User:David Hoffman

I live in a lovely neighborhood less than a mile from a topnotch research library, where I spend much of my time. I hold a graduate degree for pursuing my academic interests in public policy, religion, and ethics. I also enjoy reading, teaching, technology, basketball and various outdoor sports. Though based in the U.S., I've had the pleasure of traveling and living in quite different cultural settings.

Current efforts

Jews and Judaism

Sephardi Jews

Ashkenazi Jews

Orthodox Judaism

Conservative Judaism

Reform Judaism

Karaites

Top 10 wish list in random order: Jewish history, Jewish law (halakhah), Holocaust, Israel (currently a stub), Torah, Sabbath and Holy days (Judaism), Rabbinic literature, Modern Jewish thought, Rashi, Maimonides

Bookmarks

Your suggestions welcome here....

My strategy as a CZ contributor

Here are my initial thoughts, which I will revise as I become more experienced here. Please feel free to comment on this statement on my talk page. (You may also edit my wording here!)

Invite collaboration

I love the idea of working collaboratively with people on a compendium of knowledge. Citizendium is appealling because we hope to raise the bar, compared to Wikipedia, by encouraging scholars to become involved. I like the idea of workgroups and an editorial process. Still, there won't be much collaboration without a critical mass of people who join CZ and feel welcomed to change and contribute to articles. I've read and endorse the Statement of Fundamental Principles. I've also read the piece for Wikipedia writers as well as the blog post on un-forking Wikipedia. In my view, it makes sense to try to add something, add a fair amount, to give both current members and visitors enough material to spark their interest and give them places to contribute, even where they aren't experts.

On stubs and imported Wikipedia articles

For this reason, I am inclined to bring in stubs and reasonably good articles from Wikipedia. Such stubs and articles, I think, invite participation and at least give some basic info to enrich the core articles. (My view here goes against the preferred CZ approach). Also, I would think that enough stubs and developing articles would increase readership, within CZ, from Wikipedia or from the Internet overall.

Accordingly, my strategy is to bring in a core set of Wikipedia articlea used to describe Judaism and give them a quick, rough CZ revision. These would include the major movements, the Jews, some key figures, and some key practices, provided that these do not look problematic. I will tend to avoid bringing in beliefs, history, etc., which tend to be more problematic.

Helpful items

Category:Religion Workgroup