ShiftSpace

Last updated
ShiftSpace
Original author(s) Dan Phiffer and Mushon Zer-Aviv
Last release
0.17 / May 31, 2011;6 years ago (2011-05-31)
Repository

Blue pencil.svg

Written in JavaScript, PHP
Operating system Cross-platform
Type Web annotation, Metaweb
License Tri-licensed: MPL/GPL/LGPL
Website github.com/ShiftSpace

ShiftSpace is a discontinued open source metaweb or web annotation application and framework that allows altering web pages with different tools. The tagline of the application is "an open source layer above any web page". It is implemented as a userscript for the Greasemonkey extension for Firefox.

A web annotation is an online annotation associated with a web resource, typically a web page. With a Web annotation system, a user can add, modify or remove information from a Web resource without modifying the resource itself. The annotations can be thought of as a layer on top of the existing resource, and this annotation layer is usually visible to other users who share the same annotation system. In such cases, the web annotation tool is a type of social software tool. For Web-based text annotation systems, see Text annotation.

Greasemonkey Mozilla Firefox extension

Greasemonkey is a userscript manager made available as a Mozilla Firefox extension. It enables users to install scripts that make on-the-fly changes to web page content after or before the page is loaded in the browser.

Firefox Free and open-source web browser by Mozilla

Mozilla Firefox is a free and open-source web browser developed by The Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, Mozilla Corporation. Firefox is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, BSD, illumos and Solaris operating systems. Its sibling, Firefox for Android, is also available. Firefox uses the Gecko layout engine to render web pages, which implements current and anticipated web standards. In 2017, Firefox began incorporating new technology under the code name Quantum to promote parallelism and a more intuitive user interface. An additional version, Firefox for iOS, was released on November 12, 2015. Due to platform restrictions, it uses the WebKit layout engine instead of Gecko, as with all other iOS web browsers.

Contents

Development of ShiftSpace ceased in 2011.

Usage

A ShiftSpace user viewing any webpage that has at least one Shift on it will notice the small ShiftSpace notifier icon on the bottom left corner of the browser window. By pressing the shift + space keys, a user invokes the "meta layer" for that particular page, and the additional user-created content becomes visible.

ShiftSpace user can invoke the "meta layer" above any web page to browse and create additional interpretations, contextualizations and interventions (called "Shifts"). The available tools for authoring shifts (called "Spaces") that are currently included in the core release are Notes, Highlights, ImageSwap, and SourceShift. Some Spaces are utilitarian (like Notes and Highlights) and some are more interventionist (like ImageSwap and SourceShift).

History

ShiftSpace was founded in 2006 by Dan Phiffer and Mushon Zer-Aviv, then students at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program. Later that year, it received a PrixArs honorary mention in The Next Idea category from the Ars Electronica Center.

Ars Electronica Center

The Ars Electronica Center (AEC) is a center for electronic arts run by Ars Electronica situated in Linz, Austria, at the northern side of the Danube opposite the city hall of Linz. It has been built on the right side of the Nibelungenbrücke.

ShiftSpace has been covered by TechCrunch [1] and CNet. [2]

TechCrunch Technology industry news website owned by Verizon Media

TechCrunch is an American online publisher of technology industry news founded in 2005 by Archimedes Ventures whose partners were Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. It reports on the business of tech, tech news, analysis of emerging trends in tech, and profiling of new tech businesses and products.

ShiftSpace was supported through a grant by the Swiss Confederation and by a commission through Rhizome.org.

Rhizome is a not-for-profit arts organization that supports and provides a platform for new media art.

See also

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References