Shared Annotations: Attitudes and Behaviors of Scholars

Annotations, in the form of markings and comments on the text, are often part of scholarly work. Digital platforms increasingly allow these annotations to be shared in group and public environments. To explore scholars' current behavior and attitudes toward shared annotations, semi-structured interviews with 11 doctoral students in the life sciences were conducted. The findings suggest that socio-cognitive processes are integral to scholars' creation and use of shared annotations. This paper discusses common themes from the findings and their implications for effective design of annotation systems supporting scholarly communication