Friday, February 13, 2015

Welcome and Explanation

Welcome! I'm Elizabeth Poss, a senior at Basis Tucson North. As a senior, I’ve been given the opportunity to spend the last part of the year doing an independent senior research project (SRP). I’ve chosen to spend this time combining my work on Genius with my knowledge in different academic areas. This will take the form of an online internship with Genius, where I meet regularly with staff and other users to help contribute to existing projects, and lead my own. I plan to use both Genius’s interdisciplinary nature and my own curiosity to see how much I can learn, and what I can achieve if I give myself the time and resources to study anything that interests me.


What is Genius? Genius is a site based on the idea of annotating. Any written text can be uploaded to the site, and users can highlight portions of the text and annotate them. At their best, annotations are witty, concise explications of the slang, science, or other allusions in a text. When they are combined with pictures, diagrams, or outside links, they provide an effective way to explain and add commentary to written works. Genius has anything from the newest song by Kanye West, to the side effects on a bottle of Tylenol.


My work on Genius will involve a variety of annotation projects, but my current work will focus on developing a set of study materials for learning Latin. My ultimate aim will be to annotate all the required reading for the AP Latin exam. Because so few people take this exam, there are very few study guides or other aids, so my aim will be to develop a comprehensive set of annotated texts and instructional materials to help those trying to study for the AP Latin exam.

In addition, I will be using Genius’s /theinternet expansion. This lets Genius users make annotations on websites, by putting “genius.com/” in front of the url. For example, you can view an annotated version of this blog at genius.com/elizabethposs.blogspot.com.

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