Drumbeat/MoJo/hackfest/berlin/projects/Opine

• Project Name: Opine
• Project Lead(s): Andrew Jennings
• Overview: Opine is a browser extension that enables users to leave comments on any page on the internet. By default, the underlying site will be sent notification of your comment (if they subscribe to the notification hook). You can disable that and/or configure your comments to be sent to other social networks or publishing platforms as you choose. Opine will also show you comments left by others, prioritizing comments left by your friends and anyone you follow.
• Hackfest Progress:
  • It seemed like all of the news partners had some interest in improving comment threads, but were unsure of how to do it. Zeit Online hosted a discussion about comment threads. They mainly seemed to be looking for a technological solution that would allow them to highlight the most valuable comments in a way that required less manual labor.
  • Had a great discussion with Saleem about the perspective of news organizations. One of their main problems is their liability concerns. Because of this, they can't display any comment until it's moderated. They want to display comments quickly, but they don't want to devote their employees to the problem. Sometimes they end up outsourcing the problem, but foreigners without any context can often make the wrong decision as to whether a comment is valuable or not.
  • Rhiannon said that when she makes a comment on a site, especially when it's a longer form comment that she has put a lot of thought into, she wants to own it and save it somewhere in her own collection. The comment discussion on the news website sometimes feels not good enough to even try putting those types of comments there.
• Link for more info: http://www.ajennings.net/blog/2011/08/opine-an-open-commenting-system-for-the-web/
• Link for demo: http://ajennings.net/opine/