Handheld electronic book reader with annotation and usage tracking capabilities

A handheld electronic book reader, comprising:

• (a) a memory;
• (b) a display;
• and
• (c) program code configured to control the display to display at least a portion of an electronic document stored in the memory to a user, the program code further configured to select a portion of the electronic document in response to user input directed to the portion of the electronic document, create a context for a defined term in the electronic document by associating the selected portion with a definition for the defined term, wherein the selected portion that is selected in response to user input and that is associated with the definition for the defined term in the created context includes content other than the defined term to illustrate an exemplary usage of the defined term in practice, display the definition of the defined term in response to user input, and display the context in association with displaying the definition;
• wherein the defined term is associated with a plurality of contexts, wherein each of the plurality of contexts includes content selected in response to user input and other than the defined term to illustrate exemplary usages of the defined term in practice, wherein the program code is further configured to selectively display multiple contexts associated with the defined term in association with displaying the definition, wherein each of the plurality of contexts is associated with a user among a plurality of different users that created such context, and wherein the program code is configured to selectively display each of the multiple contexts with a display representation associated with the user that created such context.

A program product stored on a physical computer readable medium, comprising:

• program code configured to be executed by a handheld electronic book reader to cause the handheld electronic book reader to display at least a portion of an electronic document, the program code further configured to select a portion of the electronic document in response to user input directed to the portion of the electronic document, create a context for a defined term in the electronic document by associating the selected portion with a definition for the defined term, wherein the selected portion that is selected in response to user input and that is associated with the definition for the defined term in the created context includes content other than the defined term to illustrate an exemplary usage of the defined term in practice, display the definition of the defined term in response to user input, and display the context in association with displaying the definition;
• (b) wherein the defined term is associated with a plurality of contexts, wherein each of the plurality of contexts includes content selected in response to user input and other than the defined term to illustrate exemplary usages of the defined term in practice, wherein the program code is further configured to selectively display multiple contexts associated with the defined term in association with displaying the definition, wherein each of the plurality of contexts is associated with a user among a plurality of different users that created such context, and wherein the program code is configured to selectively display each of the multiple contexts with a display representation associated with the user that created such context.

A handheld electronic book reader, comprising:

• (a) a memory;
• (b) a display;
• and
• (c) program code configured to control the display to display at least a portion of an electronic document stored in the memory to a user, the program code further configured to display in connection with the electronic document first and second annotation data respectively associated with first and second users that created such annotation data, wherein the first and second annotation data is displayed so as to indicate that the first and second annotation data was created by different users, wherein each of the first and second annotation data includes context data that includes at least one context for a defined term in the electronic document, the context for each of the first and second annotation data including content other than the defined term, and selected by one of the first and second users, the content for each of the first and second annotation data providing a contextual reference associated with the defined term that illustrates an exemplary usage of the defined term in practice, wherein the context for each of the first and second annotation data is associated with a definition for the defined term that is displayed in association with the context for each of the first and second annotation data.