What is it?
Hypothesis is a powerful “social annotation” tool for your web browser that turns any website into something you can annotate with notes and highlights. You can also view others’ annotations, in private groups or publicly.
Why use it?
Hypothesis is a fantastic tool for reading texts collaboratively with students. With a Hypothesis group setup for a class, students can view and reply to each others’ annotations to create threaded conversations for readings you assign. Hypothesis works most optimally while on a website, but it can also be used for collaboratively annotating PDF files. At the CTL, we’ve seen faculty use Hypothesis well for a class readings, peer review, and research assignments, among other projects.
Learning curve/drawbacks?
Hypothesis is relatively simple to setup and use. It works with any browser, like Firefox, Chrome, or Safari. It also works with tablets and smartphones, although there are a couple additional steps on those devices for annotating.
What you will do in this module:
This module will guide you through. . .
- setting up a Hypothesis account;
- adding a way to toggle Hypothesis on and off on your browser;
- joining a private Hypothesis group we’ve made for this seminar; and finally
- practicing leaving annotations on a webpage
Before you start
Check what browser you are using (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc.). The directions will be different for Chrome (installing a plugin) than for other browsers (adding a bookmark link). No browser is particularly better than the other for using Hypothesis; some find Chrome easiest, but we tend to recommend Firefox because it’s open-source and doesn’t sell your data!
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