About
Annotating over content, together.
Our mission is to enable conversations over the world’s knowledge.
Building universal collaboration through social annotation.
The internet has transformed how we find and share information – but collaboration is not as productive as it could be. At Hypothesis, we aim to bring content and conversation together with a layer of social annotation that works across the entire web.
History.
Hypothesis started in 2011 with a simple but powerful idea: to make online reading more interactive by enabling conversations in the margins of digital content. What began as a tool for open web annotation quickly gained traction among researchers, journalists, and everyday readers looking to collaborate and engage more deeply with information.
By 2020, as educators rapidly shifted to digital learning, the demand for social annotation in classrooms soared. To meet this need, we began integrating directly into Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, D2L Brightspace, and Sakai, making it easy for instructors and students to annotate course materials seamlessly within their existing workflows.
Today, Hypothesis is used by over 300 educational institutions worldwide, helping students think critically, engage more deeply with texts, and learn together in ways that weren’t possible before.
Over a decade later, Hypothesis is pioneering the adoption of social annotation for colleges and institutions, instructors, students and business.
Our Values
Mission-driven
Always focused on the impact.
Customer-centric
Built around the people who rely on us.
Universally accessible
Useful for anyone, anywhere, on any type of content.
Neutral and unbiased
We favor no ideological or political positions.
Foster community
Moderated bottom-up, allowing for credibility without public identity.
Transparency
We’re open about systems and governance.
Long-term thinking
Creating infrastructure for 100 years, and beyond.
Work with the best
Remain humble.
Empowering
Helping each individual do their best work.
Continuous improvement
Always thinking bigger and moving forward.
Make your mark
If our mission and values sound appealing, we’re always looking to add to our team. Learn more about careers at Hypothesis.