Annotation

From OmegaWiki

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The OmegaWiki software supports annotating arbitrary records in the database with other data. This allows us to implement a variety of lexicological and ontological features. The Annotation interface still takes some getting used to, but will be improved soon. Currently the following annotation attributes are supported on OmegaWiki.org:

• Example sentences. Use this to illustrate the proper use of an expression in a sentence.
• Parts of speech. Indicate whether a word is a noun, a verb, an adjective, etc. Parts of speech are different in different languages.

[edit] How to annotate

To start annotating, you first have to edit the page (DefinedMeaning or expression). Select the part of the data you want to annotate, e.g. an expression in the list of synonyms and translations. Click the "Annotation »" link next to it, and a pop-up window should open.

This pop-up lists the available types of annotation:

• String properties: arbitrary free text values which are monolingual.
• Text properties: multilingual free text values.
• URL properties: links to web addresses that contain a resource of the indicated type.
• Option properties: lists of options. Used for lexical class.

If you want to add an example sentence, you should choose a String property, since the language is implicitly given through the expression. Before you can add an example sentence, you have to select the attribute you want to add from the dropdown list, namely, "example sentence." Write the sentence itself next to it.

If you want to indicate the lexical class of a word, choose Option properties, select the "part of speech" property, and then the lexical class that the expression belongs to for this particular use.

Once you save, the annotation will be stored in the database. Since there can be many different kinds of annotation, all this information is collapsed in the standard OmegaWiki view. If you want to view, for instance, the annotation of an expression, you will have to click the "Annotation »" link next to it, just like you did when editing it.

[edit] Annotation logic

How does the software know which attributes you can add where? For this, we support class membership. The class membership of a DefinedMeaning directly implies the available attributes. A class is a DefinedMeaning which is part of a specially flagged collection. When a DefinedMeaning is in such a class collection, a list of "Class attributes" can be added to it. These attributes can be restricted to a particular element of the data, e.g., the synonyms and translation, or the definitions. When you now make a DefinedMeaning a member of that class, it automatically inherits these attributes.

Any newly created DefinedMeaning is a member of certain default classes which are defined in the OmegaWiki configuration. The default class lexical item, for example, contains the "example sentence" attribute, which is therefore available for all DefinedMeanings. In the future, it will become possible to explicitly negate class membership, so that selected DefinedMeanings can be changed from the default.