Genius.com
Thanks to Bilal for introducing me to the Genius platform while showing me a project he was considering with his HS English students. He sent me to a website called Rap Genius where visitors can interpret and annotate the lyrics of various rap and hip hop songs. The material is both crowd-sourced as well as from artists and producers. Lyrics are posted to the site, then site visitors can select a stanza or line(s) and see how contributing members interpret that section. A musical section can have any number of contributor annotations, depending on how meaningful those lyrics are found to be.
The technology seems simple enough. Currently the website calls itself “the world’s biggest collection of song lyrics and crowdsourced musical knowledge.”
But it goes way beyond rap music. In fact, there is now a beta version out of the Genius platform, wherein you can add genius.it/ before a URL and create an annotatable network around almost any site on the Web. It could be a Wiki, a news article, or a blog. Groups of users can organize using their Genius.com accounts to collaborate on any piece of written material.
For example, try this one:
Wikipedia profile of Thomas Wolfe
The site above appears normal enough, but when you select a piece of text, you’ll notice you now have the ability to annotate the text.
Now imagine how this technology could be applied to all sorts of collaborative work in your classroom. Maybe you are in the midst of a literary analysis. Maybe your class is preparing a response to an educational blog post. The possibilities are many!
In addition to the little genius.it/ applet, there is also a Google Chrome extension for the Genius technology, as well as a WordPress Plugin to incorporate into your blog/website, to make it immediately annotatable. Read more about the Web annotator here.
You can also sign up for an Educator Account to take full advantage of all Genius.com has to offer your classroom.
Check it out!
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