An annotation is extra information associated with a particular point in a document or other piece of information. It can be a note that includes a comment or explanation.[1] Annotations are sometimes presented in the margin of book pages. For annotations of different digital media, see web annotation and text annotation.
Annotation Practices are highlighting a phrase or sentence and including a comment, circling a word that needs defining, posing a question when something is not fully understood and writing a short summary of a key section.[2] It also invites students to "(re)construct a history through material engagement and exciting DIY (Do-It-Yourself) annotation practices."[3] Annotation practices that are available today offer a remarkable set of tools for students to begin to work, and in a more collaborative, connected way than has been previously possible.[4]
Text and Film Annotation is a technique that involves using comments, text within a film. Analyzing videos is an undertaking that is never entirely free of preconceived notions, and the first step for researchers is to find their bearings within the field of possible research approaches and thus reflect on their own basic assumptions.[5] Annotations can take part within the video, and can be used when the data video is recorded. It is being used as a tool in text and film to write one's thoughts and emotion into the markings.[2] In any number of steps of analysis, it can also be supplemented with more annotations. Anthropologists Clifford Geertz calls it a "thick description." This can give a sense of how useful annotation is, especially by adding a description of how it can be implemented in film.[5]
Marginalia refers to writing or decoration in the margins of a manuscript. Medieval marginalia is so well known that amusing or disconcerting instances of it are fodder for viral aggregators such as Buzzfeed and Brainpickings, and the fascination with other readers’ reading is manifest in sites such as Melville's Marginalia Online or Harvard's online exhibit of marginalia from six personal libraries.[4] It can also be a part of other websites such as Pinterest, or even meme generators and GIF tools.
Textual scholarship is a discipline that often uses the technique of annotation to describe or add additional historical context to texts and physical documents to make it easier to understand.[6]
Students often highlight passages in books in order to actively engage with the text. Students can use annotations to refer back to key phrases easily, or add marginalia to aid studying and finding connections between the text and prior knowledge or running themes.[7]