Help

The Urban Reading Forum experience is built on two basic platforms: the hypothes.is collaborative annotation platform; and the URF Forums website. Once you have created an account with both these platforms, you will be able to access, read along with, and annotate various curated readings. You will be able to learn the art of reading from experts and scholars. In order to use the website, please follow the instructions below.

Note: Please click here to see the video tutorial on YouTube.

Step 1: Setting Up Hypothes.is

First, you will need to visit https://web.hypothes.is/start and create an account. Please use the email ID that you will be using to create an account for the URF as well.

Second, install the extension as per the instructions on the same page (Chrome, Firefox or Safari, etc.).

Then, you can run the extension by going to any page on the web and click the hypothes.is icon in your browser extensions toolbar (or bookmark bar in Firefox). This will cause the hypothes.is sidebar to load. Click the arrow at the top right to open the toolbar. You will need to log in: click “log in” at the top right and Log in to hypothes.is. You can now begin annotating across the web.

Most of the annotations on the content (pdf, web pages, etc.) on the Urban Reading Forum are available on the group called Public in the hypothes.is toolbar. Later we may create other groups for specific cohorts, forums or readings.

Step 2: Make an account on URF

Making an account on the URF is simple. Click on “Login/Signup” button on the top right and fill in your details. You will now have access to all the Open Forums on the website.

Step 3: Accessing and navigating a forum/discussion board

You can now visit the various forums by clicking on the Forums button above. Click on the name of any forum to find a set of Topics. Each topic contains a Reading, led by a Guide. Click on one of the topics. Near the title, you will see a small icon labelled “PDF”. Clicking on this icon will open the PDF in your browser. You may need to fire up the hypothes.is toolbar again from your extension toolbar, if it doesn't automatically open up. Please ensure you are using the native PDF reader of your browser and not an Adobe or other extension. If you are using an extension to read PDFs, you will need to disable it to be able to access hypothes.is toolbar and annotations.

Use the forum comments section to talk about the 'meta' and the context of the document; For commenting on the text and the annotations themselves, please use the hypothesis sidebar only.

That's it! You can now read the annotations made by the readers as well as other learners, and make and respond with annotations of your own. Have fun, but be kind and considerate while replying or making annotations.

For help and support, please write to us at dear@urbanreadingforum.com