An Advanced Reading and Annotation System for the Pingtung County Gazetteer

　　It is quite common for researchers to put their research results on the Internet for public use. The most standard way is to cover a paper into a pdf (Portable Document Format) file for people to download and read. This method, although convenient, prohibits the author from utilizing other useful references such as external links or maps that can serve as reading aid. Furthermore, a research paper, such as an article on history, may contain geographical names whose locations are not familiar to the general reader.
　　In this study we present an annotation system through which an author can easily link his or her article with external sources. The system provides a platform on which one can annotate person names, place names and special terms and link them with external sources such as maps and encyclopedia. To demonstrate its effectiveness, we use the Pingtung County Gazetteer as the target text. The external sources include the Encyclopedia Taiwania, Short Biographies of Ming and Qing Taiwanese, historical maps from the Academia Sinica, and the Google map. In addition to the annotation system, we have also provided an interface so that users can use a browser to read the annotated text easily.