Katrina. And it is a wonderfully diverse and divergent group with interests ranging from biblical studies to political activism. I love it and thank you for letting me be a part of it.

Now, to show my thanks I will annoy three of you. As is expected by now I must tag Dr. Jim West and Chris Tilling. I will also tag my friend in Aramaic studies (although he is far my superior) Dr. Ed Cook.

 

Previous Biblicapodcasts:

• Rick Brannan
• Dr. Jim West

And the Brothers Podcasts (“two brothers, two professors, and at least two points of view”) can be found here.

 

Biblical Studies Blog Carnival XXVII

To the right as we move down the midway is the translation booth. Zondervan posted an article by Karen H. Jobes entitled “Bible Translation as Bilingual Quotation”. They issued an open invitation to bloggers to respond to the article and several took up the challenge. Jim Getz at Kethubim criticized the article in his post “How to Lie with Statistics: Bible Translation Edition”. At Ancient Hebrew Poetry, John Hobbins wrote two pieces in response: “Karen Jobes Squares Off against the Essential Literalists” and “Defining Faithful Translation: Why Jobes is Only Half Right”. The Epistle of Thomas joined the discussion with “Verbosity in English Translations”. Wayne Leman at Better Bibles Blog has a short discussion that contains links to some additional posts on Jobes’s paper.

(Via Blue Cord.)

 

Call for Submissions: Biblical Studies Blog Carnival XXVII

It is almost time for another Biblical Studies Blog Carnival. The next blog carnival will be hosted here on Blue Cord. We are approaching the end of the month, so that means it is time to start submitting your favorite blog posts from February to be included in the carnival. Please submit your nominations for the posts you found to be most engaging, most entertaining, most informative, or most __________ (insert your own adjective here). We try to include the widest variety of topics possible, so feel free to include anything you want — within the following guidelines:

• Academic: Posts must represent an academic approach to the discipline of biblical studies rather than, for instance, a devotional approach. This does not mean that posts have to be written by an academic, PhD, or professor — amateurs are more than welcome! Nor does it mean that posts must take a historical critical approach — methodological variety is also encouraged.
• Biblical Studies: Blogs must be broadly focused on discipline of biblical studies and cognate disciplines, including Ancient Near East, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Christian Origins/New Testament, Intertestamental/Second Temple literature (e.g., LXX, Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo, Josephus, etc.), Patristics, Biblical Criticisms and Hermeneutics, Biblical Studies and popular culture, among other things.

The blog carnival is also the place to draw attention to new blogs. If you are aware of any new biblioblogs that have been started during the month of February, be sure to let us know.

You may submit nominations for the blog carnival by mailing them to me at kwilson@bluecord.org. In your e-mail, please include the following information:

• The title and permalink URL of the blog post you wish to nominate and the author’s name or pseudonym.
• A short (two or three sentence) summary of the blog post.
• The title and URL of the blog on which it appears (please note if it is a group blog).
• Include “Biblical Studies Carnival XXVII” in the subject line of your e-mail.
• Your own name and e-mail address.

While the carnival tries to include as many submissions as possible, it is not always possible to accept all nominations. The carnival is intended to highlight the best posts from the previous month, and judgment calls sometimes have to be made on whether a particular post is suitable for the carnival. We do try to include at least one post from each blog that it submitted.

For more information, please see the Biblical Studies Blog Carnival page.

(Via Blue Cord.)