The eComma (eCommentary Machine) did allow its users to annotate texts at the word level and to share their annotations with others. The eComma annotation tool was created by Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning (COERLL) and based on a web application that was designed by a team of graduate students and faculty members of the Department of English at the University of Texas at Austin. The project was started on a Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as an IT Grants from the University's Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services and is now funded by the U.S. DoE Title VI Program.
The eComma app (and Drupal module) was developed under grant #P229A100014 and #P229A140005 from the U.S. Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
The eComma app is no longer in service, but this website is now an archive for social reading text examples created with eComma annotations. You can find other free social reading tools on our social reading website
Collaborative online annotation offers a new kind of reading experience: instead of making notes in the margin of a book, readers can now share their reactions instantaneously and build a body of commentary about a text together.