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This program is intended to log and analyze behaviours and events observed from a media file (audio / video) or in real-time.
BORIS is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or any later version.
BORIS is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
BORIS is available for GNU/Linux, Microsoft-Windows and Mac OS X platforms at http://penelope.unito.it/boris.
BORIS requires the VLC Media Player from the VideoLAN Organization. VLC is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVD, Audio CD, VCD, and various streaming protocols.
Download the Microsoft™-Windows® installer and follow the instructions.
If you have administrator privileges the program will install system-wide otherwise it will install in the Local Application directory.
To begin to observe, you must first:
1) Create a new project
2) Configure the subjects (if any)
3) Configure the behaviours
4) Configure the independent variables (if any)
The project is the container of all your data: subjects configuration, behaviors configuration and observations you made.
To create the project choose the File / New project menu option. The New project window will open:
You can set up your project, by inserting a project name, a date, a description and select your favorite time format. All these fields are not mandatory but may be useful to you.
You can add or remove a subject by using the Add and Remove buttons.
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Note
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The key field is not mandatory, you can live the cell empty. In this case the subject selection will be made only with the mouse (by double-clicking the subject row). |
You can order the subject key alphabetically (by checking the Alphabetical order checkbox) or manually using the Move up and Move down buttons.
The behaviors can be imported from another BORIS project. Use the Import subjects from a BORIS project button. If some subjects are already configured, the program will ask you for erasing them or appending the new ones.
You can add a behavior by clicking the Add behavior button. The program will ask you what type of event do you want to configure: a State event (event with duration) or a Point event (for short events).
Then you must insert a key that will trigger the event recording and a unique code.
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Note
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If the Key field is repeated in more behaviors, the program will ask you during the observation to select the correct event to insert. |
You can also input a description that will help you to remember the details of the behaviour.
You can set modifiers for the behaviour. In this case you must separate them by a comma:
self,others
Every time this event will be recorded, the program will ask you for the modifier.
In case of exclusion of events by State events use the Exclusion matrix utility to set up these exclusions:
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press the Exclusion matrix button
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Check events that are mutually exclusive
The behaviors can be imported from another BORIS project. Use the Import behaviors from a BORIS project button. If some behaviours are already configured, the program will ask you for erasing them or appending the new ones.
You can add independent variables that will be asked to the user during the observation creation.
Variables can be of 2 types: numeric or text and can have a Predefined value.
The independent variables can be imported from another BORIS project. Use the Import from project button.
Once the project set up is done, press the OK button to create your project
The following window will appear, giving you access to the behaviors and subjects you configured before.
You can now save your project (File / Save project menu option)
All parameters are saved into a unique file in JSON format.
Create an observation by selecting the Observations / New observation menu option
You can set up your observation, by inserting an Observation id that must be unique (mandatory), the date of observation, a description and the independent variables (if you defined them in the project).
You can indicate a time offset that will be added to the video/audio position for the event insertion (negative value is allowed)
Use the browse button to select a media file. All media that will play with VLC are allowed.
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Important
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The absolute path of your media will be saved in the file project. If the media are then moved you must reselect the correct position of your media before making a coding. Your media are not saved into the BORIS project file! |
You can enqueue more media in the first window #1. In this case the media will be successively played and the event recording time will be the cumulative time along all the media.
When your observation set up is done, click the OK button to proceed with the coding.
The media will be played for one second and will be paused at the beginning.
The various windows (Configuration of behaviors, Subjects and Events) can be undocked from the main window and repositioned on a convenient place on your desktop.
The media can be controlled with the toolbar at the top of the main window.
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Use Space bar to pause or play the video
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Use the slider below the media player to move into the media
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Use the
buttons to change the speed of video playback -
Double-click on an event in the Events window will seek the media X seconds before the event position.
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Use the volume slider to set the desired volume. Audio can be turn off by clicking on the speaker at left of the slider.
An event can be recorded in two ways:
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by pressing the key corresponding to the event (defined during behaviors configuration)
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by double-click on the row in the Configuration of behaviors window
The current behavior will be displayed above the video player, in the status bar and in the Subjects window.
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Important
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If your Events window is undocked and if you want to use the keyboard for recording event remember that the main window must be focused (active). |
If modifiers are defined in the behaviours configuration, the program will pause the media and ask you for the modifier.
If the pressed key corresponds to more events the program will ask you to choose the correct event.
The focal subject can be selected in two ways:
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by pressing the key corresponding to the subject (if you defined any during subjects configuration)
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by double-click on the row in the Subjects window
The selected subject will be displayed above the video player and in the status bar:
The focal subject is deselected with the same operation.
Event can be edited manually:
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Select the event to edit in the Events window
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select the Observations / Edit event menu option or right-click and select Edit event option
You can edit all event parameters.
The option Observations / Add event allow you to add an event without using the behaviors configuration.
The events from the current observation can be exported in a plain text file (tab separated values):
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Observations / Export events
The exported data can be imported with other analysis software.
The format is as below:
#Media file name /home/user/Desktop/MOV001.MOD #media total length 622.960000 #time subject code type modifier comment 9.1 Foo eat START tree leaf 11.1 Foo eat STOP 11.2 Foo charge START 12.8 Foo charge STOP 17.8 Foo charge START 22.7 Foo charge STOP 24.3 Foo charge START 25.2 Foo charge STOP 26.8 Foo charge START 28.8 Foo charge STOP 34.0 Foo charge START 34.6 Foo charge STOP 46.8 Foo charge START 47.5 Foo charge STOP 48.0 Foo charge START 48.9 Foo charge STOP 144.3 Foo eat START fruit 159.6 Bar eat START fruit 170.7 Bar eat STOP fruit 181.2 Foo eat STOP fruit 192.1 Foo charge START 196.3 Foo charge STOP
Events can also be imported from a previous observation ( Observations / Import events ). The program will ask if you want to append events to existing ones or replace them.
A raw time budget can be obtained from one or more observations (Analysis / Time budget menu option):
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Select the observations you want to analyze in the checkboxes list
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Select the subjects you want to analyze in the checkboxes list
The time budget data can be exported to a plain text file (in tab separated values format) in order to be further analyzed.
An observation time diagram can be produced using the Analysis / Visualize data menu option.
The diagram can be saved in SVG format.
Some parameters can be modified by the user using the File / Preferences menu option.
An automatic backup can be activated. For this you must set the value between each backup in minutes (0 → no backup). During an observation BORIS will save your events in the project file automatically.
Fix the number of seconds the program will jump into your media when fast tastes will be pressed.
Fix the number of seconds the media will be seeked before the event.