Webbed Footnotes : collaborative annotation on the Web
Name
66465711-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
13.51 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
50a4ec4d9a690c02ffae3acd685c2282
Author(s)
Golder, Scott Andrew
Advisor(s)
Judith S. Donath.
Alternative Title
Collaborative annotation on the Web
Date Issued
2005
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
More and more, web users are moving from simply consuming content on the web to creating it as well, in the form of discussion boards, weblogs, wikis, and other collaborative and conversational media. Despite this, the web remains largely read-only; web designers create sites that are designed to be consumed by the public, much like other, traditional mass media. In this thesis, I explore free, shared annotation as a means of making the web more writable. In doing so, I hope to empower readers to engage more deeply with web content by actively participating in its production, and to have a voice on equal footing with those of the media producers whose content they consume. This thesis details the design and evaluation of Webbed Footnotes, a system for publicly annotating web documents. Though it is not the first such system, its design is novel in that it is sensitive to the needs of both the would-be annotators and the owners of the websites being annotated. In particular, annotators would like their additions to be highly visible, yet website owners demand that their sites be presented in the manner they intended. Webbed Footnotes attempts to fulfill both of these conditions by making annotations highly visible, yet ensuring that the underlying documents remain legible.
(cont.) If Webbed Footnotes can partially solve the tension between annotators and authors, then public, shared annotation on the web may have a chance for widespread success, leading to savvier and more engaged readers.
Description
Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2005.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-72).
Subjects
Architecture. Program In Media Arts and Sciences
MIT Department
Program in Media Arts and Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Terms of Use
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