Annotation

The MIT Press Essential Knowledge

by Remi H. Kalir, Antero García

An introduction to annotation as a genre--a synthesis of reading, thinking, writing, and communication--and its significance in scholarship and everyday life.

Annotation--the addition of a note to a text--is an everyday and social activity that provides information, shares commentary, sparks conversation, expresses power, and aids learning. It helps mediate the relationship between reading and writing. This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers an introduction to annotation and its literary, scholarly, civic, and everyday significance across historical and contemporary contexts. It approaches annotation as a genre--a synthesis of reading, thinking, writing, and communication--and offer examples of annotation that range from medieval rubrication and early book culture to data labeling and online reviews.

Genres: Nonfiction, Education, Writing, Humanities, Teaching, History

232 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 2021

About the author

Remi Kalir is Assistant Professor of Learning Design and Technology at the University of Colorado Denver School of Education and Human Development

Reviews

[Eddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking at annotation as a genre

The preface didn't lie. This book looks at annotation as its own genre, not as a mere addition to the act of reading.

However, I feel that this definition of annotation is too broad, despite the authors' elaboration. It gathers marginalia, commentaries, and peer reviews altogether under the annotation umbrella. According to it, if you've ever posted a comment on reddit, you've annotated the original post; similarly, if you've rated a purchase on Amazon, you've annotated the product listing; and so on.

Regardless, if one accepts this interpretation of annotation – that is, augmenting text that already exists – then the rest of the book makes sense. Not that anyone ever contested the utility of noting thoughts in book margins and sharing them in online communities, peer reviewing scientific papers or policy proposals, or even leveraging viral trends for social and political messages. In other words, what is written about annotation will not surprise anyone but will likely elicit the question, "Is everything just a note then?"

[David]

I'm already among the believers, so little that was said in this book was wholly new to me (although the scope which they define as 'annotation' is wider than I've ever considered). I like the idea of the annotation as a conversation, as something that functions in multiple contexts multiple ways--from the academic footnote to the Facebook 'like.'

[Frobisher Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather dry introduction to the topic of annotation, with a focus on current projects and technologies making use of comment and annotation systems. I found it interesting, but a little too shallow of a dive into the meaty issues of ethics, power, as well as issues of credibility and access, which were hardly touched on. The book is mostly focused on the educational and social aspects of annotation, and so if that is your background you might get more out of this. There was also only a very minute amount of text covering the history and evolution of annotation, which I feel was a major misstep. I recommend it as a part of a study of the practice of annotation and current issues surrounding it, but not as a casual read -- it is too dry and technical for that.

[Iliiaz Akhmedov · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review of Annotation is an annotation!

Bear with me on this, but.. if writing is a linear thought percept, then annotation is an immersion gateway into microcosm. This is a particularly crazy warping experience when engineers collaborate on code reviews through comments, reactions, corrections, customized emojis and gifs, etc... I will pause here to avoid brain explosion.

The book itself is kind of underwhelming though, especially being published in 2021 when the world went remote during COVID.

[Alan Engel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m disappointed. After reading Hope Corrigan’s article on annotation in the Washington Post, which labeled Annotation as the book on annotation, I ordered this book looking for skills and insights that might help me with a nonconverging set of rabbit holes. MIT Press. Right? Artfully written motivational summary, but little for the would-be practitioner. There aren’t even pointers forward for the practitioner. Open Annotation Initiative? An annotation entry type for Bibtex?

[Casey Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great concept - looking at annotation as its own thing. Mediocre execution. And the attempts to start a hashtag to continue (read: annotate) the topic is painfully optimistic. Golly, I wanted there to be more to this.

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting book in which two academics add a publication to their c.v. bibliography by turning a tactical molehill into a strategic mountain.

Fun for we academic fashion spotters...

[Chris Aldrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think about annotation quite a bit, but this book had a lot of interesting pieces I hadn't come across before. I like the way it framed chunks of social media as digital annotation from a broader perspective. It also lists some interesting tools and projects that are worth looking into further.

I'll note that I was reading a pre-publication version of the text which may likely change before it's published as a physical book. I'm hoping the digital online version I read will have a way to make it obvious to see what changed from the version I read and the final version of the text.