2) Annotation Tool: Diigo

Diigo is an annotation tool for your web browser that features highlighting, post-it note, and bookmarking tools.

Design aspects:

In order to use it, Diigo has to be activated on the page you are on. This is done automatically in Google Chrome (unless you disable the Diigo extension). You can click on the Diigo logo to trigger a drop-down menu where you can select different tools. You can also highlight something on a page, and editing and searching icons will appear next to the highlighted text. The user interface is minimal and does not distract the user from reading a page.

Highlights should appear whenever a user goes to the page, but sometimes this does not work (especially if elements on a page change, revealing new text, but the website's URL does not change). However, all tagged (bookmarked) pages and highlights are saved on the user's own Diigo library, which can be viewed all at once or sorted.

Learning aspects:

With sticky notes and highlighting, Diigo can help a user actively read websites and recall information when a site is visited more than once. Furthermore, since everything the user highlights/tags is available in one location, Diigo makes it easy to collect and organize resources. Multiple tags can be added to a bookmark, and Diigo even suggests tags based on the site's content or highlighted words. Descriptions can also be added. However, tagging does not apply to highlighting. Highlights are only categorized by the site that they are on.

Diigo also makes it easy to share pages, or elements of a page. Snapshots can be taken of the screen (or a portion of the screen) and saved as images. These are also added to the user's library. Snapshots can be saved individually or can serve as a thumbnail for a bookmark. Simple drawing tools make it possible to annotate this image, but their simplicity makes them bit too frustrating to use (MS paint is easier). Sticky notes can also be shared/made public. Anyone who visits the page and has Diigo will be able to see them and reply. These sharing features could be used by instructors or students to point out important information or ask questions.

Features:

• Highlight in a variety of colors
• Place sticky notes (with comments) on page (not linked to any specific text, but position on page is remembered)
• Bookmark pages with tagging for easy filtering
• Snapshot tool to save images
• Library view of all saved/annotated information
• Ability to share websites via social media
• Can mark pages as "read later" and viewed separately in library