Footnoteosiossa

Footnoteosiossa is a term used in digital publishing to describe a practice in which footnotes are placed at the end of each section (osio) of a document rather than at the bottom of the page or at the document’s end. The term combines “footnote” with the Finnish word osio meaning “section” and the locative suffix -ssa indicating “in.”

Origin and scope: The concept has appeared in publishing discussions around section-based navigation for long-form online texts and multilingual documents, though it is not part of any formal standard. It is most visible in templates and style guides used by Finnish-speaking editorial communities, as well as in cross-version writing workflows.

Characteristics: In a footnoteosiossa workflow, each section concludes with a set of notes pertinent to that section. Readers can access notes without returning to the top or end of the document, which supports focused reading and easier cross-referencing within sections. Implementation typically requires a document processor or web framework capable of section-aware rendering and automatic linking between notes and their references.

Usage and limitations: It is often considered for technical manuals, academic work, and online help where per-section context is beneficial. Critics argue that it can fragment bibliographic information, complicate citation management, and clash with traditional endnote or footnote conventions. Compatibility with readers and indexing tools may vary.

See also: footnotes, endnotes, inline citations, marginalia.

Notes: As a niche concept, footnoteosiossa lacks a universal standard, and its practical adoption is largely limited to custom workflows and editorial experiments.