THE INTERRUPTING ANNOTATOR
Email: threads@wildernesspuppets.net
begun. May 2003
revised 5.30.04 and 1.09.05
Requires RealMedia free video player + Macromedia Shockwave free plug-in for browser.
Tested on PC Windows
Tech note about Mac (8.29.04)
Macintosh OSX version of this prototype software will only work for those systems with an older version of the RealOne media player (version 9 or earlier). If you already have installed a higher version RealOne player such as version 10, then CSPAN Karaoke will not work. This applies to the Macintosh only. (Windows PC does not have this problem.) If you know that your Macintosh OSX system has a prior version (earlier than v10) of the RealOne media player, then the Interrupting Annotator prototype will probably work fine.
SUMMARY
The Interrupting Annotator is an on-line interactive tool to support the activity of collaborative annotation, geared toward on-line video streams.(The prototype is currently limited to streaming RealVideo files from the website of CSPAN.) The annotator software is designed to archive textual annotations and replay these same annotations (all annotations written by oneself and others) by re-inserting them in the selected video stream at the exact same point that they have been entered. A paradoxical visual effect occurs, in that the original video is progressively occluded or obliterated by the accretion of annotations as these are re-inserted into the video stream. .
BACKGROUND
Genre - as a collectively understood framework - provides opportunities for cooperative activity. The Interrupting Annotator functions as a kind of genre, appropriating a common utility (annotation) and using it for improvisation by offering a fluid framework for self-authorised participation.