Aaron Spiegel http://www.jta.org/user/profile/25047 en-us zsilberman@washingtonjewishweek.com Copyright 2012 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00 I'm thrilled to see pieces like this starting to circulate in the Jewish world. As several people have noted, we are way behind the curve in using these invaluable tools. I am a bit leery of saying that all we need to do is get everyone to the next NTEN conference. The Jewish world needs more than introduction to the tools (although that's a start) - it needs to learn this new way of being in community. One conference will simply overwhelm those who don't understand the medium and that we don't have the choice of whether or not to use them. The Jewish world, including (and maybe most importantly) synagogues need to learn a new way of thinking. Now that would be a powerful conference! 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00 Brenner’s counter to Bachman is idiotic and just shows the Luddite mentality of the Jewish world. To use data management as an excuse not to manage relationships is, for me, inexcusable. Lists aren't dangerous, mismanagement of lists is dangerous. Brenner's basically saying that we should keep Birthright alums disconnected from the Jewish world. The data shows that they're returning from Israel looking for a connection - they don't find it - and they're enthusiasm for Israel and Judaism wanes. We're losing the future of Judaism - inexcusable. 2012-02-09T;22:54:00-05:00