Using Comment to Share and Respond to Documents

Uploading essays. Through a quick, simple interface in Comment, students upload their completed documents to the Comment database in a process currently called registering a document. The document registration page will browse for and then display a pop-up list of files on the user's computer. The user will choose a file and provide a brief description of it. Comment will only accept documents in HTML format. Files that are in other formats must be converted by users to HTML; a file conversions tutorial is available from this page to walk users through the process for a variety of file formats. The student’s document will then be uploaded and registered on the Comment server.

Document registration page
Note: this sample shows how this page looks in the current Comment site under development.

Selecting a document for commenting.From the user’s group homepage a list of documents available to one's group is displayed, along with pertinent information about each document. Highlighted links will show users which documents they have and have not critiqued. To begin a critiquing session, the user will select a file by clicking on its name in the list, and the appropriate file will be retrieved from the database and loaded into the user's browser for critiquing.

Sample document selection page
Note: this sample shows how a list of documents might be displayed; content is from Comment site under development.

How commenting works. The documents are displayed as read-only HTML pages. Comments can be inserted in a simple text-editor window. Group members can make comments in any other member's document and read all comments in their own documents. Group leaders can read all comments in documents submitted by any member of their group.

By default, comments are private and anonymous: only the person making a comment can edit or delete it, and only the document’s author (and the group leader) can read all comments in the document. The document’s author (and, under certain circumstances, the group leader) will have the option of making all comments public. Comments are stored in the Comment database.

Sample uploaded document as a reader would see it, ready for the reader to insert comments at the paragraph level.
Note: this sample shows how a document looks in the Comment site, now under development.

Choosing and inserting comments. Comments can be inserted at the word, sentence, or paragraph, or whole essay level (at the end of a document). A reviewer can author custom comments or, if the reviewer is a teacher or other authorized reader, choose from a set of pre-written comments. This list of pre-written comments is editable: the list may be customized and the individual comments can be customized. Teachers can also write and save their own custom comments to the list.

Through an option that a teacher may pre-set, students can be prompted to comment on their own documents and respond to others’ comments.

To enter a comment, users simply click on one of the comment icons, which appear as square bullets at the ends of paragraphs in the sample above. A window will open with a place for the reader to enter his or her comment. Click on Submit to record the comment, or Cancel. (Since readers can go back and delete their own comments at any time, there’s no reason not to click Submit.)

Sample pop-up window with a student reader’s comment

To edit a comment, users simply click on a comment icon where an entered comment was made. The same window will open up, this time with that comment in it. The user can edit it, delete it (press the Del button), or create a new comment for this location (press the New button). When finished editing (or entering a new comment), then press the Submit button. A Cancel button is also available.

If a reader has entered more than one comment at the same location, when that reader clicks on the comment icon, he or she will see an extra button, Next. That reader can navigate through however many comments have been made at this location with this button.

Comment windows also contain a Help button, which opens up another window with (what will be) context-sensitive help.

Handbook comments. In addition to the "generic" version of Comment, a customized version will be available that incorporates the content from our brief handbook The Everyday Writer. The generic version of Comment includes a set of favorite comments for teachers to choose from; the version of Comment to accompany The Everyday Writer has a set of pre-written comments that . will include rules along with examples, and then a link to more advice in the full-length handbook. Links to further help for students also include links to practice exercises. These comments will be available to teachers from an easily accessible list while in the commenting window.

These handbook comments are only available to instructors; students cannot access handbook comments to insert in one another’s work. Students will have access to the full text of the handbook from within Comment, for reference as needed.

Email notification. Comment can be set to send email to notify reviewers in a group when a member has posted a document for review. The email notification feature can be enabled for appropriate groups, such as writing centers or distance learning classes. Email notification may be automatic, so that after comments are completed and stored, a message is generated and sent to the author, or it can work via a prompt, reminding the reader to alert the author of a document.

Adding notes to a document. An "Add Notes" feature will allow writers to enter notes in their own documents. The notes can be made accessible either to selected members of the group or to everyone in the group. Writers might use this feature to ask for help or advice from their colleagues.

Reviewing Documents with Comments

Reading comments. Comments are displayed, side-by-side in columns, with the document on the left and comments aligned with on line where they’re inserted. Comments are listed chronologically and include identification of the reviewer who made each one.

Users will be able to review the comments they have made during any arbitrary period. Additionally, group leaders can review the comments of any member of their group during any arbitrary period.

Sample document as the author would see it with comments, written at the paragraph level. Note: this sample shows how a document looks in the Comment site, now under development.

Printing out comments. The essay and its attached comments can be printed with the comments displayed and their associated authors. Printing from Comment preserves the column formatting that makes it easy to read comments alongside a document, without users having to export the document back into a word processor.

Tracking and reports on comments. Information on system usage, class lists, and essay lists are available to the teacher or administrator. Statistics on activity by users can be accessed to determine the number of essays read, comments made, and time spend by a user in the system during a specified period. Detailed reports on each user can be generated, showing sequential lists of comments, or quantifying the kinds of comments made (word, sentence, paragraph, or document level; or the number of handbook comments of particular kinds inserted in a user’s work).

Archives. Work in Comment—both documents and comments—is saved for users for a year plus three months from the time classes are set up by an instructor. Users are prompted via email prior to the end of this time to retrieve saved documents before they are deleted from Comment’s server.

A group member’s work can be saved in a portfolio. This archive of work can be set up by a teacher to prompt students to save versions of their essays for a class portfolio (or to save back to their own computer).