On Genius there are two types of annotations- Genius annotations and Personal annotations. Genius annotations are the most common, and are they type that I’ve spent most of my time discussing. Personal annotations are a more recent development, and differ only in the authorship of the annotation. For example, a Genius annotation can show the identities of contributors, but is just listed as the Genius annotation. A personal annotation clearly identifies the author, so its written more as an editorial than a news article.
This allows writers to do things that are normally frowned upon in genius annotations. For example, the writer can reference a personal experience, or make a dissenting analysis. This is a good way of encouraging debate- where in a Genius annotation your comments need to be factual and objective, personal annotations can argue for a specific position or opinion. This is especially helpful for articles in News Genius, because it allows contributors to make their own comments and debates on the policies and politics of the texts. These annotations also have great potential for Lit Genius texts, because they allow for competing readings of a text to be presented without using a Genius annotations that is three or four paragraphs long.
Personal annotations also let people make comments about songs that wouldn’t fit in a Genius annotation. For example, a personal annotation could discuss the way that a certain song reminds someone of another lyric or artist- because comments of that sort are so subjective, they wouldn’t fit in a Genius annotation, but the connections and resulting analysis are still beneficial to the reader.
Now, however, with the advent of /theinternet, personal annotations have a new importance. Right now, all offsite annotations are personal annotations- there is not yet a structure for offsite Genius annotations. This works towards the aim of /theinternet, however- annotating websites is meant to stimulate discussion, not just be a glorified system of footnotes. Anyone can look up more facts and add them to a speech or article- Genius’s strength is that we allow people to discuss and debate a text essentially as a part of the text itself. The immediacy of an annotation allows for a higher and more specific level of debate, something that many would argue is desperately needed in the general whirlwind of internet dialogue.
As always, view the annotated version of this text here. Also, I invite you to sign up for the beta version of /theinternet below, so that you can add annotations to this page, or anything on the internet. Also, download the Genius chrome extension to see annotations more easily on any page you visit.
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