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Interpreting Sources

Step 3 is where the real work happens. The screen is split: source text on the left, frames on the right. You highlight text, turn it into frames, and connect those frames into acts and claim-duties.

The layout

┌───────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Sources                  │  Frames            [List | Network]   │
│  (selected sentences,     │  Add: Fact  Act  Claim-duty           │
│   with coloured           │  ┌──────────────────────────────────┐ │
│   underlines)             │  │ Frame editor panel               │ │
│                           │  │  (opens when a frame is selected) │ │
└───────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────┘

The source panel can be collapsed with the arrow button between the two columns to give the frames more room. The frames panel can be shown as a list or a network.

Creating a fact from text

  1. Select a phrase in the source text.
  2. A small panel appears next to your selection.
  3. Click Fact (or Act / Claim-duty).
  4. The frame is created, the text is underlined in the frame's colour, and the frame opens in the editor panel where you can give it a description, set subtypes, and add comments.

If you decide against it, click Cancel in the panel to discard the selection.

Building an act

An act ties facts together into "who may do what". To build one:

  1. Click Act to create an empty act. Its editor panel shows the roles: action, actor, object, recipient, plus precondition, creates, and terminates.
  2. Click the pencil next to a role to make it active.
  3. Fill the role in one of two ways:
    • Highlight text in the source — a fact of the correct subtype is created and dropped straight into the role.
    • Click an existing fact chip to reuse a fact already in the interpretation.
  4. Repeat for the other roles.

As you fill the roles, the act's label updates automatically to [action] [object] [actor] [recipient]. Unfilled roles show placeholders such as <actor>. You can turn off automatic labelling and type your own label if you prefer.

To remove a fact from a role, click the small × next to its chip.

Building a claim-duty

A claim-duty works the same way, with three roles:

  • Duty — the obligation,
  • Claimant — the party that can claim it, and
  • Holder — the party that bears it.

Activate a role with its pencil, then fill it from the source or from an existing frame.

Preconditions and fact subdivisions

An act's precondition and a fact's subdivision are boolean constructs — trees of AND / OR / NOT. In the construct's tree view you can:

  • add frames (by highlighting text or clicking existing chips),
  • subdivide a node to nest conditions,
  • switch a node between AND and OR,
  • negate a node, and
  • remove operands.

This is how you capture conditions such as (resident OR citizen) AND NOT bankrupt.

Adding to an existing frame

If a phrase belongs to a frame you have already made, highlight it and choose Add to existing frame in the panel, then click the target frame's chip. The new annotation is attached to that frame, so one frame can be anchored to several places in the text.

Reviewing and tidying up

  • Filter frames by label using the search box, or by type/subtype in the network view.
  • Click any chip to reopen its frame; several frames can be open in the editor at once, listed down the side of the panel.
  • Delete a frame to remove it everywhere — every role and precondition that referenced it is cleaned up automatically, along with its annotations in the text.
  • Use scroll to source to jump from a frame back to the sentence it came from.

When you are happy, save your work — see Saving and loading.