Genazim
The Friedberg Genizah Project
10 July 2012
Announcement 11
DearColleague,
Genazim is proud to announce the release of version 9 of its Genizah website, which can be considered as an excitinglandmark in the brief history of this website development.
Following are some highlights of this version:
-about 56,600 new images of Genizah fragmentshave been integrated in the website since the last version 8.2 of December 2011;
-an original, remarkable and very useful new module for Genizah research activities, that can display 2, 3, 4 instances of the website independently processable,is now available;
-a new OR operator has been integrated in the Advanced Search function;
-the speed of the website operations has been dramatically increased, specially in the Advanced Search function;
-a new Audio-visual help for all the website modules has been produced.
We expect to make another announcement in a few weeks which will contain at least one – probably two - dramatic novelties, and this is expected to end the current cycle of R & D of the Genizah website.
Further details now follow.
A – Images
1. British Library (BL):
Close to 4,400 new images from the BL Genizah collection have been integrated in the website since the last version. With this, we have completed the digitization of the entire BL Genizah Collection. Together with the BL digitization staff we are now reviewing the entire process to find out if we haven't missed something from this collection.
This is a good opportunity to extend again our warmest thanks to Mrs. Ilana Tahan, BL LeadCurator, Hebrew and Christian Orient Studies, as well as to the BL Digitization Lab, for their cooperation and their dedication to the accomplishment of this task with technical excellence.
2. CambridgeUniversity Library (CUL):
More than 52,000 images from the CUL Genizah collection have been added to the site since the last version;in fact, only about 10,000 images from CUL have still to be shot, and wetherefore expect this ambitious project to be terminated this summer, in a couple of months. A similar timetable is planned for the Mosseri collection.
After reaching the end-line, this project would count, undoubtedly, as the largest and most complex digitization project of historical manuscripts ever attempted and accomplished. The cooperation with CUL, and especially with the Genizah Research Unit as well as with the Digitization lab, went exceptionally well, due primarily to the dedication, diligence, professionalism and good will of the GRU Head, Dr. Ben Outhwaite.
3. Jewish Community Warsaw:
A small collection of Genizah manuscripts from the Jewish Community of Warsaw was lost during the Second World War, but Photostats of this collection survived and are now at the Schocken Institute in Jerusalem. 105 digital images of these Photostats have now been integrated in the website. We would like to express our thanks to the Schocken Institute and its Director, Prof. Shmuel Glick, for their cooperation.
4. TempleIsrael of Hollywood:
In our incessant quest for digitizing each and every Genizah fragment anywhere, we were pointed by some friends to just one Genizah fragment kept at TempleIsrael of Hollywood, Hollywood, LA. It was digitized and is now displayed in the website. Our thanks to the Temple officials who helped in that matter.
B – Software
1. Multiple Instances of the website
A new software module is now available, which can drastically enhance the efficiencyof any Genizah researcher working with the website (preferably with a large screen of 22" or more). By clicking on one of the 4 icons on the right side of the top line of the screen, while browsing in the website, and for whatever page displayed, a user can ask for 2, 3, or 4 instances of the website to be displayed simultaneously on his screen. Each such "Instance" ("Window" or "Panel") can now be processed independently of the others.Thus a user can display the image of a fragment in the first (original) panel), its transcription in the second, its identification in the third, and the bibliographical references in the fourth, studying all of them at the same time. Each such instance is open initially as a copy of the original screen, and from that point on every instance can then be manipulated independently of the others.
To return to the original screen, just click on the leftmost button.
The system remembers the state of the different panels when closed, so that a later opening of the 2, 3, 4 instances will restore them, opening them at that state.
If all the Panels remain inactivefor 60 minutes, and only then, will the user get a warning before shutting off the system.
Try it and enjoy it now!
2. Advanced Search
The Advanced Search module has been enhanced with a very useful function: an OR function for every search criterion. Thus, after choosing a search criterion, say "Collection", the user can specify several possible values for this criterion ("Budapest OR Geneva OR Strasbourg"), and not just one value. The same is valid for each of the other search criteria, such as Domain ("Rabbinic Literature: Mishna OR Tosefta OR Bavli"), Author, Title, Language, etc. Notice however that the relationship between the various criteria is still an AND condition, thus: "(Collection Budapest OR Geneva OR Strasbourg) AND (Domain Mishna OR Tosefta OR Bavli)" etc.
3. FOLUS
This module, designed to allow accredited users to add information to the website, has been enhanced to allow for further types of data to be included in the updates: Transcriptions, Translations, and Nikkud.
We again urge our users to add through FOLUS any information they happen to have for any shelfmark, making it available to their colleagues, and adding comprehensiveness and reliability to the Search function. If you wish to add data but still didn't receive your accreditation, please let us know about that and about any problem you may encounter in trying to use this function.
4. Registration
In the new registration format, once a registrant has filled the necessary details and clicked "Submit", he will be able to immediately access the website and browse in it without any further delays. We urge our readers who are not yet registered to do so; it is simple, immediate and free.
5. Speed
Our users will certainly notice a great improvement in the speed of the various actions of the website, and especially in the Advanced Search function. Special technologies were introduced to achieve this speed, and to assure that the user will receive immediately at least the first results of his query.
6. Audio-Visual Help
Although the website is designed to be intuitively operable and self-explanatory, the richness of the available advanced tools and their sophistication sometimes do require clarifications and help. A very convenient and clear Audio-Visual Help is now available for almost all functions of the website (the remaining functions will be included soon). Just click on the Help & Info icon on the right-hand part at the top of the page, choose "Audio-Visual", click on the function for which you need help, put your Audio On, and relax!
Mreover a Video icon appears besides every function for which there is an Audio-Visual help. Clicking on it will immediately trigger that help.
This help function is currently in English; the Hebrew version will follow in the near future.
7. Miscellaneous
a - Titles
In the table with the list of titles from the Genizah, the author's name for each title has been added in parentheses following the title, so as to help in identifying or recognizing the appropriate work.
b – Lexicon
In the Lexicon module of the full-text search, specifying a string will retrieve the list (with frequencies) of all different strings in the appropriate corpus, starting alphabetically with the given string and till the end of the lexicon.
c–Bibliography
The CE equivalent of the Hebrew years of a publication have been added to the record, to allow for comprehensive search on years of publication.
d – Browsers
The website has been adapted to work with the following browsers: IE 7, IE 8, IE 9, Firefox, Safari and Chrome. No further adaptation to additional browsers is currently being planned.
e – Homepage images
Note the new set of rotating images displayed on the Homepage showing Genizah fragments related to "the three weeks" of mourning for the Temple destruction.
Implementation Notes
- It is advisable, when at the login page for the first time following this announcement, to click Control+F5 before writing the login details. If problems still persist, please delete your Internet access history (see below for details if you are not familiar with this function), close the browser and re-open it.
- As happens commonly with heavily revised new versions, some users (especially those using the IE7 browser) may encounter a few difficulties or unexpected problems in using the website. Please send us a message about that, and we will fix whatever needs to be fixed.
- Please note that the only valid way to access our site is through . Trying to access the site through another address will cause you (and therefore us) trouble. In particular, when you add the site to your Favorites, you should do it only through the opening page of the website, and not through the login one (with the username and password). If you are not sure how you did it in the past, please delete it from Favorites and add it through the correct page.
As usual, your comments and suggestions would be most welcome.
Yaacov Choueka
Genazim, Head
NB For deleting Internet history:
IE 7
Tools > Delete Browsing History > Delete cookies, Delete History
IE 8, 9
Ctrl+Shift+Delete >
Make sure to uncheckPreserve Favorites website dataand check bothTemporary Internet FilesandCookies
ClickDelete.
Chrome
Ctrl+Shift+Delete > Clear Browsing Data > Clear Access Data
Firefox
Ctrl+Shift+Delete > Everything >Clear now
Safari
Reset Safari > Clear History Reset
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