Digital Scholarship Tools: Annotation Tools

Hypothes.is

Hypothe.is website

With the aim of improving the quality of information available for scholars on the web, Hypothes.is makes it possible to analyze everything from blogs and news articles to scientific articles and e-books. Collaborate with others to discuss texts and keep personal notes on what you read.

• What You'll Need:
  • Web browser
  • Chrome extension (optional)
  • Bookmarklet (optional) 
• Examples:

  • Science in the Classroom recruits graduate students to annotate research articles online. Undergraduate students can then read the annotated versions, enriching their experience as they learn to read academic writing.

  • Live-annotate new documents, from hip-hop lyrics to the State of the Union address, to build critical reading skills.

• License:  Free, open, non-profit
• Help:
  • Create an account
  • Quick Start Guide for Teachers
  • Quick Start Guide for Students

Manifold

UW's Manifold Site

The UW Press and UW Libraries have an opportunity to participate in a pilot Manifold Scholarship, a digital book publishing platform created by University of Minnesota Press. Manifold is unique as it serves as a digital text platform with chapters like a traditional text with the added ability to incorporate media, visualizations, gaming, and more along with the text.

Public domain, open access, and texts to which you have the copyright can be shared through Manifold and annotated. You may annotate texts publicly or set up private annotation groups to share annotations with only with those within your groups.

• What You'll Need:
  • Web browser
• Examples:
  • Frankenreads a shared text used and annotated during the 2018 Frankenreads event
• License:  Open
• Help:
  • Manifold Guide

Lacuna Stories

Lacuna Stories website

Lacuna Stories allows multiple users to simultaneously read and annotate a digital text, transitioning the Western tradition of handwritten annotations to a 21st century format. Annotations can be searched and mapped to pinpoint particular types of responses or follow individual student reading experiences. Lacuna can also support long-form writing assignments.

• What You'll Need:
  • Web browser
  • Server with PHP support 
  • Command line access to your server 
  • Drupal experience
  • Annotator.js plugin
  • Drush
• Examples:

  • An instructor embeds an annotation prompt to a noteworthy section of the text, and tracks student responses and questions to guide classroom discussion.

  • A scholar studies their previous annotations, and those of their peers, as they are formulating a research question and thesis for their final paper.

  • Assignment Ideas

• License: Lacuna grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access and use the Site and the Material. Registered users may download Material from the Site only for such user’s own personal, non-commercial use. 
• Help:
  • Lacuna Stories can be downloaded via GitHub.
  • Installations Instructions