Theme Data Files


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Theme© (www.patternvision.com) is an application for detection and analysis of hidden patterns in time (so called t-patterns) in behavioral data. It is possible to export annotations of selected tiers such that they can be imported into a Theme project. A Theme project requires at least two text files:

a Category or Variable-Value-Table File (a file named vvt.vvt) containing a listing of the coding Classes and the Items of each class. This is similar to the idea of Controlled Vocabularies and their Entries in ELAN.
One or more Raw Data Files, text files in which each line represents a record of a time-stamped event. Each line contains a time value, a label for the Actor, a ‘b’ or ‘e’ to indicate whether it is the begin or end of the event and the “code” or value of the event.

When exporting, ELAN creates the “vvt.vvt” file and for each transcription file it creates a raw data file, converting each annotation into two records for the raw data, one for the begin time and one for the end time of the annotation.

To start, click File->Export Multiple Files As-> Theme Data Files....

A file and tier selection dialog appears. Select the appropriate files or a domain, then choose the tiers you would like to use for the export.

	Note
	If a file from the selected eaf files is currently opened, you will be presented with a warning. Make sure you have saved your current transcriptions before starting this export process as local changes will be overwritten.

In the next dialog that appears, set the various export options. There are two specific configuration options for the export:
- When tiers are connected to a Controlled Vocabulary there is an option to include the entire CV in the .vvt file, otherwise ELAN will just add all values that are actually present in the annotations.
- For the Actor it is possible to use either the tier name or the participant label of a tier (if it is there).
When done, click Finish to start the export. Afterwards, you can find the exported vtt.vtt file and the text file(s) in the directory you specified in step 2.