# group annotation server guinea pigs?

Source: http://1997.webhistory.org/www.lists/www-talk.1993q2/0416.html

## Summary

Marc Andreessen of NCSA is seeking a few guinea pigs to test an in-progress group annotation server for Mosaic and asks for suggestions on future functionality and user interface components. He says the current support is very simple, with one group per server, one server per Mosaic session, and no security beyond obscurity, but it works and Mosaic 1.1 has built-in client-side support. Under this design, Mosaic queries the server with each document's URL and inlines any group annotations returned as hyperlinks, which assumes a fast local network and a nearby server host. Users choose 'Personal' or 'Workgroup' when annotating, and workgroup annotations are sent to the server over a socket.

## Article

Marc Andreessen (marca@ncsa.uiuc.edu) Mon, 31 May 93 22:41:06 -0500

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We could use a few guinea pigs to try out our in-progress group annotation server for Mosaic. If you're interested, please let me know.

The current group annotation support is very simple (one group per group annotation server, one group annotation server per Mosaic session, no security except through obscurity), since it's mostly a proof of concept, but it does work and Mosaic 1.1 has built-in client-side support.

Suggestions as to future functionality and user interface components for same are welcome.

(How it works: every time you access a document in Mosaic, the group annotation server [if you're using one] is queried with the URL of the document you're viewing; if any group annotations exist for that document, the group annotation server returns to Mosaic corresponding hyperlinks which are inlined into the document just like personal annotations. So the assumption is that you've got a fast local net and group annotation server host. In the Mosaic Annotate and Audio Annotate window there are option menus that let you select 'Personal' or 'Workgroup' each time you make an annotation; for the latter, Mosaic sends the annotation over a socket to the group annotation server.)

Cheers, Marc

-- Marc Andreessen Software Development Group National Center for Supercomputing Applications marca@ncsa.uiuc.edu

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