The idea for having pre-conference and post-conference conversation/collaboration that Jeremy Dean suggests here is exactly the kind of use case I have been looking for.  I think that annotation is a learning end in itself, but I also want it have some extrinsic value as well.  I don’t want the notes to just sit on a digital shelf gathering electronic dust.  That is what most of my annotations are doing.  These simple collaborations go a long way toward satisfying me.

Besides, the papers sound interesting

• Research-Interpretation-Play – Jeff Allred, Professor of English, Hunter College/CUNY
• Towards-Dialogical-Student-Publics – Erin Rose Glass, Associate Director of Digital Arts & Humanities Initiatives at the Institute of Arts & Humanities at the University of San Diego, California
• Exploiting-the-Network – Larry Hanley, Professor of English, San Francisco State University

I repeat: the idea of annotating before a conference AND THEN using those annotations to bring an alt conversation to that conference is exactly the ‘next level’ I have been hoping for from Hypothes.is. Annotations need to be used!  They have instrumental value beyond intrinsic social and personal ones.