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John Jay College of Criminal Justice
2-2016
Annotate the web: four ways to mark up web
content
Robin Camille Davis
CUNY John Jay College
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Recommended Citation
Davis, R. “Annotate the Web: Four Ways to Mark Up Web Content.” Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian 35.1 (2016): 46–49. Web.
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Thisisanelectronicversion(postprint)ofanarticlepublishedinBehavioralandSocialSciencesLibrarian.Thearticleis
availableonlineathttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01639269.2016.1134233(subscriptionrequired).
Fullcitation:
Davis,R.“AnnotatetheWeb:FourWaystoMarkUpWebContent.”Behavioral&SocialSciencesLibrarian35.1
(2016):46–49.Web.
InternetConnection
Annotatetheweb:fourwaystomarkupwebcontent
Shortenedtitle:Annotatetheweb
RobinCamilleDavis
Abstract:WebannotationhasbeenapipedreamalmostsincethebirthoftheInternetitself.
Commentinginthemarginsofatextitselfissosimpleforpaperandprint,yetreplicatingthe
experienceonlineremainselusive.Inthisarticle,Iexaminefourtoolsforprivateorpublicweb
annotation.HypothesisandGeniusofferusersashareablewaytoannotatewebpageslinebylineand
startconversationsinthemargins.PinboardandEvernoteallowuserstoorganizeandsaveweb
documentsandaddprivateannotations.
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WebannotationhasbeenapipedreamalmostsincethebirthoftheInternetitself.Commentingin
themarginsofatextitselfissosimpleforpaperandprint,yetreplicatingtheexperienceonline
remainselusive.Manyannotationserviceshavefallenbythewayside,includingGoogleSidewiki
andThirdVoice,ascommentaryonwebdocumentshasmovedtocommentssectionsandsocial
media.Butthesefragmentedannotationsaretrappedwithinthewebsiteorsocialnetwork,and
moreoveruserscancommentonlyatthedocumentlevelwithoutdelvingintothetext.Can
granularwebannotationeverbecomereality?
RecentendeavorsatenablingwebannotationincludeHypothesisandGenius,whichboth
offerusersalightweightwaytoannotatetextslinebylineandstartshareableconversationsinthe
margins.Bothoftheseprojectshavethefundingandmomentumtobecomecommonlyusedtools.
TwomoretoolsforclippingandannotatingwebdocumentsincludePinboardandEvernote,which
enableuserstoorganizeandsavewebdocumentsandaddprivatenotesandmetadata.
Hypothesis:annotateandsharelinks
AKickstarterprojectthatsubsequentlywongrantsfromKnight,Mellon,Sloan,andother
foundations,Hypothesislaunchedin2014astheanticipatedanswertotheproblemofweb
annotation(Hypothesisn.d.).Withafreeaccount,ausercanturnonannotationsonanywebpage
oronlinePDFusingabrowserbookmarklet.Thebookmarkletenablestheusertohighlighttext
andaddnotes.Italsoopensasidebarthatdisplaysalloftheuser’sannotations—alongwith
otherpublicannotationsofthesamepage.Everyannotationcanberepliedto,leadingtothe
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possibilityofaconversationinthemarginsofawebpage.Hypothesisalsocapturesanarchival
versionofthewebpageorPDFsothatannotationsonachangingpagedon’tlosetheircontext.
(Notethatarchivalversionsofwebpagesoftenloseformattingorfunctionality,duetothe
difficultyofwebpreservation.ThisissueplaguesPinboardandEvernoteaswell.)Userscanshare
alinkwiththeirannotationstosomeonewithoutanaccount.Currently,Hypothesisisonly
availableasawebappandbrowserbookmarklet;botharefree.
Thenon-profitorganizationanticipateshighuseofitsproductinacademicsettings.Auser
cansavetheirannotationstoprivategroups,idealforaclassproject.Hypothesishasalso
partneredwithover40scholarlypublishingcompaniessuchasJSTORandarXivtodevelop
featuresthatwillallowscholarstoannotatearticleswithinacademicdatabases(Whaley2015).
Thiscouldtaketheformoftheage-oldtraditionofmarginalia,oritcouldevenbecomeaplatform
forpeerreview.
OnemajorprojectthatusesHypothesisisClimateFeedback,whereinagroupofscientists
annotatenewsarticlesaboutclimatechange(Dattaro2015).Theyhighlightcriticalfindings,
questionpoliticalmaneuvering,addscientificevidence,andincludecitationsoforlinkstostudies
thatsupporttheirclaims.
Usecaseexample
Taniaisworkingonagroupprojectthatfocusesonpublicdiscussionofartseducation.Shefinds
localnewsarticlesreportingonfundingartsprograms,addingnoteswithherowncritiquesand
highlightingcommentsthatargueforandagainstincreasedfundingforteachingtheartsin
schools.Shedoesthesameforopen-accessarticlesaboutartseducation.Herannotationsarefiled
inhergroup’sfolder,whichsheinvitestheirinstructortoviewsohecanexaminetheiraggregated
work.
Genius:annotateandsharelinks,too
Bestknownforthelong-standingsiteRapGenius,inwhichusersannotaterapandhip-hoplyrics
withusefulcontextualinformation,Geniushasexpandedintoanannotationserviceforothertexts
andwebpages(Geniusn.d.).Withabrowserbookmarkletoronawebsitethathasenabled
integration,auserwithaGeniusaccountcanhighlightandaddnotestoportionsoftextona
webpage.AllannotationsfromGeniususersshowupinasidebarwhenthebookmarkletisclicked.
Geniusdoesnotcaptureanarchivalversionofthewebpage,meaningannotationsonachanging
textmaylackcontext.PDFsdon’tseemtobeannotatable.
WhileHypothesishasasimpleinterfaceandseemstobegearedtowardscholarly
annotation,Geniusleveragesitslargecommunityofuserstobeamoresocialexperience
(Simonite2015).Everyannotationispublicandcanbeupvoted,downvoted,repliedto,and
sharedonsocialmedia.Someusersaremarkedascommunityexpertswithagreencheckmark,
similartoTwitter’s“verified”marker.
Usecaseexample
JamiefollowsthenewswithGenius’snewsannotationproject,NewsGenius,whichinvites
journalistsandthegeneralpublictomarkupselectednewsarticles.Asapoliticalsciencestudent,
sheenjoysseeingothersfact-checkpoliticaldebatesandaddsherowntwocents,too.Sheis
incentivizedtomakeinsightfulandpithycommentstogainupvotesonthepageandtoearn“IQ
points”onherGeniusprofile.ShefeelsproudthatherusernameisontheNewsGenius
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leaderboardnearlyeveryweek—andthatsheisrewardedforaddingherinformedviewpointto
theconversation.
Pinboard:saveandorganizelinks
Pinboardisaninexpensivesubscriptionservicethatprovideswebsitebookmarkinginthecloud
(Pinboardn.d.).Oncesignedin,abrowserbookmarkletallowstheusertoaddlinkstotheir
collection,alongwithanoteandtags.Eachbookmarkedlink,orthecollectionasawhole,canbe
markedpubliclyviewableorprivate.Userscanlocatepreviouslybookmarkedlinksthrough
searchorbyitsdateortag.Dataexportisfreeandsimple.
Foranaddedfee,Pinboardwillcaptureanarchivalversionofthewebpagewhenyou
bookmarkit.Forresourcesthatmaychange,itcanbeusefultohaveone(orseveral)snapshotsof
thepage.Beyondthis,Pinboardisano-frillsservice.ItdoesprovideanAPItodevelopers,sothere
areseveralsmartphoneappsthatcanprovidePinboardaccessandfunctionality.
Usecaseexample
Lukeiscollectingwebsourcesforagenderstudiesarticleheiswriting.Hebookmarkseachuseful
resource,addingaquicksummaryinthenotessection.Hetagseachnotegs16,makingiteasyfor
himtoseeallhisbookmarkedlinksatonceunderthegs16tag.Hesharestheselinkswithhis
adviserbysendinghimtheURLofthegs16tagpage.
Evernote:clipwebpagesandaddnotes
Anote-takingservicethathasbeenaroundfornineyears,Evernoteservesmillionsofusersfora
varietyofpurposes,fromtakingclassnotestoorganizingbusinessdocumentstokeepingrecipe
collections(Evernoten.d.).Sinceitsearlydays,Evernotehasswelledwithmanyfeaturesbeyond
quickwordprocessing.Onesuchfeatureisawebclipper,abrowserbookmarkletthatsavesa
snapshotofthewebpagetotheuser’saccount.Thesesnapshotscanbeintheformofthewebpage,
articletext,ascreenshot,oralinkwithashortdescription;allaretreatedasdocumentskeptin
collectionssetbytheuser,whocanaddannotations,tags,andadditionalmetadatatoeach
snapshot.AllnotesandsnapshotsinEvernoteareaccessibleofflinethroughthedesktopapp,and
selected“notebooks”(documentcollections)canbeaccessibleofflineinsmartphoneapps.By
default,allnotesandsnapshotsareprivate,butreadorread/writepermissioncanbegrantedto
otherEvernoteusers.Evernoteoperatesonafreemiummodel:thebasicnote-takingfeaturesare
free,andadditionalfeatures,includingsmartphoneofflineaccess,areavailabletopaidaccounts.
Usecaseexample
Robbiiscollectinginformationonaccommodationsandinterestingsitesbeforetheygoonan
internationaltripwithnoanticipatedwifiaccess.Theyclipwebpagesandwritenotesina
notebookcreatedforthetrip.Whentheyareontheroad,theycanaccesstheirinformationoffline
ontheirsmartphoneandaddmorenotesalongtheway.
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References
Dattaro,L.“HowScientistsAreAnnotatingClimateReporting.”ColumbiaJournalismReview,April
7,2015.http://www.cjr.org/analysis/feedback_loop.php.
Evernote.“Evernote:TheWorkspaceforYourLife’sWork.”AccessedDecember16,2015.
https://evernote.com/.
Genius.“GeniusWebAnnotator.”AccessedDecember16,2015.http://genius.com/web-annotator.
Hypothesis.“Hypothesis:TheInternet,PeerReviewed.”AccessedDecember16,2015.
https://hypothes.is/.
Pinboard.“Pinboard:SocialBookmarkingforIntroverts.”AccessedDecember16,2015.
https://pinboard.in/.
Simonite,T.“CanaRapLyricsWebsiteFinallyMakeOnlineAnnotationsIntoaPopularand
ProfitableIdea?”MITTechnologyReview,January19,2015.
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/534276/is-genius-smarter-than-past-attempts-toannotate-the-web/.
Whaley,D.“ACoalitionofover40ScholarlyPublishers–Hypothesis.”HypothesisBlog,December
1,2015.https://hypothes.is/blog/a-coalition-of-over-40-scholarly-publishers/.
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