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BoAT v2 -- A Web-Based Dependency Annotation Tool with Focus on Agglutinative Languages

Salih Furkan Akkurt, Büşra Marşan, Susan Uskudarli

TL;DR

BoAT v2 targets the labor-intensive creation of dependency treebanks for agglutinative languages like Turkish by delivering a web-based, multi-user annotation platform. Built on lessons from BoAT v1, it emphasizes annotator UX, collaboration, and an API, with a database-backed storage and UD-aligned visualization options. The system supports multi-treebank management, keyboard-driven annotation, autocompletion, and morphological-feature search, enabling faster, more consistent annotations. Early evaluation reports positive feedback and a roughly 30% speedup over BoAT v1, with plans for open-source release and Docker-based deployment to benefit UD Turkish NLP resources.

Abstract

The value of quality treebanks is steadily increasing due to the crucial role they play in the development of natural language processing tools. The creation of such treebanks is enormously labor-intensive and time-consuming. Especially when the size of treebanks is considered, tools that support the annotation process are essential. Various annotation tools have been proposed, however, they are often not suitable for agglutinative languages such as Turkish. BoAT v1 was developed for annotating dependency relations and was subsequently used to create the manually annotated BOUN Treebank (UD_Turkish-BOUN). In this work, we report on the design and implementation of a dependency annotation tool BoAT v2 based on the experiences gained from the use of BoAT v1, which revealed several opportunities for improvement. BoAT v2 is a multi-user and web-based dependency annotation tool that is designed with a focus on the annotator user experience to yield valid annotations. The main objectives of the tool are to: (1) support creating valid and consistent annotations with increased speed, (2) significantly improve the user experience of the annotator, (3) support collaboration among annotators, and (4) provide an open-source and easily deployable web-based annotation tool with a flexible application programming interface (API) to benefit the scientific community. This paper discusses the requirements elicitation, design, and implementation of BoAT v2 along with examples.

BoAT v2 -- A Web-Based Dependency Annotation Tool with Focus on Agglutinative Languages

TL;DR

BoAT v2 targets the labor-intensive creation of dependency treebanks for agglutinative languages like Turkish by delivering a web-based, multi-user annotation platform. Built on lessons from BoAT v1, it emphasizes annotator UX, collaboration, and an API, with a database-backed storage and UD-aligned visualization options. The system supports multi-treebank management, keyboard-driven annotation, autocompletion, and morphological-feature search, enabling faster, more consistent annotations. Early evaluation reports positive feedback and a roughly 30% speedup over BoAT v1, with plans for open-source release and Docker-based deployment to benefit UD Turkish NLP resources.

Abstract

The value of quality treebanks is steadily increasing due to the crucial role they play in the development of natural language processing tools. The creation of such treebanks is enormously labor-intensive and time-consuming. Especially when the size of treebanks is considered, tools that support the annotation process are essential. Various annotation tools have been proposed, however, they are often not suitable for agglutinative languages such as Turkish. BoAT v1 was developed for annotating dependency relations and was subsequently used to create the manually annotated BOUN Treebank (UD_Turkish-BOUN). In this work, we report on the design and implementation of a dependency annotation tool BoAT v2 based on the experiences gained from the use of BoAT v1, which revealed several opportunities for improvement. BoAT v2 is a multi-user and web-based dependency annotation tool that is designed with a focus on the annotator user experience to yield valid annotations. The main objectives of the tool are to: (1) support creating valid and consistent annotations with increased speed, (2) significantly improve the user experience of the annotator, (3) support collaboration among annotators, and (4) provide an open-source and easily deployable web-based annotation tool with a flexible application programming interface (API) to benefit the scientific community. This paper discusses the requirements elicitation, design, and implementation of BoAT v2 along with examples.
Paper Structure (8 sections, 2 figures)

This paper contains 8 sections, 2 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. BoAT-v1
  3. Related Work
  4. Requirements and Design
  5. Implementation
  6. Using BoAT-v2
  7. Discussion and Conclusions
  8. BoAT-v1

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: The annotation screen captured while the sentence "Sel sularında neler yoktu ki..." is being annotated. The deprel tag for the surface form "sularında" is being annotated by selecting among the valid alternatives that appear in the pop-up. Selections can be made with the use of arrow keys.
  • Figure 2: The annotation screen on boat- v1, captured while the sentence "Sel sularında neler yoktu ki..." is being annotated.