UMR Writer Guide

Welcome to UMR Writer 3.0

A web application for UMR (Uniform Meaning Representation) annotation.

This guide will help you navigate through the features and functionalities of the UMR Writer 3.0.

Feedback & Support

I welcome bug reports and feature requests. I will respond within 24 hours. You can:

Thank you for your support in improving UMR Writer.

Getting Started

Register and Login

To begin using UMR Writer, you'll need to:

  1. Click on the Register link in the top navigation bar
  2. Fill in your information to create an account
  3. Once registered, use the Login link to access your account

All annotation work requires you to be logged in to your account.

Video Tutorial

Watch this video tutorial to learn how to use UMR Writer effectively:

Project Workflow

UMR Writer organizes annotation work into projects. Here's the typical workflow:

  1. Create or join a project
  2. Check out documents for annotation
  3. Complete sentence-level annotations
  4. Complete document-level annotations
  5. Submit your work for quality control

Account Page

Your account page serves as your dashboard and displays:

  • All projects you are a member of
  • Quick access to your projects by clicking on their names
  • Preview of documents within your account
  • Association between documents and projects

This is your starting point for all annotation activities after logging in.

Project Page

Creating a New Project

  • Each project supports files in a single language only
  • Language-specific framefiles are automatically installed upon project creation

Project Navigation

Navigate through project features using tabs on the left panel:

  • Preview initial documents available for annotation
  • Check out documents for annotation
  • View which annotator has checked out specific documents
  • Admins can delete initial documents (this also removes related annotations and quality control documents)
  • Access your annotations here
  • Override existing annotations by uploading a document with an identical name and format using the "Override Document" button
  • Upload Documents: Admins upload initial annotation documents here
  • Temporary Lexicon: If you find the current frame files insufficient, you can propose new frames here.
  • Temporary rolesets and relations: If you find the current rolesets and relations insufficient, you can propose new rolesets and relations here.
  • Add and Delete Members: Only admins manage project membership
  • Check Statistics: View annotation progress by members
  • Change Settings: Modify document names and other project settings
  • Change Lattice Settings: Customize annotation dropdown menus based on language needs
  • Change Privacy Settings: Feature pending for future version
  • Submit to Quality Control: Annotators submit finished annotations for review
  • Adjudicate: Compare two annotation files using AnCast integration and review evaluation metrics
  • Add New Frames and Rolesets: Feature pending for UMR Writer 3.0

Sentence-Level Annotation

Interface Overview

The sentence-level annotation interface features a two-column display:

  • Left panel: Navigate between sentences and view interactive annotations
  • Right panel: Document info, quick actions, temporary branch storage, and alignments

Key Features

  • Sentence Navigation: Click sentences directly or use previous/next buttons (`<-`/`->`)
  • In-Place Editing: Enable edit mode to directly modify relations (highlighted blue) and attribute values (highlighted green)
  • Branch Management: Delete, move, or add branches via right-click context menu (with edit mode OFF)
  • Annotation Types: Annotate root nodes, abstract concepts, discourse concepts, reification roles, lexicalized concepts, MWEs, named entities, quoted strings, numbers, and reentrancies
  • Temporary Branch Storage: Store branches temporarily to reuse across sentences, viewable in the right panel
  • Alignment Handling: Alignments auto-generated with edits. Manual alignment required when using temporary branches or numeric abstract concepts
  • Export Annotations: Save all annotations of this documentlocally

Document-Level Annotation

Interface Overview

The document-level annotation interface features a three-column display:

  • Left column: Sentence-level annotations
  • Middle column: Current document-level annotation
  • Right column: Document info, navigation, and annotation menu

Working with Triples

  • Add Triples: Add temporal, modal, or coreference triples via the annotation menu in the right column
  • Delete Triples: Delete triples directly from the middle column via right-click
  • Save Work: Remember to save annotations frequently to prevent data loss
  • Export Annotations: Save all annotations of this document locally

Updates & Announcements

Check the Posts section for:

  • Latest updates about UMR Writer 3.0
  • Feature announcements
  • Important changes to the application
  • Community announcements

File Formats Accepted by UMR Writer 3.0

UMR Writer only supports the format in UMR 2.0 data release.

Both uploaded and exported files are in UMR 2.0 format.

© 2025 Brandeis University. This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.