TAPoR Portal Tour

Preliminary Interface: http://www.72dpi.ca/tapor/tour/

Welcome to TAPoR

The TAPoR Portal is an online environment where individuals interested in text analysis can:

* Save and organize texts they want to study. Texts can be found in electronic text archives on the web or uploaded to TAPoR directly from your computer. * Discover and try various text analysis tools. TAPoR currently houses over 25 different text analysis tools, and allows tool developers to make their tools available to a wide audience as a web service. * Run tools on texts to analyze them in different ways. Text analysis tools allow you to think about texts in exciting new ways. When you create a TAPoR account, you can save the results of your analysis, or run the results through another tool!

Using TAPoR, you can try new tools, read general news, and learn more about the TAPoR project.

What is Text Analysis

Computer assisted text analysis environments such as TAPoR do three types of things beyond what is currently possible using word processing software:

* Text analysis systems can search large texts quickly. "Interactive" searching changes how you can work with the text - you can serendipitously explore without being frustrated by the slowness of the search process. * Text analysis systems can conduct complex searches. Text analysis systems often allow you to search for lists of words or for complex patterns of words. For example you can search for the cooccurence of two words. * Text analysis systems can present the results in ways that suit the study of texts. Text analysis systems can display the results in a number of ways; for example, a Keyword In Context display shows you all the occurrences of the found word with one line of context.

Using TAPoR Tools

Located on the Home Page, The TAPoR Tools area allows you see what tools are available within the portal and try them. Depending on the original source format of your text (plain text, HTML, or XML), various tools can be run on your selected text. The diagram below illustrates the various features of the TAPoR Tools area.

Using the TAPoR Tools area, you can:

1. Sort tools according to your preferences. TAPoR tools can be displayed by input source type, name, author, or date created.
2. Easily try various TAPoR Tools. Try It allows you to easily run a TAPoR tool from the Home Page. If you want to save your results, you must create a TAPoR account.
3. Source format icons indicate which tools can be used with your texts. Know which text formats can be used with each tool by glancing at the icons to the right of each tool.

Try It

Located centrally on the Home Page, the Try It panel allows you to try some simple text analysis operations. The Try It panel is a good place to start if you're new to text analysis. The diagram below illustrates the ease in which you can try a few basic text analysis tools with example texts.

1. First, select a text to analyze. You can choose one of the provided texts, or examine a new text by typing in the location of a web page. Try one with enough text on it to be interesting.
2. Second, choose a tool. The first three tools listed are basic tools, whereas the Explore with HyperPo is more complex and interactive.
3. Third, run the tool. Click the "Run Tool on Text" button to run the tool you selected on your chosen text.

That's the idea behind the TAPoR Portal! You can keep track of texts, including tools anywhere on the web, and run tools on those texts - all from one convenient location.

MyTAPoR^?

Once you have created a TAPoR account you can log in using the login panel located in the upper right corner of the Home Page. After you have logged in to the portal, you will find yourself on the MyTAPoR^? Home Page (pictured below).

To create a TAPoR account, send an e-mail to Lian Yan at McMaster University. Your account will be set up within a few days.

By creating a MyTAPoR^? account, you can:

* Organize the tools and texts you use most frequently. With a MyTAPoR^? account, you can quickly access the tools and texts you use on a regular basis. Different tools can be associated with different texts, and you can save your results after running each tool. * Access easy to use TAPoR tutorials. Learning the basics of TAPoR has been made simple through the use of guided tutorials that walk new users through the tasks of adding texts and tools to their MyTAPoR^? account. * Customize your news and personal preferences. Once you login in to MyTAPoR^?, you can read customized news feeds from news channels that you have selected. If you choose, you can also change the graphical look and feel of the portal.

Organizing MyTAPoR^?

The MyTAPoR^? Workbench (pictured below) is where you can select, use, and combine individual tools and texts. After adding texts and tools to your TAPoR account through the MyTexts and MyTools areas, the Workbench provides a space for interacting with selected tools and texts.

insert picture

To use the Workbench:

1. First, select a text from the My Texts and Tools area. You can add new texts by going to the MyTexts area (located in the main navigation). The next part of the tour shows you how to add new texts to your MyTAPoR^? account.
2. Second, select a tool from you personal list of tools. You can add new tools by going to the MyTools area (located in the main navigation).
3. Third, run and configure each tool using the Tool Broker. The Tool Broker displays various options and configurations for each TAPoR tool. In the image above, the Find Concordance tool is being used on the text labelled "My Uptown."

Adding Texts

In the MyTexts area (pictured below), you can define the texts you want to work with in TAPoR. Texts can be located anywhere online or uploaded from your computer.

You can define four different types of texts:

1. A text you upload to your account.
2. A text that is an HTML page on the web. It is defined by a URL (such as http://www.mcmaster.ca).
3. A text that you type in and save to your account.
4. An aggregation of other texts or multiple web pages.

You can also save bibliographic information about the texts you work with. In fact, you can use the MyTexts area as a bibliographic database environment. It is important to define the following information along with each text you add to MyTAPoR^?:

* A label that lets you recognize each text when working on the workbench. * The format of the text (is it an HTML document, an XML document, or plain text). This is important so that you can match tools and texts. * Information about the author(s), original title, and publisher.

Selecting Tools

Just as you can add a text in the MyText^? area, the MyTools area (pictured below) is where you select the tools you want to use for your projects from a list of available TAPoR tools.

To add a new tool to your TAPoR Tools, you can browse through a list of tool names, or explore additional tools through the TAPoR Tools panel. Once logged in to MyTAPoR^?, you can add a tool by clicking on the Add to MyTools Button pictured beside each tool (see below).

insert picture

Customizing MyTAPoR^?

Once you create a MyTAPoR^? account, you can manage the way your news is displayed by selecting from a list of available news channels in the MyNews^? area (pictured below). You can also create your own news channel to share information with other TAPoR users.

Using the MyNews^? area, you can:

1. Select from different TAPoR news channels and have those displayed in your news panel.
2. If you have permission to create a news item for a channel, you can easily add, delete, or modify existing new items through this panel.
3. Using the News Manager, you can create and modify your own news channels.

MyTAPoR^? Preferences Panel

The MyPreferences^? panel gives you the option of changing the look and feel of TAPoR. You can select from several available TAPoR skins that not only change the appearance of the portal, but also change the position of elements within the portal.

TAPoR also supports the ability to change the default language of the portal. Currently TAPoR is available in both English and French.

That's it! You've come to the end of the TAPoR tour. You can get started by creating a TAPoR account or by trying one of the many tools available within the portal!

-- AudreyCarr - 14 Jun 2005

TAPoR Tour Interface Sketches

• Tour Interface v1:
  

• Tour Inteface v2:
  

• Tour Interface (final):
  

-- AudreyCarr - 16 May 2005

---

Use this box to quickly add a comment to the page.