18. Layers and annotations
Everything people and models add to a document is an annotation, and annotations are grouped in layers.
scienting-layer/1 is the W3C Web Annotation Data Model with the anchor as a selector, so any Web Annotation tool can read it.
The JSON-LD context is context/scienting-1.jsonld, published at https://paperspec.scient.ing/context/scienting-1.jsonld.
18.1 One rule decides what is a claim and what is a layer#
If a statement is true independently of this paper, it belongs in a claim store as a claim, where it is checked and leveled. If it is about reading this paper, it belongs in a layer, where it is attributed and signed but not checked.
18.2 The layer#
A layer is a folder with layer.json and annotations.jsonl.
layer.json is an AnnotationCollection with the two contexts, format, an id of the form tag:scient.ing,2026:layer:<store>/<record id>, a label, a purpose, an audience (novice, student, expert or mixed), a visibility (private, team or public), a license (CC BY 4.0 by default when public), its creator, created, its project, the docs it annotates and its total.
A reader turns layers on and off, and the audience dial picks the level of glosses.
18.3 The annotation#
Each line of annotations.jsonl is a W3C Annotation:
| Property | Holds |
|---|---|
@context | ["http://www.w3.org/ns/anno.jsonld", "https://paperspec.scient.ing/context/scienting-1.jsonld"]. |
id | tag:scient.ing,2026:annotation:<store>/<record id> (4.6). |
type, layer | Annotation, and the layer's ID. |
motivation | A W3C motivation: commenting, describing, linking, questioning, assessing, replying and the others. |
creator, created, modified | An agent {id, type, name}, with type Person or Software, and times. |
body | One body (18.4). |
target | A SpecificResource whose source is tag:scient.ing,2026:doc:<store>/<key> and whose selector lists an AnchorSelector holding a scienting-anchor/1, optionally followed by a W3C TextQuoteSelector for tools that do not know ours; or, for a reply, a SpecificResource whose source is another annotation. |
status | proposed, confirmed, rejected or withdrawn. A model's annotation is proposed until a person confirms it. |
receipt | For a confirmed annotation, the receipt that covers it. |
The TextQuoteSelector, when present, repeats the anchor quote's exact, prefix and suffix, with an empty string for a prefix or suffix the quote lacks.
It is present only when the anchor's quote is plain text; an anchor whose quote is hashed or keyed (6.3) has none, so the fallback never shows text the anchor withholds.
An annotation's content hash is SHA-256 of the canonical JSON of the annotation without status, receipt and modified.
A confirmed annotation is covered by its confirmer's receipt, which lists ["annotation", <record id>, <content hash>].
Replies are annotations that target annotations, so discussions are threads anchored to sentences.
18.4 Bodies#
kind | W3C type | Adds | Says |
|---|---|---|---|
gloss | TextualBody | audience | An explanation at novice, student or expert level. |
claim-link | SpecificResource | source (lode:<tag>), pin, role | That the span states, uses or disputes a claim. |
symbol | SpecificResource | source, pin, symbol | That this occurrence of a symbol is a symbol claim. |
comment | TextualBody | A remark, opinion or interpretation. | |
caveat | TextualBody | A warning a reader should see. | |
question | TextualBody | for | A question for a reader, a group or the authors. |
exercise | TextualBody | exercise | A task with a key and a rule (19). |
citation-context | TextualBody | reference, verdict, reason | Why a sentence cites a reference, and whether it supports it. |
prerequisite | SpecificResource | source | What to read or know first. |
crosslink | SpecificResource | source, selector | That the span corresponds to a span in another document. |
translation | TextualBody | language | The span in another language. |
description | TextualBody | role | A description of a figure, panel or table for readers who cannot see it: alt, a short text equivalent, or long, a full description. |
generated | TextualBody | generator | Text a model wrote about the span; never mistaken for source. generator is {model, run} as a correction's model author is (11.2). |
A textual body has a value, and optionally a format (text/plain or text/markdown) and a language.
Nothing a model writes is ever stored as source text.
A model may propose a description, and like any annotation it stays proposed until a person confirms it; an accessible export uses confirmed descriptions only, and a figure with none has no description.
Other text a model writes about a span, such as a summary, is a generated annotation, which names its generator.
fixtures/records/layer/ holds a layer with one annotation of each common kind and the receipt that confirms some of them.