Digital Annotation with Hypothes.is

Filipa Calado | @caladoscope

GC Digital Fellow | @digital_fellows

gofilipa@gmail.com

​

​

Link to Slides:

​

bit.ly/gcdi_hypo

Introduction

What is Digital Annotation?

The use of digital tools to mark up electronic text. Can be used individually (for self-study and research purposes) or in groups (for social annotation, teaching).

Digital Tools -- web application or browser plugin

Mark Up -- adding comments or highlights to text

Social Annotation-- reading alongside other people

With Adobe Reader or Acrobat

What is Hypothes.is?

Please sign up for an account (do not install the plugin yet)

​

​

https://web.hypothes.is/

​

There are four (!) ways to use Hypothes.is

1. On the CUNY Academic Commons, as an included plugin.
2. As a regular Plugin that you activate on Firefox or Chrome browsers.
3. Through the Via Method, adding https://via.hypothes.is in front of a URL.
4. Embedding the hypothes.is script into the HTML of your website.

First option

On the CUNY Academic Commons:

• Create a new Site
• Once you’re on the dashboard, go to “Plugins” and select “Installed Plugins”
• Crl + F “Hypothesis”, select “Activate”
• Back on the main dashboard, go to “Settings”, select “Hypothesis” to configure.

​

See an example of Hypothes.is on the Commons with my Course Site.

​

Second option

As a Browser Plugin: follow instructions on “quick start” guide for teachers:

• Create an account on https://hypothes.is
• Get the chrome or firefox extension
• For chrome: activate the extension in “Tools” / “Settings”. To use on a webpage, simply click the hypothesis button next to your search bar.
• For firefox: add the bookmark to your bookmarks toolbar. To use on a webpage, simply open the desired webpage and click on the bookmark.
• Practice installing and activating the plugin on a website of your choosing.

​

Third option

With the Via Method:

• Add this "prefix" to the beginning of the URL, just before the https:
• https://via.hypothes.is/
• If you copy/paste the above into the beginning of the URL, the annotation sidebar will be there when you reload the page.
• Practice adding the “prefix” to a random website.

​

Fourth option: advanced

Embedding the JavaScript to your HTML

• Only relevant if you have your own website (like Wordpress.org)
• Add the following script to your webpage:
• <script src="https://hypothes.is/embed.js" async></script>
• Tutorial for this method from the Hypothes.is website

Student Reading Groups

Have your students annotate as part of a “Reading Group.” You send them a registration link to join the group, then have them switch annotation mode from “public” or “private” to your Group Mode.

Benefits:

• Easier for grading, having all of the annotations in one place.
• Recommended if you want multiple groups annotating the same document over time.
• Necessary if you want those groups of people to not see previous group’s annotations (for example, annotations from a class last semester).

Configuring Reading Groups (more details here)

• Create a group on your account page on Hypothes.is.
• Top right corner, drop down menu “Groups,” select “Create new group”
• Enter Group Name and Description.
• Send URL to students for them to register.
• Copy the “Invite New Members” link.
• Give students explicit instructions to annotate under their Group’s “mode.”
• Have them select the group name on the sidebar’s dropdown menu.
• Otherwise, they will annotate as “Public” (which is the default).

Questions?

Please fill out the evaluation:

​

cuny.is/gcdievals2020

​

​

​

​

​

​

Thank you from GCDI!

Some ways to get involved:

• Check the Event Calendar for upcoming events and workshops: cuny.is/workshops
• Follow GCDI or the Digital Fellows on Twitter: @cunygcdi and @digital_fellows.
• Join the GCDI Group on the CUNY Academic Commons for all GCDI-related updates! cuny.is/group-gcdi

​

This is the end of the workshop, but continue reading if you’re interested in more activities & resources!

​

Thank you,

Filipa

How do you use Annotation?

How are you or people you know already deploying annotation tools or techniques in reading, research, teaching, learning? Come up with examples that address your own goals and needs with digital annotation.

Work with a partner to add some ideas here.

Using Annotation to Teach (from 10 tips article)

Using Teacher Annotations: Pre-populate a text with questions for students to reply to in annotations or notes elucidating important points as they read.

Using Student Annotations to….

• Gloss: Have students look up difficult words or unknown allusions in a text and share their research as annotations.
• Question: Have students highlight, tag, and annotate words or passages that are confusing to them in their readings.
• Close Read: Have students identify formal textual elements and broader social and historical contexts at work in specific passages.
• Create Annotated Bibliographies: Have students research a topic or theme and tag and annotate relevant texts across the Internet.

Examples of Extensions & Modifications

There are many ways that people have used the Hypothes.is codebase to create their own applications. You can see a full list of extensions and modifications here.

Some examples that might help with teaching:

• Hypothes.is plugins on other CMS like Wordpress, Drupal, Omeka
• Analyzing annotations: searching mechanism to search, view, and export annotation data; CROWDLAAERS offers dashboard of “learning analytics.”
• Controlled tagging: create custom tags schemas with JSON

Additional Resources

Also see…

• Setting up custom Reading Groups (for teaching or other social contexts)
• A comprehensive resource guide for teachers
• The full program (with slides) for the I Annotate 2019 conference.
• Article on how social annotation helps students learn
• Teaching example from my own class (annotating Orlando by Virginia Woolf)
• My project page (on github) for my ITP independent study

​

The End!

Questions?