Engelbart Framework Annotation Project

A site for study, collaboration, and action around the seminal 1962 manifesto Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework, co-sponsored by the Doug Engelbart Institute.

About This Project

To mark the 60th anniversary of this groundbreaking document, join us as we collaboratively read and collectively annotate Doug Engelbart’s 1962 research report and manifesto, Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework.

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Getting Started with Annotation

Here is our quick introduction to the Hypothes.is annotation tool and a few practice activities to get you annotating with us.

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Updates By Email

Let us augment your inbox? To stay informed about the project please sign up for email updates via our Augmenting Human Intellect TinyLetter.

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Published in 1962…

We invite you to join us in engaging with Doug Engelbart’s visionary research report and manifesto: Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework. Read, respond, act. 

Join the ongoing self-guided conversation, initially launched in Feb 2019, as a facilitated exploration. You can follow the week by week format, or dive in on a free range basis.

Together, we are “augmenting” this document using hypothes.is, a platform for web-based annotation and discussion. Other online events and resources will help provide even more food for thought and conversation. In the spirit of Doug’s original design, we want the study of intellectual augmentation to be an example of intellectual augmentation. In a word, recursive!

Here is how Doug Engelbart described the work of intellectual augmentation.

By “augmenting human intellect” we mean increasing the capability of a man to approach a complex problem situation, to gain comprehension to suit his particular needs, and to derive solutions to problems. Increased capability in this respect is taken to mean a mixture of the following: more-rapid comprehension, better comprehension, the possibility of gaining a useful degree of comprehension in a situation that previously was too complex, speedier solutions, better solutions, and the possibility of finding solutions to problems that before seemed insoluble. And by “complex situations” we include the professional problems of diplomats, executives, social scientists, life scientists, physical scientists, attorneys, designers—whether the problem situation exists for twenty minutes or twenty years.

See more information about this project, learn how to get started annotating with us, and how to sign up for email updates on this project.

News and Notes

Latest published items related to the project

Featured Annotator: Claudia Ceraso

Over a decade ago, I asked a question on Twitter about English usage. We play games. What’s the verb for what we do with simulations. We don’t play them. What DO we do? — Gardner Campbell (@GardnerCampbell) August 7, 2007 … Continue reading
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Featured Annotator: Howard Rheingold

Our Featured Annotator interview series in the Engelbart Framework Annotation expedition continues with Howard Rheingold, whose work has been tremendously influential on me and many, many others who seek to understand the character and potential of the digital age. Howard’s … Continue reading
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Featured Annotator: Jon Udell

Part of the Engelbart Framework Annotation event involves what we’re calling “featured annotators.” As Alan Levine and I discussed the event last fall and early this year, we quickly agreed there should be a meta-layer, or perhaps a meta-meta-layer, in … Continue reading
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Engelbart Framework Project Podcast 2, Parts 1 and 2

Week 2 of the Engelbart Framework Annotation Project focuses on two excerpts from Doug Engelbart’s 1962 research report Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework. Here are the audiobook recordings for Week 2. The first excerpt, Section II parts A and B, is … Continue reading
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Annotation Pathways

Augmenting Human Intellect is a complex and large document– how might you go about annotating it? If you are new to Hypothes.is, we suggest you work through the 1-2-3 Getting Started guides.

Then, or if you are experienced already at annotation, we have these suggestions to find your way.

(1) Choose Your Own Path

Read from beginning to end, or select sections that speak to you. Feel free to jump in and annotate anywhere (that link opens Augmenting Human Intellect with Hypothes.is enabled).

(2) Follow the Phase 1 Schedule

For Phase 1, launched in 2019, this project was organized as a special event over a tightly-focused 3 week schedule. While Phase 2 is designed to be much more open-ended, the Phase 1 schedule may still be helpful as a starting point. You can navigate through the posts for each week (Week 0, Week 1, and Week 2) to find suggestions where to annotate, plus podcasts that provide more insight into specific sections.

(3) Use our Suggested Starting Points

Here we outline a map with specific sections of interest, each one linked to an annotation with a prompt right inside the paper.

(list to be linked here)

Annotating 1-2-3

Are you new to annotating with Hypothes.is? Get started with practice activities...

Start Annotating Right Here

The Hypothes.is annotation tool is independent of the web page it is used on. As you will see in our series of practice exercises, there...
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Annotate Anywhere

In our first round of annotation practice, we used a page on this site where the Hypothes.is tool was already preloaded for you. Now we...
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Roads of Annotation

As you are reading Augmenting Human Intellect pay attention to phrases, sentences that catch your attention. Sometimes we call them "nuggets." Respond to the nugget...
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Annotation Dashboard

We anticipate a large volume of annotation activity on this project, how can we see an overall picture of it?

Fortunately, researchers at the University of Colorado Denver researchers created a public tool called ​Capturing and Reporting Open Web Data for Learning Analytics, Annotation, and Education Researchers ​(CROWDLAAERS, pronounced “crowd layers”). As a dashboard it provides learning analytics associated with Hypothesis open web annotation to online content. It can be used by anyone on a single web address with annotations.

Our efforts here is a featured project in CROWDLAAERS so we can see aggregate activity cross the places we are annotating – the project About page, Bret Victor’s Tribute to Doug Engelbart, and the Augmenting Human Intellect Paper itself.

Explore the dashboard below or directly at CROWDLAAERS.

Featured Annotators

For this project we welcome thoughtful annotations from all interested readers.

In Phase 1 of this project, several featured annotators were asked to describe their annotations, and their relationships with Engelbart and his work. We share these special video interviews on the Engelbart Framework Project channel on YouTube. Follow the linked featured annotators below for description and video interview.

Featured annotators include Engelbart’s colleagues and collaborators plus students of Engelbart’s legacy from various lands and walks of life. Several have been published and more will be added in the future.

Published Conversations

Coming Soon

  • John Willinsky
  • Jeff Rulifson
  • Jeremy Dean
  • Remi Kalir
  • Céline Keller
  • Eugene Kim
  • Alan Levine
  • Kristina Woolsey

See the archive of all conversations with featured annotators.