Collaborative annotation basics

Annotation has been natural and routine.......for centuries

Adding notes to a text is fairly routine for most of us, whether jotting something in the margin, adding a sticky note, or marking up a pdf digitally. What if......

• your students could engage in collective reasoning on an assigned text?
• you could consume the annotations of others on a given text, and derive some value?
• you could contribute your own knowledge on published papers, well beyond what you contribute in a formalized peer review process?

These are just some of the ways that collaborative online annotation can be beneficial.

According to Wolfe and Neuwirth in From the Margins to the Center: the Future of Annotation the four main functions of annotation are to:

1. to facilitate reading and later writing tasks by making self-directed annotations
2. to eavesdrop on the insight of other readers
3. to provide feedback to writers or promote communcation with collaborators
4. to call attention to topics and important passages

Major players in collaborative annotation

If you'd like to discuss any page on this site via hypothes.is, or annotate any other webpage (internet-wide!!!) using hypothes.is, see instructions on installing a browser add on here