Web annotation

A web annotation is an online annotation associated with a web resource, typically a web page. With a Web annotation system, a user can add, modify or remove information from a Web resource without modifying the resource itself. The annotations can be thought of as a layer on top of the existing resource, and this annotation layer is usually visible to other users who share the same annotation system, making it a type of social software tool.

Web annotation can be used for the following purposes:

• to rate a Web resource, such as by its usefulness, user-friendliness, suitability for viewing by minors.
• to improve or adapt its contents by adding/removing material, something like a wiki.
• as a collaborative tool, e.g. to discuss the contents of a certain resource.
• as a medium of artistic or social criticism, by allowing Web users to reinterpret, enrich or protest against institution or ideas that appear on the Web.
• to quantify transient relationships between information fragments.

Web annotation systems

Web browsers typically have some form of web annotation system built-in as standard. Alternate systems include:

• A.nnotate - notes on web pages and uploaded PDF/Word documents attached to highlighted text
• Delicious - allows users to share and organize bookmarks using tags. Provides a number of search feeds to facilitate mashups.
• Diigo - for highlighting text and posting sticky notes on webpages.
• Reframe It - a browser extension that allows users to comment publicly or privately in a margin on the live website, adjacent to the text or photo the comment references.
• SharedCopy - AJAX-based web annotation with cache and shorten url with easy sharing functions.
• ShiftSpace - has the tag line "an open source layer above any webpage" and is based on the Greasemonkey platform for Firefox.
• Sidewiki - a Google service that is available via toolbars for Firefox and IE
• Stickis - Firefox and IE toolbars that allow rich media notes to be attached to any web page. See only those from your friends anywhere you browse.
• WebNotes - highlight or sticky note content, organize annotations and share with colleagues by using either a toolbar or bookmarklet (IE or Firefox).

Former systems include:

• Annotea - a W3C project that tried to establish a standard for web annotation.
• Nethernet - a multi-player online game, now closed.
• ThirdVoice - a notable system launched in 1999 that shut down due to lack of success in April 2001.
• Wikalong - implemented a wiki which anyone could use to describe or comment or discuss a web page as it appeared on a certain date.
• Stet - formerly used for the GPLv3 drafts.

See also

• Social bookmarking
• Folksonomy
• Metadata
• Threaded discussion
• Virtual graffiti

Further reading

• Signer, Beat: "An Architecture for Open Cross-Media Annotation Services", Proceedings of WISE 2009, 10th International Conference on Web Information Systems Engineering, Poznan, Poland, October 2009

External links

• Wiki:WebAnnotation
• "Five Ways to Mark Up the Web", Techcrunch April 10, 2007
• "Top Web Annotation Tools: Annotate+Bookmark+Collaborate", MakeUseOf May 13, 2007