— How to use the Video Annotation Tool

UCLA's online Video Annotation Tool can provide a powerful analysis of multiple simultaneous dimensions of communication.

The results can be shown in classes, at conferences, or exported to comma-separated values (csv) for statistical analysis.

The tool is embedded in Moodle, and is accessible to Red Hens through at the regular access point.

See also UCLA's Video Annotation instructions.

Related pages

• How to annotate with ELAN (simple instructions to get started)
• Integrating ELAN (desktop tagging with export to Red Hen)
• Manual tagging (with proposed Red Hen gesture tagging scheme)
• How to set up the iMotion annotator (draws rectangles on images to indicate event location)
• How to use the online tagging interface (integrated into Red Hen, but not frame accurate)

Instructions

After logging in to the Red Hen site at UCLA, click on "Turn editing on" in the upper right corner.

Select a category from the left panel, or create a new category:

In the bottom right corner, as you see in the screenshot above, click on "Add an activity" at the bottom of the page and select "Video annotation". Define all the fields in the form, as in this example:

• For the Clip source, select "Use specified clip".
• For Clip URL, you can use Permalinks from the Edge search results, or Youtube videos, or really any source that serves rtmp videos.
• Define the beginning and end of the clip you want to annotate, using seconds from the start of the video.
• Click on "Preview" to confirm you have the right clip, and then on "Save and display".

For help on how to perform the annotations, click on Help in the upper left corner. Your result might come out something like this:

These annotations can provide a powerful real-time analysis and display of multiple simultaneous dimensions of communication.

How to export or copy a video annotation

Video annotations can be exported to a csv file for analysis, or copied, either to the same course as a fork, or to a different course.

• To export a video annotation, open the annotation, click on "Update this Video Annotation", and change Group mode to "Separate groups"; then "Save and display".
• Select "View annotation report" in the upper right corner; you should see the full report. Click on "Download report" and save the csv file on your computer.
• To copy the annotation you just exported, go to the course where you want to import the annotation. Click on "Add an activity" at the bottom of the page and select "Video annotation".
• Copy the fields from the source annotation to the target, click "Preview", and then "Save and display".
• In the upper right-hand corner, select "Import annotation". Browse to the saved csv file and click "Submit".

You should see "The import succeeded!"