User:Zabek/Miqra:Community portal

Shavua Tov

Hello and Shavua Tov to Ilan and Olve (and anyone else who is visiting).

We need a page for general discussions of how things are progressing, plans, ideas, etc. For now, let it be this page. We can link between parallel "community" pages in the various languages.

I am going to summarize, from my point of view, how things have started the first week of this website, and the issues we now need to deal with. Please add your comments and responses!!

Progress Report: Latin languages

The basic infrastructure for the Main Page has been done very nicely in the three latin languages. Great job, guys!

We have also started to upload a few initial sample recordings, and that is great, too. I personally plan, over the next month, to try to keep adding maftir and haftarot fot the arba parashiyyot, which will be good initial material. I'm also going to upload the entire Terumah in Shauli Hababo's sefaradi-yerushalmi recording. And try to get recordings from other people.

We have a good beginning already with Seth's and Ilan's recordings of Parashat Sheqalim. The short-term plans for adding at least one version for Maftir/Haftara of the Arba' Parashiyyot sound good; as do the plans of uploading a complete version of Teruma. I haven't a microphone here yet -- nor a tape player hooked up to my computer yet, so there won't be any recordings coming from me yet... :( Slightly longer-term, I may upload my W.S. version of a few of the 'aliyyót of Tabo — I read Shelishi, Hhamishi and Shebi'i for my Shabbat hearus a couple years ago. Just need to fresh them up a bit and find some practical way of recording them... :) -- Olve 07:29, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

All of that is ok for me! I can record the maftir of those next week without any problems. Concerning the haftarot, I only read three times in my life (nitsvamim some years ago, with polish tropes, and nitsavim and teruma with sephardic tropes). I think I can record those haftarot, but I don't think I can do great work on haftarot, which I've netver learnt. So, I'll only do maftirs :-). I can without any trouble record all the teruma sidra too. I was thinking that maybe we should record vezot haberacha. Its aliyot are short, and the totality of the sidra uses once or twice all the tropes, the rare ones excepted. What do you think of that? Maccabi 08:56, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

That is of course fine if you would like to. Zabek 16:47, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Recording Files

I've a question abourt recording file, and the name of hashem. How should we read it? Usually, I use hashem (with ashkenazic tropes and amonaï with sephardic ones. I only use the real one for the last 2 days before the kriya while practicing. I've one more question about files. it's not about uploading them, but recording them. which setup of quality shall we use? the maftir I record was more than 1 mo of size, which must be a little heavy. Can you give me the setup you uses seth? Thanks! --Maccabi 09:18, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

The last main "infrastructure" page I plan to write is about how to record audio files. (At least what I know about it.) Hopefully soon. In the meantime I have a strange question, Ilan: I tried to listen to a couple of your new recordings, but I didn't hear anything at all! It played, but it was just silent! Could you check this out from your end? Zabek 16:47, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Hello Seth! I tried downloading them and listening to them and it works without any troubles! Maybe you should increase the valume? Or use a different program to record? what's your recording program? Maccabi 17:00, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Problem (re: Ilan's recordings) solved (it was my speakers). Page about recording audio files: How to record audio files. Zabek 18:06, 14 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Shem Hashem (for Ilan)

It is true that some hazzanim use "hashem" (preferable) or "adoshem" (less preferable) even when they record Miqra. My teachers taught me that this is not correct. Rather, when one recites a full pasuk (as one does when leining) it is actually a mitzvah to recite the entire pasuk correctly, with shem hashem, and it is a kiyyum of mitzvat talmud torah. It is wrong to recite the pasuk incorrectly (without shem adnut).

For fragments of pesukim there are different customs, but that is not so relevat to us. For liturgy (berakhot) there are better reasons to use "Hashem." But even there, shem adnut is permitted when needed for purposes of talmud torah. It is also very true that people who practice using "hashem" often make very embarassing mistakes, and for this reason as well it is not recommended to practice this way. Most recordings for study even of berakhot, for this reason, use shem adnut.

To conclude, for practice of leining, you should probably use shem adnut all the time, at least for full pesukim.

thanks!!!Maccabi 17:00, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Uploading Files

The main problem we have to solve in the near future, for all the languages, is how to upload the files. In my correspondence with Angela before the website was up, she said that, in the near future, there may be two possibilities: (1) To be able to upload a file on any one language wiki and access it on all of them. (2) To make use of the Wikimedia Commons directly from Wikicities.

Since recordings of cantillation should be accessible equally to all languages, especially for linking and category purposes, we need a temporary solution: Where should be upload files in the meantime, and how should we link to them from the other languages? Any suggestions?

Putting them in en: for now seems like a good idea. I like the Commons idea too, though. I presume we may move off this server long-term & set up "our own" full web site. Therefore, and also for the reason of having extra backups in case of a serious server crash (thos do happen...), it probably makes sense that someone stores a backup copy of all the media files in one place for easy uploads later. Or, even better, more than one person doing this. -- Olve 07:29, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Angela replied regarding uploading audio files here]. Zabek 08:01, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

I will respond to this below later. Zabek 16:47, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

I don't know which of 1) ou 2) solutions I uses when uploading my files, but it was great and works good! My question is what for a server we have? (how many amount of space we have?, for exemple). -- Maccabi 08:59, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Angela said up to 2M is no problem, we should ask if we need more. Zabek 16:47, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Policies

Ilan - I saw that you started translating the policies into French. Thanks! The only thing is, be aware that what is written there is not final yet. Both Olve and Angela had a number of comments and suggestions, and I would still like to work those into the English version. After everyone's view has been worked in and we have a consensus, we should figure out some way of making it official.

OK — I am holding off translating these into Norwegian for now. -- Olve 07:03, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

OK. Policies is a huge work of translation. The best is that I wait until we have the final ones :-). -- Maccabi 09:00, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Policies have been revised and are ready for all your comments and suggestions. Zabek 16:47, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Progress Report: Hebrew

In Hebrew we have very little. This is mostly becuase there are a number of technical problems with the Hebrew interface that have not yet been solved. Angela is aware of these and has been very helpful in trying to solve them. In the meantime, until some of them are solved, I suggest that we focus on Hebrew less, except for maybe setting up the Main Page (which means translating the Miqra chart into Hebrew). Note: In the meantime Hebrew is based viewed in Firefox. Explorer causes lots of problems.

For the translation of the Miqra chart, should we use niqqud? And should we go for Biblical Hebrew? Malé spellings? -- Olve 07:06, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

I had originally thought of doing parashah titles without nikkud in the spelling of the mesorah. But it doesn't really matter that much - however it is done will be OK. Maybe nikkud would look nice. Zabek 07:22, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

By the way, you did a really nice job with the colors on your shekalim page. Could you do the same for the Miqra chart? It looks really bland, and this is something I haven't learned to do. Zabek 07:30, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Sitenames: Question

In Hebrew the sitename needs to be <מקר�?> instead of Latin "Miqra". Olve and Ilan, please let know if, in French or Norwegian, you need this spelled in any other way than simply "Miqra" for the sitename. Or is "Miqra" good in all European languages?

"Miqra" is OK in Norwegian. -- Olve 07:07, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

"Miqra" is the standard way of transcripting it, so it's simply the best choice! :-) -- Maccabi 09:04, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Going Public

I suggest that, after we have our policies in place and some good basic material on the website, that we "go public" with a publicity blitz on various web forums where there are people interested in this sort of thing. It might take a couple of months until we are ready. What do you say to Rosh Hodesh Iyyar for a target date? Zabek 21:10, 12 Mar 2005 (GMT)

seems great to me! it would me a great way to add something more for the honour of rosh Hodesh -- Maccabi 09:07, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Logo

Another thing we need is an appropriate, attractive logo (instead of the "city" in the upper corner). For an example of a project with an alternative logo, look [here. This is way beyond my abilities, but maybe someone else can help. Zabek 04:27, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

I think a great idea of logo would be a tora "parchement" (it's the English word?), with a yard reading it. -- Maccabi 09:09, 13 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Independent website

Above, Olve wrote: "Putting them in en: for now seems like a good idea. I like the Commons idea too, though. I presume we may move off this server long-term & set up "our own" full web site. Therefore, and also for the reason of having extra backups in case of a serious server crash (thos do happen...), it probably makes sense that someone stores a backup copy of all the media files in one place for easy uploads later. Or, even better, more than one person doing this."

I agree in principle with all of this (especially about backups). If and when we feel it would be advantageous to set up a site on our own domain, while there is nothing wrong with it, we should at least fully acknowledge, with gratitude, the valuable hosting that Wikicities has been providing for us, and the exceptional help that its staff has been giving us!

Setting up our own domain, now or in the future, depends on having three things:

• The computer expertise necc. to set up mediawiki and create a sort of mirror site that includes all the material found here.
• Someone who is willing to foot the financial bill each month for bandwidth.
• An appropriate domain. This last one, by the way, already exists: Go to "Miqra.info" in your web browser and see where it takes you! Even misspell it "Mikra.info" and see where it goes! Unfortunately, we couldn't use "Miqra.org" or "Miqra.com" because they seem to have already been taken by our Karaite cousins :-) (click them in your browser to see what I mean). Zabek 21:36, 14 Mar 2005 (GMT)

On backups, also read this (very important if we ever want to create our own backups). Zabek 07:43, 15 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Update a week after Purim

Hi folks. Just got back into things (have been away from home). In the very near future I hope to finish loading Shauli Hababo's Terumah in Sefaradi Yerushalmi (and I hope he will think it is very cool hearing himself on the internet, so that he will record more). Plus to finish Parah, Hahodesh, and Shir ha-Shirim before Pesach.

Olve - I hope you buy your microphone soon :-). (It's a reasonable investment...)

Ilan - If megillot and haftarot aren't your thing yet, then I hope you'll continue with parashat ha-shavua. Or even better: How would you like to record the keriot for Pesah? Zabek 14:01, 4 Apr 2005 (EDT)

Hebrew problems solved

Angela has solved the problems on the Hebrew wiki. It's now good to go! Many thanks, Angela. Zabek 15:57, 5 Apr 2005 (EDT)

Haftarah Behukotai

I'm back in business! Just added this week's haftarah. Hope to get back to "seeding" this wiki over the next few weeks and have an announcement for Shavout. Ilan and Olve - hope you'll get back into it (I'll send you e-mails).

I am going to try to do haftarot, Ruth, and maybe even some Kohelet in the near future, a little at a time.

Important: If you listen to the latest haftarah you will hear that I've solved my sound-quality problem, eliminating both static noise and/or an ugly metallic echo that mar all of my previous recordings. I also learned how to cut and paste more efficiently in Audacity, so that I needn't record files more than once. I will summ this up soon on the Audio help page. Zabek 19:40, 26 May 2005 (UTC)