QuillDriver
QuillDriver's current release is generally stable for "THDL Transcription" mode, which allows videos to be transcribed in Tibetan, translated into English, annotated with notes, and time-coded. Other modes such as "THDL Text Markup" may be unstable. For now, QuillDriver also offers a view-only mode called Savant, which is currently the only way for end-users to view the transcripts created by QuillDriver [July 8, 2004].
You can also see past versions in the QuillDriver archive. Developers should see the Eastern Michigan University Web site to download source code and see other information offered directly from QuillDriver's current lead developer, Edward Garrett.
Description
QuillDriver is an authoring tool that enables users to create and edit transcripts of audio or video files, which are also linked directly to the corresponding media through the insertion of time-codes. Users can thus search transcripts, and then click on a line to play the corresponding segment of the audio-video, or by playing the audio-video, a highlight will show the corresponding part of the transcript at any given second. QullDriver also allows users to create translations and annotations anchored to the transcript. The actual transcripts are stored as files marked up using the XML markup language. These transcriptions can then be played back by end-users in a view-only mode using Savant, QuillDriver's sister software. At present, Savant is only available as a mode within QuillDriver itself. QuillDriver-Savant also comes in a Tibetan version that supports the use of Tibetan script using the Tibet Machine Web font which THDL provides for free distribution..
QuillDriver combines a simple XML editor with a video time-coding application, thus permitting it to be used for a diverse range of annotation tasks,including transcription, translation and video logging. Written in Java and based on XML technologies such as XPATH and XSLT, QuillDriver supports most major platforms, including Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. In addition, it supports two major media players: Quicktime for Java (for Mac OS X and Windows) and Java Media Framework (for Windows and Linux). QuillDriver restricts users to a limited but customizable set of editing and viewing functions. QuillDriver is completely customizable. That means that with a certain amount of work, one can create project- or even user-specific versions of it.
QuillDriver at present comes in two flavors, a standard version and a version specifically optimized for Tibetan script. The Tibetan version is a temporary version that supports a non-Unicode legacy font (Tibet Machine Web) encoding rather than Unicode, the emerging standard for multilingual computing. Thus, the two versions are built from slightly different source code bases. Once Windows and Mac OS support Tibetan Unicode fully, the Tibetan version will be eliminated.
Installation
We have two modes of installation - the online Java Web Start mode and a local installation mode that involves downloading zip-based files. Both allow one to run QuillDriver locally after installation whether or not one is connected to the Internet.
Java Web Start (JWS) allows you to install QuillDriver on your computer locally from this Web page. Once installed, you can run QuillDriver from your computer without being connected to the Internet. JWS is an easy way to keep your QuillDriver updated, since after installation, whenever you open up QuillDriver while online, it will check for more recent versions of QuillDriver and download them for you. Depending on which version of JWS you are running, your computer may ask you if you want to create a desktop shortcut so that you can run QuillDriver offline. If it doesn't, and you would like a desktop shortcut, you can quit QuillDriver and reload it by clicking on the link again. The second time you should be asked about creating a shortcut. For details and troubleshooting on Java Web Start (JWS) installation, click here.
* Offline Installation involves downloading the file, unzipping it, and then running the installation program from your harddrive. However, this will NOT be automatically updated in the future, and down the road you will have to manually check this website for new versions which will need to be re-downloaded manually. To use the non-JWS of an OLD version of QuillDriver (new versions not now available outside of JWS), download and extract the relevant zip file located below. A 'QuillDriver' folder will be created on your computer. You can run QuillDriver by clicking on the batch (.BAT) file within this folder.
Downloadable QuillDriver-Generic applications for offline installation:
Downloadable QuillDriver-Tibetan applications for offline installation:
Because these zipped files contain both QuillDriver and the supplemental libraries QuillDriver needs to operate correctly, it may take up to 30 minutes or so to download on an ordinary modem connection. Therefore, we are also making small 'update files' available. If you have installed the above zip file once, and some days or weeks down the road you want the latest QuillDriver functionality, you can download a QuillDriver update without needing to download the libraries again.
To get an update, click on a 'get local update' link. Unzip the download to the QuillDriver directory you created while downloading the initial zip file. A new batch file will be created with the date of the update. You may keep multiple batch files to compare and contrast updates; alternatively, you can unclutter your QuillDriver folder by deleting obsolete updates. Remember that it may sometimes be helpful to keep old versions of QuillDriver at hand until you know that newest version is stable for your purposes.
To receive automatic email notifications whenever there is a new QuillDriver update, send mail to egarrett@emich.edu
Try it out!
Once you have installed, try out QuillDriver. THDL offers many audio-video titles along with QuillDriver transcripts for your easy download. Just go to our Audio-Video Archive and find a title you are interested in through browsing the collections or searching. You can filter the results so you only see titles with transcripts by choosing "Advanced search", and then under "Transcript Options" specify "Return only titles with transcripts". Once you find a title, go to the "download options" listed on the right hand side of the screen, and there you can download the transcript and one of the media. The media come in different sizes, including in audio-only forms. The smaller the file, the faster to download the worse the quality; the larger the file, the slower to download and the better the quality. Its that simple. Once you have a transcript and audio-video file, you read ready to view in QuillDriver offline. Just open up launch QuillDriver and select 'Quicktime for Java' from the Preferences menu. (You may also see a 'Java Media Framework' option.) Make sure the mode on the Preferences menu is "THDL Read only" to play back an extant transcript. Use the Choose File-Open to find and open the transcript and then media for the downloaded title. For your easy reference, we have provided to sample video files with transcript to try out. Just right click and save to your computer, noting to where on your hard drive you are saving them. The Dreams video is relatively small and easy to download, while the Sera video is lengthy and will require a fast connection to download.
Documentation
Manuals and Quick References for QuillDriver and Savant are now under preparation. For the time being, a short transcriptional manual is available for transcription.
Source code for QuillDriver is available under the terms of the GNU General Public License. To get it, please visit the Tools for Field Linguistics site on SourceForge.
Prepping your Computer
(Optional!)Install the Tibetan Machine Web fonts. [QuillDriver can load and display these fonts dynamically.]
Mac OS X 10.1+: No installation necessary!
Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP: If you run into problems with the following, uninstall all previous versions of Java, Quicktime and JMF, and then reinstall them in the order given.
- Install Java painlessly (really!)
- Install Quicktime for Java: During installation select 'Custom Install' and then mark the 'Select All' box.
- (Optional!) Install Java Media Framework (JMF): For optimum performance, choose to download the 'Windows Performance Pack'. [THDL users are advised not to install JMF, since most THDL videos only play with Quicktime, and having both installed forces Windows users into the extra step of switching their preference from JMF to Quicktime before being able to open a video.]
Printing
For printing QuillDriver transcripts, please download these files and follow these instructions:
- Download the zip file here.
- Unzip the attached file. Then, inside the "print4qd" folder you'll find a batch file called "MakePrintables", which makes printable .html files from .xml files.
- To run "MakePrintables": drop your QuillDriver transcripts into the "before" folder.
- Click on "MakePrintables.bat". A command window will popup and show the progress. When it's finished, go into the "after" folder. You'll see a bunch of .html files in this folder
Last revised July 8, 2004