Michael Nelson, Special Assistant for Information Technology, representing the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, thanked ORT for this demonstration and pointed out that in President Clinton's State of the Union address on 23 January, the President put special emphasis on education technology and what it can do for students worldwide.
Genesis Pentateuch is now in place. Databases for the Atlas, Haftora and Glossary are being worked on, while a team of researchers develop the content for these. It must be remembered that what is steadily appearing under these sections is a Beta version and we will be glad to receive feedback on this material. All comments should be sent to the Director of Information Technology at World ORT Union, Mike Shain
Jewish Search Engine by Courtesy of ORTnet
On the back of the A-Z index of Jewish and Israel Related Resources, a talented Jewish volunteer, Joshua Sacks, has created a finely tuned
Jewish search engine on
ORTnet. It searches all known indexes of Jewish resources on the
Internet by key-word. This makes research and navigation of the
multifarious Jewish resources far easier and much more focused.
Monuments Project Additions
Initial contributions from ORT School in Uruguay and ORT School in
Argentina have been added to the Jewish Monuments Project on the
ORTnet Web. More material is expected to be added once the students
have furthered their research.
Results of the 50th Anniversary Competition
The results of this very successful school competition marking 50 years
from the end of the Holocaust are being prepared for publishing on the Web.
The winners' details and their works will be accessible via the ORT
Education page. The 60 entries included some striking photographs and
pictures, some of which will be exhibited on the Web pages together with the
winning entries. The first three prizes were awarded for poems and texts.
ORTnet Russian Web pages
The Russian pages on ORTnet now total around 100 and include illustrated
sections on Rosh haShana, Yom Kippur, Succoth, Hannuka, Pesach and
the Flag of Israel.
New Educational Material
A demonstration of some new Web-based material which can be used as
aids in teaching Hebrew language and Jewish Education has been added
to the ORTnet Education pages. This material has been prepared by Amos
Rolnik (of Rolnik Publishers) and Dr Aviv Ekrony, Director of Jewish
Education at World ORT Union. The original posters are by courtesy of
Rolnik Publishers. The sections are called "What's in a name" and
"The Sea of Halacha".
Copyright
Obtaining copyright continues to be a grey area in relation to the Internet.
Microsoft, foreseeing the explosion of the Internet, also saw the profit
potential in acquiring the copyright of art works in electronic form and has
already accumulated large amounts of these, making the use of the
materials prohibitively expensive. Other institutions and organisations as
yet are not clear as to the implications of requests for copyright for
publishing on the Internet, often coming up with a negative response or
prohibitive charges.
An example in kind is ORT Buenos Aires' students' production of an inspirational database chronicling the History of Judaism. Unfortunately, due to copyright issues, this database cannot be distributed via ORTnet nor marketed. The work is comprehensive and a fine example of children's authoring (although not hypertext), so it is lamentable that it cannot be made available over the Internet and to other ORT schools. Applying for copyright could be prohibitively time-consuming and costly for ORT Buenos Aires, and in many cases probably unsuccessful.
It is possible that the best way to counter this is to induce producers and publishers of Jewish books, posters and art works to donate the non- exclusive rights to ORT for the use of their materials for ORT's educational ends.
Coming Soon on ORTnet Web
Within the framework of the Jewish life cycle, ORT is preparing an
online exhibition on the theme of Jewish marriage, based on antique
Jewish postcards dating from the beginning of this century onwards.
Programmes in the Pipeline
Information Technology is about two things: information, which is media;
and the technology to distribute it, which is the medium. At the end of the
day, although ORT is creating state-of-the-art material, to achieve this,
ORT needs quality material. The way to achieve quality material is by
being involved in significant projects such as Navigating the Bible.
There are two projects we are keen to develop within the context of Jewish Education: one is a multi-user interactive game; the other is a Hebrew-learning programme. In a sense, the three overlap since some of the resources can be shared across all three. Necessarily, these programmes are contingent on funding.
ORT Server Accesses
The number of accesses to the ORTnet Web pages peaked during the
week of Sunday December 17, the week before Hannuka, when the
total accesses reached 133,762. Normally, accesses are around the
30,000-50,000 mark. Most of the accesses were to the Hannuka
programme.
ORT is now training trainers to deliver ORT's Knowledge Navigator course. Five trainers have undergone the training to date at the Information Technology Laboratory in London, the participants coming through Project Connect from the army's Royal School of Signals and Tresham Institute for Teacher Training. More courses are scheduled.
Again together with Project Connect, ORTnet was represented at the annual conference of the National Association for IT in Further Education (NAITFE) and at the British Education Training and Technology exhibition (BETT). About 200 teachers participated in these events where the presentations on Internet, ORTnet and ORT's Knowledge Navigator course were delivered.
Education Report
ORT has prepared a comprehensive report on school education and the
Internet. The 30-page report is the result of extensive research into the
current state of the Internet vis à vis education, current changes and
innovations in relation to school education, and projections for the future
of school education and the Internet. The report is a useful guide -
especially as an introduction to teachers new to the Internet - since it
includes current resources for teachers and pupils, with dozens of World
Wide Web addresses and e-mail contact addresses. The report is not
available by e-mail but requests for it can be sent to WOU@ort.org and
the report will be sent by snail mail.
The ANJY's penpal service for Jewish youth and young adults has now passed the 300 mark.
ORT Alumni and Alumnae
Now that ORT is networked via ORTnet, we can offer ex-students the
possibility of joining the ORT Alumni Association online and the means
to network with other ORT people.
All graduates of ORT schools and institutions anywhere in the world are now invited to contact ORT with details of the years studied at which ORT institution, e-mail address and current occupation. Please indicate whether you would also like your name to be accessible from a database on the World Wide Web on ORTnet, or just to go on the mailing list. This should also prove a great asset when travelling around the world since the participants will be able to locate alumni in the city they are travelling to.
To this end, a Web form will soon be added to the ORTnet pages. In the meantime, your request to go on the ORT Alumni mailing list and/or database should be sent to WOU@ort.org.
The inspiration for the list and database was a message from Raphael
Blumenfeld, an ex-ORT student:
"I am a theoretical physicist who graduated from ORT Thechnikum
Givaataim in 1973 and would like to know the whereabouts of my class
mates. I looked everywhere in the ORTnet and found no way to search
for them. I would recommend that ORTnet add a possibility for graduates
of ORT to enter their names and coordinates so that a contact may be
established. After all, many of us went on to establish respectable, and
sometimes even prominent, careers and lives. I am sure that ORTnet
would also benefit from tracing past students. Sincerely, Rafi Blumenfeld."
ORTnet Help Desk
The Help Desk processes dozens of requests a week, some colourful
and unpredictable, but most of which are dealt with in-house. However,
one recent message will require the wider network to fulfil the request.
The message was as follows:
"I'm sorry for my lack of computer skills as I am a newby to computer
usage. I read a writeup about the ORT webpage in the Bergen County
New Jersey publication called Bergen Jewish Life. I am a housewife
and foodservice manager and am seeking some adult penpals around
the world. I also thought about the fact that it is a Mitzvah to visit the
sick and elderly. The possibility of cyberspace visiting is enormous. I would
welcome a penpal from a nursing home or hospital. Also the possibility
of patients chatting with one another in different facilities is a fascinating
possibility. Please let me know if such programs are available and if I
could be included. Thank You. Sincerely, Marie Steinberg"
So, if you know a senior who is perhaps sick or house-bound, and who would appreciate having an e-mail pen-pal, please contact the Help Desk (Help.Desk@ort.org) with their name and e-mail address and indicating your relationship with them, so that a connection could be established with Marie Steinberg.
ORTnet / It Department / World ORT Union / help.desk@ort.org