Ann, the Small Annotation Server
9 comments
·May 20, 2025nashashmi
I remember Google’s implementation called sidekick that did the same thing.
staz
I'm kind of confused, I'm interested by the idea but there doesn't seems to be a link to source code, or download, or some kind of live server? Is it just a concept?
edit: Just saw the url path is called "design-pitch-ann"
robertlagrant
This feels like a really cool idea.
sneak
I have wanted the ability to socially annotate the whole internet. I imagine if you built this and it got popular, browsers would figure out ways of banning or blocking the extensions for casual users. The medium is too powerful.
That’s not a reason not to build it, however - quite the opposite.
robertlagrant
> I imagine if you built this and it got popular, browsers would figure out ways of banning or blocking the extensions for casual users
I think the problem is moderation. If too many people use it, it will be misused in a way that either is, or can be reported as, shockingly bad, and then the whole cycle starts again.
But as a small-scale, hyper-local thing, where you know all the participants, I think it's really interesting.
wdbm
How would this compare to hypothes.is?
walterbell
Many applications, from LibreOffice, Logseq to video players could all benefit from having social functions to compete with centralised solutions like Notion, YouTube etc. Expecting each of these to implement servers for comments and annotations is not realistic. However with a self-hosted annotation server, these apps would only need to implement one integration and users would only need to be connected to a single server.
> Our premium solutions combine the power of social annotation with seamless integrations, enhanced controls, and advanced security. Select your industry, then complete the short form for a demo and pricing. A member of our Partnerships Team will be in touch within 24 hours.
robertknight
> Does Hypothes.is have a self-hosting option? https://web.hypothes.is/sales/
The code for both the client and server are open source (https://github.com/hypothesis/h) so this is possible. The server is designed to support the needs of large scale deployments, so this does come with some complexity compared to a system you would design for smaller scale usage.
The text on https://web.hypothes.is/ mostly targets schools and universities, because Hypothesis pays for itself by selling integrations with online learning platforms (Canvas, D2L, Blackboard etc.) and associated support.
Web Annotations are what we need right now. Let people write and scribble all over webpages and share with other people in an open, vendor-neutral format. Choose who you trust, from journalists to organizations to neighbors to experts to conspiracy theorists. Let commentaries and interpretations appear overlaid on government websites and documents, Wikipedia, opinion pieces, social media, Archive.org, anything and everything. Let it be out of the hands of the content hosts.