We Must Annotate the Web
I recently discovered a post by Marc Andreessen, in which he mentioned a feature from the early days at Mosaic (Netscape). The feature was called “group annotations”, allowed users to “comment on any page”. Unfortunately, as Andreessen mentions, the team cut the feature because they did not have the time to implement a server to host the annotations, especially at scale.
Andreessen’s post ends with the following: “I often wonder how the Internet would have turned out differently if users had been able to annotate everything — to add new layers of knowledge to all knowledge, on and on, ad infinitum.” This remarkable thought experiment captivated me, and warrants a great deal of meditation.
It is an understatement to say that the web would be radically different if we could annotate content on the fly. Genius remain heavily invested in solving this problem. Nevertheless, Andreessen’s reminder of what Netscape could have been illuminates a need for something beyond a web site to annotate the web. The problem signals the need for a new browser—a new way for us to interact with the web.
The issue of annotation spans far beyond commenting. In many ways, annotation, the process of marking up information, resonates with the human spirit. We desire deeply to leave our mark (opinions, self-reminders, notes to others) on material. This instinct to mark up laid the foundation for primitive art, in the form of carvings and hieroglyphics, to modern graffiti on the streets of New York. Humans marks up spaces, as a form of communication and living history. We mark with pencils, fingers, knives, bones, and whatever other implements we find.
The internet presents a unique challenge. We have massive amounts of content, but very few annotation tools that make sense. We also face a fundamental problem because the web is constantly evolving, and increasingly being created by multiple parties. Genius approaches this problem well by focusing on static content (pages, lyrics, etc) that can then be marked up by multiple people. However, a problem remains: what about content outside Genius?
Annotation on the web should be as easy as scribbling on the margins of my Moleskine notebook
The solution, I believe, may lie in a browser, or, at the very least, a browser plugin, like Evernote Web Clipper. The latter works by creating a static copy of the text on the page, and saving it to your Evernote account for future editing. The reason why the browser matters so much is because it allows us to centralize the annotation process, while simulteanously making it organic for users. Put differently, people are accustomed to browsing the web, and having thoughts while doing so. They should be able to scribble down, or speak, their thoughts about the particular item they are viewing, and then re-call that thought later, or share it immediately. This process should be as easy as turning to a friend and shouting out your thoughts. Even better, annotation on the web should be as easy as scribbling on the margins of my Moleskine notebook.
A browser plugin may be the way to go, but would require a unique approach that makes the process easy and not cumbersome. It should be similar, at least in ease, as bookmarking. Furthermore, it should be simple to see other annotations, when you want to, in the same way that you can see comments. In fact, I believe that annotations are what comments ought to be, and that comments are a terrible outgrowth of message boards. Lastly, the focus, and most important use case, will be annotation on mobile devices. The company that solves the mobile annotation problem will win my heart, and the web. It will be a tough challenge, but a worthwhile one. It will realize the dream of the web should have been.
