Annotation Studio: multimedia text annotation for students

FAIN: HD-51509-12

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA 02139-4307)
James Paradis (Project Director: October 2011 to August 2013)
Kurt E Fendt (Co Project Director: October 2011 to August 2013)

The development of an open-source, web-based annotation tool to assist students in interpreting literary texts and other humanities sources.

Annotation Studio will be a web-based application that actively engages students in interpreting literary texts and other humanities documents. While strengthening students' new media literacies, this open source web application will develop traditional humanistic skills including close reading, textual analysis, persuasive writing, and critical thinking. Initial features will include: 1) easy-to-use annotation tools that facilitate linking and comparing primary texts with multi-media source, variation, and adaptation documents; 2) sharable collections of multimedia materials prepared by faculty and student users; 3) multiple filtering and display mechanisms for texts, written annotations, and multimedia annotations; 4) collaboration functionality; and 5) multimedia composition tools. Products of the start-up phase will include a working prototype, feedback from students and instructors, and a white paper summarizing lessons learned.