J-blogosphere

J-blogosphere is the name that some members of the Jewish blogging community use to refer to themselves. Blogs with a Jewish focus are called J-blogs. The name "J-blogosphere" was coined by Steven I. Weiss when he was the leader of "Protocols," a now defunct group J-blog, and one of the first notable Jewish blogs.^{[citation needed]} Variations on the term were employed there as early as August 2003, and the first use of "J-blogosphere" appears to have been made in February 2004.

Overview

A blog is generally accepted as a "J-blog", or part of the "J-blogosphere", if the blogger is Jewish and discusses Jewish political, religious, or personal themes. There is no way of knowing exactly how many J-blogs there are, although several have come together to create a Jewish pod on BlogAds.

The JIBs

The "Jewish and Israel Blog Awards" are the J-blogosphere's informal annual award contest. The aim of the contest is to direct new readers towards Jewish, Israeli, and pro-Israel blogs. The JIBs begin with nominations in January and then a semifinal and final round. Good-natured rivalry and campaigning are associated with this event.

The contest was first run in 2004.^[1] In 2005 the Jerusalem Post took over hosting duties.^[2]

In 2006, Israel Forum was invited to host the JIB awards and instead established a new blogging award named The People's Choice Awards. This resulted in the cancellation of the JIBs and The People's Choice Awards running in its place.^[3]

In 2007, a group of Jewish bloggers formed a committee to run the awards and launched JibAwards.com as the awards site.

There have been no Jewish Blog Awards since 2008.

Haveil Havalim

"Haveil Havalim" is a weekly collection of Jewish & Israeli blog highlights, tidbits and points of interest collected from blogs all around the world. The name, taken from Ecclesiastes 1:2, is generally translated "vanity of vanities". There have been more than 330 editions of Haveil Havelim, and more than 30 different bloggers have hosted.

See also

• CampusJ
• Cyberchurch
• Bloggernacle

Notes

References

• J Weekly Magazine of Northern California, "Local Jewish blog attempts to unite community", Amanda Ogus (Summer 2006)
• Contact Magazine, "The Internet: Pathways and Possibilities", Various Authors (Spring 2006) – Adobe PDF Format
• PresenTense Magazine article, "Two Jews, Three Blogs: Inside Jokes, Inner Dissent and Inner Life from Bloggers of the Tribe", Esther D. Kustanowitz (Spring 2006)
• JTA article, "From Internet pals to real friends, blogs remaking Jewish community", Sue Fishkoff (May 8, 2006)
• B'nai B'rith Magazine article, "Cruising The Cybershtetl", Richard Greenberg and Menachem Wecker (Spring 2006)
• JTA article, "Sermonizing Mingles With Sex Talk As Jewish Surfers Pick Up Blogging", Rachel Silverman (January 18, 2006)
• Chicago Jewish News article, “Can We Blog? New Way to Talk About Jewish Issues”, Rachel Silverman
• Jewsweek article, "The Jewish Corner of the Blogosphere", Alli Magidsohn
• Cleveland Jewish News article, "Don't Call Me Rebbetzin", Lila Hanft (October 20, 2005)
• World Jewish Digest article, "People of the Blog", Sarah Bronson (July, 2005)
• Bitch Magazine article, "Blog is My Co-pilot", Rachel Barenblat (Fall, 2004)

External links

• J-Blogosphere