An introduction to

Solomon Coder
András Péter
info@solomoncoder.com / www.solomoncoder.com
11-12 October 2011, Milano
 What is Solomon Coder?
A program for coding behavior:

The user can define a set of behaviors/events

…open and play back a video file
…record the observed behaviors into a coding sheet

Extract primary statistics from the coding sheet:

frequencies, durations, percentages, etc.
 Working with Solomon Coder
Behavior of subject(s) recorded → video file
Selecting the behaviors of interest
Behaviors are represented as buttons
Coding behavior = pressing the button corresponding to the
behavior on the video
Behavior recorded in a table
(Rows: time point; Columns: categories)

Solomon Coder
 Video player
 Coding sheet (table)
 Buttons (behaviors, events)
 Working with Solomon Coder
First steps – Creating a Configuration
Creating a Configuration file (.bcf)
Buttons (behaviors)
Button settings: category, type, hotkey, color, position
Video window: size, position
Coding sheet: size, position
Time Resolution (time span of one row)
 Working with Solomon Coder
First steps – Creating a Configuration

Categories
Behaviors that could co-occur, have to be in separate
categories!
 Working with Solomon Coder
Coding
1. Loading a Configuration
2. Opening a video file
3. Coding behavior
Navigating in the video (play/pause, step forward, step backward)
Recording behavior (pressing the corresponding buttons)
Correcting the Coding sheet (undo/redo, delete/overwrite)
4. Saving the Coding sheet (.arch)
1. Reopening a Coding sheet
2. Reopening a video
3. Navigating in the Coding sheet (Jump forward/backward)
4. Coding behavior
 Working with Solomon Coder
Obtaining output
Raw Coding sheet
Frequencies
Durations / Percentages
Latencies
Alternations
Combined Frequencies
Combined Durations / Percentages

If a video contains multiple experiments / trials / episodes…

Markers: buttons to mark the beginning of sections
 Working with Solomon Coder
Obtaining output
Select the appropriate Marker(s)
or “Zero Point”
Select the Elements for which the
output should be calculated
Can select the same or different
output Element(s) for each Marker
The program only treat those elements as Markers that were
added to the “Combinations to Save list”!
Output can be directly pasted to the clipboard
or saved as a CSV file
 Working with Solomon Coder
Modifying a Configuration
Reopen a Configuration
Add new Buttons / Categories
Save Configuration with a different name

Deleting Buttons or moving them into other categories will

make the new Configuration incompatible with the original!

This will make it impossible to reopen and add data to

Coding sheets created with the original Configuration
 Additional features
Handling of multiple subjects
- Multiple superimposed and independent coding sheets
- Useful when subjects are equivalent
…or when coding interactions

Possibility to code interactions

- Can define the target (other subject) of the behavior
- Uni- or multi-directional
- Self directed or not
 Additional features
Oscillogram / Spectrogram
Useful when coding vocalizations
 Additional features
Comments
An extra column for notes

Meta data
- Data stored next to the coding sheet: subject name, age, etc.
- Possibility to search for coding sheets with given meta data

Multiple output formatting

- Transpose: swap rows and columns
- One-line: more convenient for some statistical programs
 Additional features
Draw on video

Loading Time Sequences (experimental)

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