Re: Annotea futures? Annotation standards in 2009...

--001636c5a435d0a8d6046a8287a8
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Here's a list of annotation and note-taking tools (mainly web 2.0?) that you
could check:
http://digitalresearchtools.pbworks.com/Annotation+and+Notetaking+Tools

On Fri, May 22, 2009 at 4:00 PM, Dan Brickley <[email protected]> wrote:

> (I'm cc:'ing 3 lists, rather warily; if the thread gets long, please
> consider trimming it to just use [email protected])
>
> Hi all
>
> I'm involved in helping advise a new not-for-profit project that is close
> in approach to the old Annotea project, looking at annotations within pieces
> of Web content, and their cross-linking, threading for discussion etc. It's
> now 2009, over ten years since the original Annotea designs. The Web has
> changed a lot since then, but the need to annotate it doesn't seem to have
> gone away.
>
> See http://annotea.org/
> http://www.w3.org/2001/Annotea/User/Tutorial/quicktutorial and nearby for
> an overview of Annotea.
>
> Since then Web 2.0 has happened, and now many of the original themes of
> Annotea are part of the mainstream Web developer perspective. And yet ...
> looking at the comments to this 2007 techcrunch survey -
> http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/04/10/5-ways-to-mark-up-the-web/ - I see
> project after project, startup after startup, exploring this space without
> any great emphasis on data exchange standards. I guess many of them have
> APIs, probably a lot of them use RSS or Atom feeds. But we certainly haven't
> yet to the place imagined by Annotea: an annotation layer for the Web that
> allows comments, scribbles, reviews, discussions to be freely interlinked
> and overlaid using open standard formats and protocols.
>
> So I'm mailing the relevant (and pretty quiet) lists but cc:'ing
> [email protected] too to ask where folk thing this stuff is heading.
>
> When is an annotation an annotation, versus a page that happens to be a
> review, or happens to have as it's primary topic another page? For
> annotations at the page level, it might be that mainstream RDF work (linked
> data etc) has fulfilled some of the early promise of Annotea.
>
> But for the "annotating parts of a page" scenario that lies at the heart of
> many people's notion of annotations, there doesn't seem to be much happening
> in terms of practical and widely adopted standards. Lots of startups,
> experiments etc but they all seem to be islands. And since annotation
> systems are only really interesting when you have enough annotations to get
> decent coverage, this seems a pity.
>
> Thoughts? Am I missing some developments? What would Annotea look like if
> rebuilt for the Web of 2009? If it's in RDF, the query part would just use
> SPARQL, and topic classification would be SKOS. What else? Is there
> implementation experience from Annotea adopters and implementors gathered
> somewhere? Is there consensus for example on the best bits of information to
> keep if you want a robust reference to a piece of a potentially evolving
> page? How well do modern Web design habits (CSS, Ajax etc) interact with the
> overlay of 3rd party annotations? Is everyone using Firefox addons,
> javascript bookmarklets and Web proxies or is there some hope for a
> cross-browser approach on the horizon?
>
> thanks for any suggestions, thoughts, links etc.
>
> cheers,
>
> Dan
>
>
>
>
>

--001636c5a435d0a8d6046a8287a8
Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Here&#39;s a list of annotation and note-taking tools (mainly web 2.0?) tha=
t you could check:=A0<a href=3D"http://digitalresearchtools.pbworks.com/Ann=
otation+and+Notetaking+Tools">http://digitalresearchtools.pbworks.com/Annot=
ation+and+Notetaking+Tools</a><br>
<br><div class=3D"gmail_quote">On Fri, May 22, 2009 at 4:00 PM, Dan Brickle=
y <span dir=3D"ltr">&lt;<a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]">danbri@danbri.=
org</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"mar=
gin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
(I&#39;m cc:&#39;ing 3 lists, rather warily; if the thread gets long, pleas=
e consider trimming it to just use <a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]" t=
arget=3D"_blank">[email protected]</a>)<br>
<br>
Hi all<br>
<br>
I&#39;m involved in helping advise a new not-for-profit project that is clo=
se in approach to the old Annotea project, looking at annotations within pi=
eces of Web content, and their cross-linking, threading for discussion etc.=
 It&#39;s now 2009, over ten years since the original Annotea designs. The =
Web has changed a lot since then, but the need to annotate it doesn&#39;t s=
eem to have gone away.<br>

<br>
See <a href=3D"http://annotea.org/" target=3D"_blank">http://annotea.org/</=
a> <a href=3D"http://www.w3.org/2001/Annotea/User/Tutorial/quicktutorial" t=
arget=3D"_blank">http://www.w3.org/2001/Annotea/User/Tutorial/quicktutorial=
</a> and nearby for an overview of Annotea.<br>

<br>
Since then Web 2.0 has happened, and now many of the original themes of Ann=
otea are part of the mainstream Web developer perspective. And yet ... look=
ing at the comments to this 2007 techcrunch survey - <a href=3D"http://www.=
techcrunch.com/2007/04/10/5-ways-to-mark-up-the-web/" target=3D"_blank">htt=
p://www.techcrunch.com/2007/04/10/5-ways-to-mark-up-the-web/</a> - I see pr=
oject after project, startup after startup, exploring this space without an=
y great emphasis on data exchange standards. I guess many of them have APIs=
, probably a lot of them use RSS or Atom feeds. But we certainly haven&#39;=
t yet to the place imagined by Annotea: an annotation layer for the Web tha=
t allows comments, scribbles, reviews, discussions to be freely interlinked=
 and overlaid using open standard formats and protocols.<br>

<br>
So I&#39;m mailing the relevant (and pretty quiet) lists but cc:&#39;ing <a=
 href=3D"mailto:[email protected]" target=3D"_blank">[email protected]<=
/a> too to ask where folk thing this stuff is heading.<br>
<br>
When is an annotation an annotation, versus a page that happens to be a rev=
iew, or happens to have as it&#39;s primary topic another page? For annotat=
ions at the page level, it might be that mainstream RDF work (linked data e=
tc) has fulfilled some of the early promise of Annotea.<br>

<br>
But for the &quot;annotating parts of a page&quot; scenario that lies at th=
e heart of many people&#39;s notion of annotations, there doesn&#39;t seem =
to be much happening in terms of practical and widely adopted standards. Lo=
ts of startups, experiments etc but they all seem to be islands. And since =
annotation systems are only really interesting when you have enough annotat=
ions to get decent coverage, this seems a pity.<br>

<br>
Thoughts? Am I missing some developments? What would Annotea look like if r=
ebuilt for the Web of 2009? If it&#39;s in RDF, the query part would just u=
se SPARQL, and topic classification would be SKOS. What else? Is there impl=
ementation experience from Annotea adopters and implementors gathered somew=
here? Is there consensus for example on the best bits of information to kee=
p if you want a robust reference to a piece of a potentially evolving page?=
 How well do modern Web design habits (CSS, Ajax etc) interact with the ove=
rlay of 3rd party annotations? Is everyone using Firefox addons, javascript=
 bookmarklets and Web proxies or is there some hope for a cross-browser app=
roach on the horizon?<br>

<br>
thanks for any suggestions, thoughts, links etc.<br>
<br>
cheers,<br><font color=3D"#888888">
<br>
Dan<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</font></blockquote></div><br>

--001636c5a435d0a8d6046a8287a8--