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Video Annotation Tool

Design Studio Final Design Document

Proposal Table of Contents

1. Project Overview..............................................................................................................................31.1 Need for the System..................................................................................................................31.3 Review of Literature..................................................................................................................31.4 System Innovation....................................................................................................................41.5 System Usage Scenarios...........................................................................................................5

2. VideoANT Environment....................................................................................................................52.1 User Types..............................................................................................................................62.2 System Interface ......................................................................................................................7

3. Exemplar Material – Hockey Goaltending...........................................................................................104. Technology Infrastructure................................................................................................................105. Design and Development.................................................................................................................11

5.1 Design and Development Schedule...........................................................................................115.2 Development Budget...............................................................................................................12

6. Project Dissemination.....................................................................................................................127. References....................................................................................................................................13

VideoANT Project Proposal 2

1. Project Overview

Delivery of feedback to students is a vital process in student learning. Across a wide variety of academic areas, instructors would find a system of delivering textual information alongside a video highly useful in providing students with assessment feedback. Due to this need, we are creating VideoANT, a video delivery system capable of displaying author comments to viewers in real time as a video is played. The system will be designed to be flexible in content delivery, applicable to a wide variety of academic and research settings. Authors will be able to upload a video and add annotations to the video that will appear to viewers at specific times during the video. Authors will then upload the annotated video to a digital library that will be searchable based on keywords determined by the author. Viewers will then be able to search for the annotated video, access it from the digital library, and then view the video with author annotations at specific points during the video. Viewers will also be able to move the presented video ahead to specific time points in the video based on the specific annotation bookmarks placed at those times.

The development of VideoANT will be broken into several phases in order to develop specific levels of usability and permissions. Phase I will involve the creation of the VideoANT system framework, including database interaction for author creation and maintenance. The final Phase I VideoANT product will allow authors to log in, upload and annotate videos, and deliver an annotated video via a created obscure web address and delivered in a VideoANT viewing page. Users (referred to as viewers for the Phase I product) of the annotated video will only be able to leave comments if permitted, and will not be able to add their own annotations or upload their own videos. Phase II will see the development of a system wide login capable of video sharing among authors, multiple authors for one video, and multiple user levels and permissions. This information is detailed further in section 2.1 - User Types.

1.1 Need for the System

Visual feedback as delivered through video has been shown to serve multiple purposes across a vast area of domains and instruction (see 1.3 Review of Literature). Of particular interest to this project is delivery of textual feedback in addition to video feedback in the arena of educational instruction. Areas of instruction such as public speaking and interviewing techniques, take large amounts of time in order to evaluate and provide feedback. Often, feedback based on a performance is highly general to the overall performance, rather then specific to a particular instance of student behavior. As suggested by the research, feedback is most effective when it is specific and immediate. The VideoANT platform will allow students to receive specific textual feedback synchronized with their video performance. Instructors and students should find the increase in efficiency and accuracy of feedback based on a video recorded performance to be highly beneficial in creating long lasting behavioral changes.

1.3 Review of Literature

Informational feedback has been shown to be an essential aspect for permanent cognitive and behavioral change in the major theories of instruction and learning. (Ormrod, 2004, p. 62). According to Gagné, et al. (1987) the use of feedback during instruction provides students with an opportunity to revise their misconceptions of the content and further refine their knowledge of the topic. Students who receive proper feedback also persist longer in their efforts to understand a particular topic or master a given domain. While the use of positive feedback is traditionally preferred by educators, negative feedback has also been shown to be effective when students were made aware of their gained knowledge, or lack thereof, and suggestions were included for improvement (Ormrod, 2004, p. 63).

Visual feedback provided by video has been demonstrated as a valuable tool to many disciplines dedicated to human learning and development. Clinical psychology has utilized video feedback in order to decrease social anxiety and nervousness regarding public speaking (Rodebaugh, 2004; Rodebaugh & Rapee, 2005). Communication skills and clinical interventions have been improved for a wide variety of at risk groups through the use of video feedback. Examples include autistic children, students with behavioral disorders, and new mothers who suffer from bulimia nervosa (Kim, Lundh, & Harvey, 2004; Stein, et al., 2006; Thiemann, & Goldstein, 2001).


While the combination of both video and textual feedback has yet to be studied, the literature suggests that such a system would be highly effective in delivering accurate feedback to the user. Textual cues delivered concurrently with video provides users an additional avenue to engage in additional strategic processes related to impactful learning. As Ormrod (2004) notes, behavior will not be adjusted based on received feedback unless students are actively processing the information they have received. With VideoANT, users will receive two separate avenues for feedback; a video representation of their performance and textual cues providing further learning related feedback, further enhancing the educational experience provided by the VideoANT platform.

1.4 System Innovation

While there are few current solutions on the market similar in scope, none provide the learning experience and feedback capabilities of VideoANT. Current annotation systems include:

BubblePLY© (http://www.bubbleply.com)

Mojiti© (http://mojiti.com)

DIVER: Digital Interactive Video Exploration & Reflection™ (http://diver.stanford.edu/home.html)

The focus of other tools is on the video itself, as they rely on overlaying text on top of the video in order to add emphasis to certain areas; BubblePLY© and Mojiti© are excellent examples of this procedure. Although this appears to be an interesting effect to the user, two problems immediately become apparent:

The first problems encountered with current technologies is that content is limited and videos are typically smaller in size to conserve bandwidth (i.e. 320px by 240px). This allows for only a small area to add text. An author could cover the entire video area with text, only to discover adequate space for two sentences of annotations at the most.The second problem encountered is the layering of text over video. Tools like Mojiti© allow the user to turn the text layer off in order to better see the video, defeating the author’s purpose of providing an annotation.

VideoANT will be designed to bring focus to the content of the annotations, while keeping the integrity of the video clip intact. By separating these two elements, the user will be able to view both the video and the annotations without obstruction. DIVER™, an annotation initiative from Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning (SCIL), begins approaching this need with a tool that adds focus to specific highlighted portions of video. DIVER™ also provides the ability to add in depth annotations to the marked-up video sections. While the DIVER™ project clearly understands the need for delivery of feedback through annotated video, the interface severely lacks an appreciable aesthetic design. The DIVER™ interface is functional, but lacks the engaging qualities that innovative technologies can provide in creating transformative learning environments.

In addition, some of the features and abilities of DIVER™ are only available via drop down menus, making usability difficult and cumbersome. VideoANT will address this issue by providing users a simple, pleasing, and intuitive interface while editing and viewing annotations. Through the creation of an intuitive and attractive user interface, VideoANT hopes to provide a system that users find both pleasurable and easy to use. As noted by Donald Norman (2004), "There is no excuse for user frustration. The fault does not lie with the user; the fault lies with the design." VideoANT will address these usability issues by providing a simple and pleasing interface in order to reduce the cognitive burden on the user of frustrating interface; users will instead be able to focus on the substance and content of the video annotations.


1.5 System Usage Scenarios

There are several usage scenarios for the VideoANT system envisioned by the development team. The first scenario is that of a video author who is also an instructor for a class. For our purposes we will use a political science course as an example. The instructor obtains a fair use digitized copy of President Bush’s 2006 State of the Union Address, hosted on a separate video service. The instructor then adds annotations to specific comments that President Bush makes during the speech that connect to recent topics of discussion in the political science course. The annotated version of the State of the Union Address is then delivered online via obscure web address to the class members, who watch the video and add can add their own comments to the instructor’s annotations (if enabled by the author).

The second usage scenario involves instructors who may wish to utilize VideoANT to evaluate student work. In this scenario, we envision a public speaking course. Student speeches are recorded and digitized by the instructor. Annotations are then added to the student performance, evaluating their performance on the speech and perhaps including tips or suggestions regarding specific content or behavior. The student then receives their annotated performance for review.

User Scenarios

User Interactions Annotation Type Annotation Purpose

Instructor Supplemental Material StudentAdditional commentary

to enhance supplemental material

Clarification, instruction, critical analysis,

highlighting, enlightenment

Student Performance Instructor Review Student

Instructor evaluation of digitally recorded

student performances

Evaluation, feedback delivery, review,

content and performance analysis

These are just a few of the potential scenarios that the VideoANT team envisions with our system. This platform will remain flexible and adaptable, resulting in new and unforeseen beneficial uses for feedback and instructional purposes.

2. VideoANT Environment The following sections, describe the System Interface of the environment and the types of users that will access the environment. The tool allows users to create text messages to be displayed in specified order and timing simultaneously while the video is playing.

Annotations are text messages created by the Author. The Author is able to place markers on the video timeline spec-ifying where a corresponding annotation is shown in junction with the running video. The annotations will display in a scrolling viewing pane located next to the media player screen. Comments are text messages created in response to Annotations. Any user can generate a comment on public videos. Comments, unlike annotations, can be anonymously.


2.1 User Types

There are two types of users of this system. Each user has different permissions for using the tool. There will be a Standard User and an Author. The Standard User is able to search for videos and view videos. The Standard User does not require a unique login to the system.

The Author has the same functionality as the Standard User, in addition to being able add new videos to the database, create new annotations and edit annotations. The author is only able to edit and annotate video that the author has added to the database. Additional functionality for the Author includes a filling and filtering tool called “My Library.”

Authors will be able to set permissions for each video for Standard Users. Standard Users will have the following levels of permissions depending on the permissions set by video Authors:

Phase I

Author Permissions (Always On) Standard User Permission Types

Add Annotations and Comments None

Add Annotations and Comments Add Comments

Phase II

Author Permissions (Always On) Standard User Permission Types

Add Annotations and Comments None

Add Annotations and Comments Add Annotations

Add Annotations and Comments Add Comments

Add Annotations and Comments Add Annotations and Comments

For controlled video annotations, the system will create a random web address to ensure security through obscurity. For videos that students can add comments to, only the author will be able to see student’s identity on the system or all comments will have the option of entering a name or remaining anonymous.

Author annotations (the addition of authors to a video) will always identify that particular author and comment.


2.2 System Interface

The interface is comprised of six screens. The flowchart below illustrates the relationship of the screens and the path for users.

The interface is comprised of six screens, each of which is described in detail on the following pages:

Entry Page Registration Page (not shown) Viewing Page My Library Page Video Upload Page Annotation Development Screen

Entry Page All Standard Users and Authors can access the Entry Page. It is a landing page and the first page all users will have access to, to search or login to the system. At the Entry Page, Standard Users can search for previously annotated videos by keyword. Authors may provide a login for increased functionality. Authors must login to create or edit


annotations. Registration Page Standard Users seeking the ability to create and edit, can register to become an Author. The Registration Page Users can access the Registration Page via the Entry Page. Viewing Page Once a user selects a video, the user will be able to watch the video with full annotation on the Viewing page. The viewing page includes a viewing pane, an annotation field, and a link to the Library.

The viewing pane will play the video and display a video timeline with annotation markers. Next to the viewing pane is the annotation field. It displays all annotations related to the video. Viewers may click on markers on the video timeline to view different parts of the video and annotations. Viewers may also select various annotations from the annotation field to jump to different segments of the video. The viewing pane will also be a distinctively different color (deep purple) from the annotation page.

If the author chose to allow comments to the annotations, Standard Users will be able to create comments from the viewing page to the video annotations. While viewing, the user will either highlight the annotation or the corres-ponding timeline marker. After selecting, the user can type text into a comments field and then save the comment.

My Library Page After Authors have logged in to the system, they will reach the My Library Page. This page includes a tool called “My Library” that allows Authors to save videos to a centralized area; this tools can help expedite video locating by eliminating the need to perform keyword searches for videos. Video Upload Page The Video Upload Page is used to author new videos. The Author will complete the following fields before a video can be annotated.

Title- Enter a title for the video Video URL- Enter the URL that the video is located Author- Enter the author’s name to display


Keywords- Enter keywords. (Required field)


Annotation Development Screen

The Annotation Development Screen is a distinct color (blue-gray), and has the following features:

Video Pane The Video Pane displays the video from the video URL. While the video is playing, in the Video Pane, the Author will click the Marker Button to mark the areas to add annotations. Marker Button This button is used to bookmark areas to annotate. This button works by marking a segment of the video timeline to annotate. While a video is playing in the Video Pane, the author will click this button to pinpoint a part of the video timeline. The video will not stop playing. Instead, it will generate an arrow or other symbol on the video timeline that indicate a new annotation will go there. That annotation will remain visible in the Annotation field of the viewing pane, until another marker is created on the timeline.

Annotation field (single) This allows Authors to enter annotation content. Users will select a marker on the timeline, to enter the annotation that corresponds with that marker in the annotation field. When markers are selected individually, the Annotation field only displays a single annotation for the selected marker. Save annotation Button After the annotation has been typed in the Annotation field, this button is used to complete the annotation and save it. Annotation field (many) When annotations have been made, but no markers are selected, all annotations created for the video will display in the Annotation field. Save video buttonThis button is used to save the entire video with all annotations.


Once annotations have been made and saved by the author, a URL address will be produced to allow users view the complete annotated video. The system will e-mail the URL address to the author after completion. Public video an-notations can be searched and viewed publicly.

3. Exemplar Material – Hockey Goaltending

The VideoANT team has made extensive use of video materials provided by an existing training organization during the design process. Behind the Mask, Incorporated (http://www.behindthemask.net/) is an organization based out of Shakopee, Minnesota dedicated to providing instruction for the sport of hockey goaltending. Historically, goaltending training has been an overlooked area of formal hockey training. Behind the Mask, Inc. addresses this need by providing excellence in instruction for students interested in learning the skills necessary to be an effective hockey goaltender.

A typical scenario encountered by the instructors of Behind the Mask, Inc. is one where they receive video performances from current students asking for feedback based on their videotaped game performance. This is an extremely time intensive procedure for the instructors, and feedback is most often general to the overall performance. With the creation of VideoANT, Behind the Mask, Inc. instructors can provide highly specific and timely feedback to a student’s evaluation request that directly corresponds to the displayed video.

Hockey goaltending was selected by the VideoANT team due to the visual and kinaesthetic nature of the material, and the willingness of the instructors at Behind the Mask, Inc. to share their existing video materials with the team. In addition, this material provides additional evidence that feedback delivered via VideoANT has value and potential to a wide variety of instructional areas and needs beyond traditional academic performances. The Behind the Mask, Inc. materials provide us with an excellent opportunity to display the ease of use and utility of the VideoANT system to educators, trainers, and instructors across a wide area of performance types.

4. Technology Infrastructure

VideoANT will utilize a number of current technologies including Google Docs & Spreadsheets©, Flash® 8 Profes-sional, eXtensible Markup Language (XML), PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP), and My Structured Query Lan-guage (mySQL®). Google Docs & Spreadsheets© is a free web-based word processing and spreadsheet program that keeps documents current and allows the VideoANT team the ability to update files from their own computers without concern for version-ing issues during project development. Flash® is the industry standard for creating highly interactive web-based applications. Its effectiveness in developing the VideoANT software can be attributed to three primary reasons: first, it merges a powerful visual development envi-ronment with an object oriented programming language, thereby promoting the combination of visually appealing inter-faces with powerful programming techniques. Second, Flash® files are generally small and download quickly over the Internet. Thus, users can efficiently access video and other high bandwidth media that have traditionally been difficult to download. Finally, Flash® enables us to create an aesthetically pleasing, dynamic environment that engages the user through a smooth, seamless progression between practice and testing tasks. XML is a data structure used for managing complex data files on the Internet. It provides a facility to define tags and the structural relationships between them and allows us to modify data without needing to make substantial changes to our compiled code or data structures. For instance, we are using XML to manipulate each layer’s menu structure with-out having to modify any root level code or functionality. XML has proven to be a powerful tool as we receive formative feedback from authors and viewers.


http://www.behindthemask.net/

We are using PHP as middleware to communicate between Flash® and the mySQL® database. PHP is a server-side scripting language that manages the transfer of video files and annotations from the server to the author for adding an-notations, and from the server to the viewer for viewing the annotations and providing comments and feedback. Effec-tive data transmission is critical as the management system will be responsible for organizing thousands of annotations and comments with unnoticeable delay or lag in usability.

mySQL® serves as our database application and is used to store, organize, and manage user and annotation data and student comments and feedback. Data can be added to or retrieved from the mySQL® database by a Flash® file via PHP middleware. This database will act as the main facility in storing and serving content while marking up new anno-tations and viewing existing ones.

During phase one, the author will be required to provide the video in the Flash Video format (FLV). The author will also provide the server space and bandwidth for the video file. During Phase two, the video files will be converted and stored on servers hosted by a third-party to be determined.

5. Design and Development

5.1 Design and Development Schedule

Task Schedule

“Kick-Off” Meeting: After the Design Proposal has been approved, a meeting will be scheduled to establish project procedures and expectations. This includes defining roles, establishing communication, assigning tasks, identifying project milestones, a production schedule, and the final deployment date.

Week 1

Requirements Gathering: The VideoANT team will gather data to determine the technical requirements for the project. This includes functionality, server space, and performance and security issues. The deliverable from this phase is a complete list of application requirements. Approval of this document is needed before moving to the next step.

Week 1–3

Design and Prototype: This phase involves developing the creative, navigational, and supportive instructional designs. Week 1

First Prototype Review: Prototypes will be presented with supportive design blueprints developed during the Design and Prototype stage for your review. At the completion of this stage, you will be asked to sign-off on the final choices.

Week 3

Content Management: In this phase, assignments are determined and scheduled for the development and collection of all content, including scripts and digital assets. Weeks 4 - 5

Production Phase: Digital assets, application and database development will be undertaken. The result of this phase is the first working “alpha” version of the application. This is typically the lengthiest phase of a project.

Weeks 4 - 9

Production Review: At the conclusion of the production phase, a review cycle will be scheduled to give you the opportunity to review the working application and offer final, minor improvements. Please note that only minor changes and bug fixes are typically implemented at this stage.

Week 9

Testing and Debugging Phase: Together, we will begin the process of testing the “beta” version of the application, correcting any problems and creating a final version.

Week 9


Minor errors and typos are typically corrected during this phase.

Final Production Sign-Off: You will approve the tested and debugged production version of the new application. Week 10

Final Delivery: Following the final production sign-off, the application is ready to be deployed and placed on the server for public utilization, pending the final balance is compensated.

Week 10

5.2 Development Budget

The following estimate represents the current understanding of the project. Given that a full requirements gathering process has not been completed, it is difficult to provide a complete budget at this time. A final estimate will reflect project needs and will be influenced by the amount of programming and development time required to complete the project:

Total Budget: $27,000

In addition to logistical aspects for video integration into the system, the following flash screens will be created by the VideoANT team: Entry Page, My Library Page, Annotation Page, Video Upload Page, and Viewing Page (approx. 300 hours completion time).

Design, development, and management hours will be billed as follows:

50 hrs - Content management (making graphics, collecting text/video, editing assets, database population) - $75 / hour

25 hrs - Project Management (budgeting, asset archival, task identification) - $100 / hour

50 hrs - Design (layouts, storyboarding, problem/solution illustration) - $100 / hour

125 hrs - Development hours (coding, database engineering, template building) - $125 / hour

Payments will be made in three stages:

1/3 payable upon acceptance of the proposal 1/3 payable upon acceptance of final design storyboards / prototype

Balance payable upon submission of final project and deliverables

6. Project Dissemination

The VideoANT system will ultimately provide a flexible and adaptable platform for video and textual feedback for a wide variety of users and institutions. The system will provide instructors and counselors a venue to provide feedback on client or student performances, and will be applicable in virtually any K-12 or higher education institutions. The VideoANT system, if successful, will be presented at conferences where appropriate as a best practice endeavor of creating a dual channel feedback system engaging both video and text as venues for performance feedback. Efforts will be made through the University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development to aid institutions with


similar needs in providing information and suggestions based on the efforts of the VideoANT team.


7. References

Gagné, E. D., Crutcher, R. J., Anzelc, J., Geisman, C., Hoffman, V. D., Schutz, P., et al. (1987). The role of student processing of feedback in classroom achievement. Cognition and Instruction, 4(3), 167 – 186.

Kim, H., Lundh, L., & Harvey, A. (2002). The enhancement of video feedback by cognitive preparation in the treatment of social anxiety. A single session experiment. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 33, 19-37.

Ormrod, J. E. (2004). Human learning (4th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Roter, D. L., Larson, S., Shinitzky, H., Chernoff, R., Serwint, J. R., Adamo, G., et al. (2004). Use of an innovative video feedback technique to enhance communication skills training. Medical Education, 38, 145 – 157.

Rodebaugh, T. L. (2004). I might look OK, but I’m still doubtful, anxious and avoidant: The mixed effects of enhanced video feedback on social anxiety symptoms. Behavior Research and Therapy, 42, 1435 – 1451.

Rodebaugh, T. L., & Rapee, R. M. (2005). Those who think they look worst respond best: Self-observer discrepancy predicts response to video feedback following a speech task. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 29(6), 705 – 715.

Stein, A., Woolley, H., Senior, R., Hertzmann, L., Lovel, M., Lee, J., et al. (2006). Treating disturbances in the relationship between mothers with bulimic eating disorders and their infants: A randomized, controlled trial of video feedback. American Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 899 – 906.

Thiemann, K. S., & Goldstein, H. (2001). Social stories, written text cues, and video feedback: Effects on social communication of children with autism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 34(4), 425 – 446.


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