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Marginalia is often touted as an advantage to e-books, but I believe most people prefer to have books that aren't written in. There is perhaps an exception is the marginalia is written by a famous person, and perhaps an exception for textbooks, if the previous owner was especially good at highlighting the most relevant sections.
Some people also swear by the smell of a paper book. I was recently reading a paper book, and I decided to take a sniff. I smelled nothing. The only time I have noticed a smell from a book was when the book was old and musty, and it wasn't a good smell.
Collaborative is probably a better word for what the article describes than collective. But if people need to collaborate, e-mail is better than marginalia. This is a solution in search of a problem.
I don't really mind the popular highlights, but it seems that often the most trivial things get highlighted. I think to myself "Really? You found that to be profound?"
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