Hypothesis is a tool that lets you collaboratively annotate and discuss webpages and documents. It enables sentence-level note taking or critique as a layer on top of class readings, news, blogs, scientific articles, books, terms of service, ballot initiatives, legislation and more. You and your students can annotate and comment on most documents you can view on the web. For examples of what you might do with Hypothesis, see the Liquid Margins blog.
Hypothesis is now integrated with Duke Canvas and Sakai to allow faculty and students to easily use Hypothesis in Duke classes. Using Hypothesis, students can annotate documents and webpages that are publicly accessible on the web, uploaded to Sakai Resources with a Public URL, or uploaded to Google Drive.
This page covers:
Getting started with Hypothesis
Follow these steps to get started with Hypothesis in Canvas: Using the Hypothesis LMS App With Assignments in Canvas
Check out this short video on how to use Hypothesis in Sakai.
For written instructions, please see Hypothesis Help: Using the Hypothesis LMS App with Lessons in Sakai.
Getting help
First check the Hypothesis help documentation or the FAQ below to see if your question is addressed there.
If you’re still running into issues with using Hypothes.is, request help from Learning Innovation and we’ll help troubleshoot your issue.
You may also contact Hypothesis help and the OIT help desk.
Frequently Asked Questions
Help! I’m having trouble with Hypothesis.
We are still working to document any issues that aren’t included in Hypothesis help documents. Check out this page first to see if your question is answered in the official documentation: Hypothesis LMS FAQ.
I have Hypothesis in my menu of tools. However, it seems I can only add one item. What gives?
Hypothesis is best utilized within the Sakai Lessons tool. Choose Add Content > Add External Tool, as specified in the Getting Started with Hypothesis guide.
You can remove the Hypothes.is tool from your overall tool menu by selecting Site Info > Manage Tools and unchecking Hypothes.is.
How do I use files in Sakai Resources with Hypothesis?
Your file in Sakai Resources must be publicly viewable for Hypothesis to work properly. In the Resources folder, you can can find this setting in Actions > Edit Details.
In the file details, you’ll see a link directly to the file, which you’ll need to use when setting up your Hypothesis document in Lessons.
Learn more about making a file publicly viewable.
Are there pages or types of websites I can’t use in Hypothesis?
Yes, you may encounter difficulty using certain types of webpages or PDFs. While most regular web pages and documents like PDFs work well with Hypothesis tool, others may not work well or won’t work at all.
Often, if you can see the page on your screen, there may be a workaround. For example, if a particular page does not load properly, you can print or save the page as a PDF document, then use the “upload to Google Drive” option.
Any page that is not publicly accessible on the open web (or that requires Duke sign-in) is not accessible by Hypothesis and will need to be made public. Please make sure to test your document before assigning to students.
Articles from Duke Libraries which require Shibboleth/NetID sign-in or Proxy VPN do not work with Hypothesis. Some non-paywalled pages may not work, either, so please test your article and re-upload to Google Drive if necessary.
PDF Optimization
Pages or documents need to have selectable text to work with Hypothesis. Please use OCR text recognition on your PDF to make it possible to select text in the document. Learn more at Hypothesis support: how to OCR-optimize PDFs and Duke Web Accessibility: PDF Accessibility Demystified in 8 minutes.
Duplicate files will be recognized as the same item (even if they have a different file name). You may need to add a PDF Fingerprint to the file. Learn more at Hypothesis Support: How to save copy of a PDF with a different fingerprint.
How do Hypothesis groups work with Sakai? Can I set up custom sub-groups or sections?
Sakai site sub-groups or sections are not supported at this time. By default, documents can be annotated and viewable by all Sakai site participants. However, there is a workaround which uses the fingerprinting tool mentioned above.
A Hypothesis private group is automatically generated for courses where the Hypothesis Sakai app is installed. Neither instructors nor students will be able to create additional private groups within the Sakai context.
Learn more about Account and Group Provisioning in the Hypothesis LMS App here.
When I create a Hypothesis item in Sakai Lessons, I initially see the public annotations for that item.
We’ve found that this issue is fixed by simply refreshing the page.