The three members of the core project team are associated with the Writing in Digital Environments Research Center at Michigan StateUniversity.
William Hart-Davidson is an assistant professor of rhetoric and writing and co-director of WIDE. His expertise includes the application of user-centered design principles to the development of digital writing systems. He is the director of the Samaritan digitization project.
Jim Ridolfo is a Ph.D. candidate in rhetoric and writing. As part of the WIDE team, he produces digital resources for community organizations. He has a specific interest in scribal practices and the printing press, and is also a student of Hebrew. Ridolfo has been a primary organizer of the Samaritan digitization project and will work on interface and database design, multilingual support, beta testing and project communications.
Michael McLeod is head software developer for WIDE. He will create the visual scroll interface software (using Zoomify) and will help conduct usability tests of the beta version.
WIDE has assembled a distinguished advisory group that includes members of the Samaritan community, archivists and biblical scholars. The group will provide advice during all phases of the project, including digitization, conceptual design, prototyping and implementation.
Robert T. Anderson is professor emeritus of religious studies at MSU. He has published several books and numerous articles on MSU’s collection of Samaritan texts and artifacts. Anderson will provide advice on tailoring the project’s interface to serve the specific research and textual scholarship needs of biblical scholars.
Peter Berg is head of Special Collections, MSU Libraries. He will provide access to MSU’s Samaritan holdings and will work with Cynthia Ghering to ensure the project’s compliance with Institute of Museum and Library Services best practices.
Marc Bernstein is assistant professor of Hebrew and Israeli cultural studies at MSU. His book, “Stories of Joseph: Narrative Migrations Between Judaism and Islam,” examines the interdependence of these two traditions, focusing on a 19th-century Judeo-Arabic manuscript from Cairo. His other scholarly work treats the innovative – and at times subversive – use of traditional motifs by modern Hebrew authors and the resultant “conversation” among these writers, as well as their alternative hermeneutic strategies.
Sharon Sullivan Dufour is the North American representative of the A.B. Samaritan Institute and is currently working as an editorial assistant to Benyamim Tsedaka on the first English translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch.
Janice Fernheimer is an assistant professor of rhetoric in the Department of Language, Literature and Communication at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Fluent in Modern Hebrew, Fernheimer has published articles investigating the pedagogic impact of digital communication technologies and the public discourse surrounding Jewish identity claims. As an external evaluator in the testing and revising phase of the project, she will help the core project team determine whether it has met the project’s initial design goals.
Cynthia Ghering is director of University Archives and Historical Collections at MSU. Her research interests include archives and museum informatics, archives 2.0, electronic records and outreach and engagement. She will oversee the digitization of all delicate materials in keeping with IMLS best practices. Ghering will also assist in developing metadata schemes for the project. She hopes to use this project as a prototype for a new university-wide digital archive system.
Benyamim Tsedaka is an Israelite Samaritan elder living in Holon, Israel, and is also the head of the A.B. Samaritan Institute’s research center. In addition to speaking internationally on the cultural, religious and political situation of the Israelite Samaritan community, he also serves as chief editor of the only Samaritan periodical in the world, “A.B. – The Samaritan News.” Tsedaka has published nearly 100 books and articles on the Israelite Samaritans. His assistance will help ensure the digitization project meets the needs of the Israelite Samaritan community.
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