scott said:
>   The ideal solution would be a tiny bit of automation
>   (perhaps created by a student if techie stuff isn't your thing). 

"tiny" is a very misleading term, i think.
unless you can show me this "tiny" thing.


>   Then you could keep the annotations separate,
>   and just add small markers to the original text. 

um, keeping the annotations separate is a good idea.
but requiring "small markers" in the original text is not.
the text should remain unchanged, for many reasons.


>   Simple scripts could do things like:
>   - format the annotations on their own
>   - insert the annotations into the text,
>   preferably with appropriate HTML wrapper that
>   lets readers show/hide using CSS (style sheets) or JavaScript.

except what you have described is _far_ from "simple",
as well as i can tell.  do you have sample implementations?


>   As others have noted, HTML
>   or the newer XHTML is ideal here.

"ideal"?  i think not.

indeed, to the direct contrary, i believe that heavy markup
makes on-the-fly adding of annotations _extremely_ difficult.

but, as i said, if you can show me some examples,
ones that make it as simple as you make it sound,
i am open to being convinced otherwise...

-bowerbird