:!:There is a new mailing list for all annotators. If you want to write to everybody, write to

 multinet-annotationannotators@googlegroups.com 

All of you should have received a notice from Google saying that you were added and that the second task is here. It's necessary to write to the list from the same email address to which you received the notice.

opening the file “.c”:Open the program creditjar. Select the “File” menu. Choose “Open” go to the file folder “Task 1” (the location will depend on where you stored the extracted directory). If you do not have a folder will many files titled “task 1” (or whatever you may have renamed it), my question would be did you run an “extract files” on winzip to unpack the files? If you didn't, you need to do that first. If you did and the directions for opening the file given here aren't working, delete your task 1 files and start over with downloading them from the Wiki and extracting them. If you still have problems, repack your directory and send it to Vaclav.

Chris,
Thanks for this info, but actually in my word list “Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.” is not listed together as a whole phrase. Each word is listed seperately. I understood this in the how-tos, but something is not working right either with my creditjar software or with my files, because there is no way for me to select “Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.” as one unit. I have figured out how to get words into the node by dragging and dropping, because that “how-to” was pretty specific. The problem is that the word list my version of the tool is generating does not include the unit I want to select as a single unit. Do you understand the problem now? As for the how-to guides being thorough, I agree that what is there is easy to understand; however, the Wiki has not been particularly helpful with the problems I have encountered in reality. Of course, I don't think the problems were forseen. Besides, what if someone is a kinetic or visual learner and doesn't necessarily understand the process just from reading directions? Just because the How-tos were enough for you and you didn't encounter any issues that are not explained within the how-tos, doesn't mean its the same for everyone. Sometimes it helps to have something described in more than one way if you are struggling with it. That's why we have the blog…not to tell people that they just haven't read the directions carefully enough. I agree with the person who hasn't found the Wiki particularly helpful, but I am not sure how to solve it because I think some of the issues that arise are not exactly predictable. On the other hand, I agree with you that the How-tos that are there do describe things well if they are read carefully. Vaclav said we could request new how-tos, but I'm not really sure which ones would be helpful. I think its more helpful to have the blog where we can discuss problems as they arise and work together to find the solutions. The problem I was seeing at first was that there did not seem to be much contribution to the blog, but that seems to be improving now.
cb

About the problem of putting “Cooper Tire and Rubber etc” into the node, drag the node over to the word list on the left side and drop on “Cooper Tire etc.” This info is found in the HOW TOs under the Annotation Tool heading, which is just 2 up from the Annotators Blog heading. All the info in the HOWTOs is pretty clear if you read carefully. About opening Task 1, I had trouble at first and did this: Open Cedit. Go to File, go to Open, go to Look in. Find where you saved your Task1. I saved mine on the Desktop. Select Task 1 so that it appears in the Look In, then select wsj_0050.c and select Open. That did it for me. I think we should all meet too. We can solve some of our problems together. I can make it just about any day, any time except Wednesdays in the pm. What about everyone else? Chris

Suggestion I have tried many many ways to open this file I have folowed the instruction written here but still no success. The latest message I am receiving is “this is not a valid win32 application. I open up Cedit.jar go to “open” clic “task 1” but it does not give me the option to choose file “C”. I have even tried to drag file “C” into the Cedit.jar program and also opened file “C” right click run with Cedit.jar and still no success.
I also suggest a meeting so as not to waste any more time. I am available 10-5 o'clock Monday until Friday.

Problem: Like some other users I am also having a problem opening files. I do not find the wiki page any kind of help at all. I did not find the reply for the problem bellow helpful. I was led to believe that there would be some kind of training. Could somebody please give me some better instruction how to open the file
Solution: Open cedit.jar first, then go to file “open” and choose the folder “task 1” and the file with the .c extension. This solved my problem of opening files. However, I still have the problem that I cannot put “Cooper Tire & Rubber co.” in one concept node. I followed the directions I was given to solve this problem, and it didn't work. I wrote in the Wiki that the solution had not worked, but the reply was the same solution I'd tried before. I also have not found the Wiki pages terribly helpful, but I am not sure what to suggest for making them more helpful. I think maybe a face-to-face meeting walking us through an annotation could be helpful. The problem is trying to get everyone together at the same time. Any ideas?
Reply: We can meet, if you want to. I don't want to force anyone to come here – it's a job from home, but if you think it might be able, just let me know and come.
Reply:Simon. I am not sure what you were told. But, If you want to use “CooperTire & Rubber co.” in the concept node; “left click” on the green number in the corner of the node, keep your mouse button down and then move you cursor over to the left hand column to where you see “Cooper Tire &Rubber co.”. Once your cursor is over the writing release your mouse button. “Coopers etc” should then appear in the concept node. The system is sort of a reverse “drag and drop”
Hope that helps.
REPLY to Reply: I was only told to make sure that wsj_0050.st is in the same directory as wsj_0050.t. They were in the same directory, but that didn't help. I will try your solution and will post here how it works. Thank you.

Problem: I couldn't open any of the files after extracting them.
Solution: I was trying to open files from the “task 1 folder. I was able to open the file with the .c extension by opening the “credit.jar” program first and going to file “open”. However, I could not open the other files this way.
Reply: You shouldn't open the other files. All you have to open is the .c file. See also last two problems.

Problem: The pictures of the networks on the Wiki pages disappeared and showed broken links.
Solution: Apparently a temporary problem, as I came back later and found it fixed.

Problem: I could only open the file with the extension .c and not the other files.
Solution: Not all files need to be open, but full solution not found as yet. Vaclav instructed me to make sure all files were in the same directory, which they were. He also told me that the .log extension file was not meant to be open but was only meant to be sent back to him when I sent my annotations. All files were in the same directory, but I still only have the option of opening the file with the .c extension.
Reply: That's correct. You shouldn't open any other files.

Problem: I want to put “Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.” in one concept node, but cannot. It seems the whole phrase is one concept. I know that I should be able to put it in one concept node, because the picture Vaclav sent us has it networked that way. However, the programme will not allow me to select the entire phrase for one concept node.
Solution: Make sure the file wsj_0050.st is in the same directory as wsj_0050.t. If it's not, put it there, if it is, write me and include the whole directory packed as an attachment, I'll try to open it myself and see what happens.
REPLY to “solution”: As I said above, “Vaclav instructed me to make sure all the files were in the same directory, WHICH THEY WERE.” I have already tried this solution. It did not work. Thus, I have emailed my directory to you as you suggested. I am awaiting an answer.
Answer: Get the latest version of the tool here. If you go to the menu 'Help'–>'About', it should show version 0.91 or higher.

PROBLEM: I completed first 2 sentences of Task 1 and was working in Sentence 3 when I got message that said an unexpected error had occurred and that I must save my work, shut down and send log file: wsj_0050.log to Vaclav. However, this message was frozen on the screen and I couldn't save my work or shut down easily. Now I cannot access wsj_0050 from cedit. I get message “Error opening file”. Suggestions?? Also, how do I get to and send the log file?

Answer: This message should have OK button, which closes the little dialog and then the user should be able to save the network and close the application. Anyway, send the file wsj_0050.log as an email attachment. If the file wsj_0050.c cannot be opened, send it along with the log. Until I fix it and send back, you can either wait, or download the empty file as before and start from the scratch.
Comment:Simon. As far as I see on the programme there is no atuosave. So people should get themselves in to the habit of saving thier own work. Sorry this is not much help to you now but, it should help in the future.

PROBLEM: I unzipped the files for task 1. I cannot open them. I don't recognize the file extensions, so I am not sure how to solve the problem. It gives me the option “open with” and a list of all my programs, but because I don't recognize the file extension I don't know which one to pick.

Answer: There is only one way to open the .c file:

1. Run the tool (the instructions are here)
2. In File menu, choose Open
3. choose wsj_0050.c or the file you want to open

At this point, the first sentence should appear in the tool window and you can start creating nodes and edit the network.

Problem: When I click on my name in the user section, the small blue arrow drops down, but then there is no edit button in the top right. So I do not know how to start a page there.
Answer?: If you can't see the edit vše button, you aren't logged in. Press Přihlášení. Does this help?
Reply: OK so the answer for anyone else who has the problem. When you are signed in you will see your user name on the top left. If you click on this you can edit that page and it will show up under your name in the user index.

Correspondence via Skype between Chris and Vaclav:
Me: I'm concerned about annotation duties. I don't understand definitions in Helbig. I'm hoping that the training period will make duties clearer. what do you think about this?
Vaclav: There will always be words which are easy to decide on and others on which we will never find a good solution. If we enrich the definitions by examples and criteria, we can improve the ratio between the 2 groups.
Me: Will the annotators meet for training or just on Wiki?
Vaclav: i'd love to have it in the Wiki, but if there is an interest, we can meet.
Me: I think we should meet a few times. I've emailed 2 other annotators and we don't exactly know how to work in Wiki. I'm back in Prague January 19.
Vaclav: Ok but I'm leaving tomorrow (Jan.9) to Netherlands to present this project. I'll be in touch thru Wiki & email. We should meet on 19 because 21-28, the whole dept. is gone……It's better to use Wiki. Just create a page on a topic you like & let others discuss it. I will soon finish some improvements in the tool & then everything will be clearer.
Me: i haven't found out yet how to create/find a page on a specific topic.
Vaclav: It's in the documentation. First, create a link to the page. It will be red beause the page doesn't yet exist. Then click on it & press “edit vse”. This will create the page. The site is structured. The page should go to the right place & then everyone can find it.

Getting started in the wiki seems to be a problem for me.
Problem: I have found my name in the user section, can someone give me a pointer how to start the first link there, because when I click on my own name there doesn't seem to be any way to edit…?
Answer: After clicking on the name, the button edit vše should appear near top right corner of the page.

From Christi:
I just returned from holiday. I've been reading the blog and looking at how the tool works a bit. I haven't yet populated my page with any links, though I have used wiki pages for text based updates in the past. Other than trying to learn something about the tool and look through the tutorials, I'm a little bit confused about what else I should be doing. Perhaps Chris is right that we should try to meet once? What does everyone else think?

V.N.: Now I suppose everybody has the tool and Subversion installed. I will soon send a new version of file cedit.jar together with some data. At the same time you should come to sign your contrats. If you want to meet over the issues with the tool or anything, propose a time and we can meet. Within a few days I will distribute the first set of files with the correct annotation. Everybody will then try to annotate the sentences so that the annotation would look the same as the correct one. It will be better if we contribute to the blog from the top.