Content Access Methods
Accessing the resources may require access permissions. These can be requested via a web form. We distinguish four options: (1) Accessing (and downloading) individual objects; (2) Downloading sub-archives for local operations; (3) accessing complex resources such as annotated media or multimedia lexica and (4) web-based data enrichment.
- Once a suitable resource has been found with the help of metadata, clicking on the resource will start a plug-in or application (e.g, when finding a video file, a suitable media player such as Quicktime has to be installed and configured). This is also possible for the IMDI Browser and for normal Web-browsers. Downloading that particular resource is always an option (short guide, manual, start browser).
- Some researchers want to carry out, for example, statistical
operations on a whole corpus with local tools. This requires that all
the resources first have to be downloaded. The IMDI Browser allows you
to select an archive node and create a copy of all resources below that
node, including the metadata descriptions. (short guide, manual, start browser)
- Normal web browsers only allow you to select and present
one resource. In many cases, however, researchers want to see the
annotations in the context of the corresponding sound or video
fragments, or want to visualize the multimedia extensions of their
lexical entry. Normal web-browsers cannot handle this, therefore the
MPI team developed the ANNEX tool for visualizing annotated
mediastreams and searching in archived annotations contents, and the
LEXUS tool for operating on multimedia lexica. (ANNEX, start web-browser; LEXUS, short guide)
- The next phase of development will include the interaction between ANNEX and LEXUS, so that you can ask for the appropriate lexical entry when selecting a string in an annotation, and vice versa. More information will come on these issues.
- Another dimension is enriching the archived content, in those cases where the user has permissions to do so. LEXUS already allows the user to collaborate on a lexicon via the web, to make contributions, to merge contents, etc. ANNEX will be equipped with the same functionality. Developments in 2006 will allow users to make commentaries on arbitrary fragments, and to draw relations between different fragments regardless of which resource type they may come.