The Nudgis Dynamic Rich Media player is a versatile tool with plenty of possibilities, which you discovered in the dedicated article. But in these lines, we will be focusing particularly on the player's annotation function, which allows you to modulate your exchanges with your community on each of your media, making it a privileged space for interaction between the Speaker and his audience.

 

Table of content

1/ GENERAL INFORMATION

2/ COMMENTS

3/ OTHER ANNOTATIONS

4/ MODERATING

 

General information

There are several types of annotation, each corresponding to a specific communication option within the player, and divided into two categories : social annotations, open to all types of users with access to the video, and editorial annotations, reserved for media administrators.

To be able to post editorial annotations, the user must have authorisation, granted in the 'Editing permissions' section of the account by your Nudgis administration team. To find out more, please see the 'Managing permissions' article

These categories are symbolised by the "Phylactery" and "Plus" buttons respectively :

Social annotations include :

• "Comment", which corresponds to general annotations about the media
• "I don't understand", which allows a viewer to point out a difficulty
• "Personal note", which remains hidden from the view of other users
• "Report an issue", which is used to report a technical problem with the media

The editorial annotations are divided into :

• "Activities", which offer viewers questionnaires or polls
• "Attachment", for enriching the media with additional files
• "Chapters", for creating major navigation points in the video

If you are the site administrator, you can change the default annotations, or create new ones as you wish. To do this, go to the Administration panel, Site settings section, Manage annotation types tab

As you may have noticed, each type of annotation has its own colour, so that it can be marked as an index on the reading bar :

This way, each annotation is placed at a precise point on the playback bar, and can therefore be used as a navigation marker, directly correlating the note to the point being developed at that moment in the media. By clicking on the corresponding annotation icon in the side panel, the navigation cursor will be repositioned to the precise point at which it was made. The colour coding also allows you to see at a glance the different types of annotation made on the media, and at what times.

If you are scrolling through the annotations, you can return to the one corresponding to the current playback by clicking on "Go to current annotation" :

Each annotation therefore has its own time code, which can be applied in two ways :

• "On the fly", i.e. you can press an annotation button at any point during playback and the corresponding time code will be applied :

• Manually, by entering the time code in the editable field provided :

This time stamp is essential, as it links the annotation to the precise point in the video that needs to be commented on, making it easier for the contributor and the viewer to understand each other.

Finally, you can filter the display of annotations by clicking on the corresponding icon :

You can filter by annotation type, to display all or part of it. Note that each category displays the number of annotations corresponding to it :

You can also filter the annotations by other categories : favorites, containing an attachment, unanswered, or awaiting validation (if you are a moderator) :

Finally, here you can subscribe your account to notifications of annotations on the media, or deactivate this subscription if required :

You can reset your filters at any time

Having covered the common features of the annotations available in Nudgis, it is time to explore the differences, starting with the category that everyone can use.

 

Comments

Comments are the most widely used annotations on the media. It is the simplest way of exchanging knowledge and points of view between the content creator and his viewers. As we have seen, it can be triggered at any time during playback of the media, in order to link the Comment to a specific moment. It will first be visible to the Speaker, i.e. the "owner" of the video, as well as to potential users who have the right to moderate the media. Before becoming public, a Comment must be approved :

You can delete the comment if it is irrelevant, or even reply to it :

Unvalidated annotations and associated replies are only visible to their authors and moderators. Other media users will not see them

If a Comment is validated, it then becomes public for the rest of the community associated with the media. Each user can then add to the conversation. The best answer, based on the community votes, will be displayed alone, but you can scroll through the others by clicking on "More replies" :

You can then access all the validated responses and exchanges between members of the community associated with the medium, organised chronologically from the most recent to the oldest :

Each comment can be deleted or edited before or after validation by its author, by clicking on the three dots aligned at the bottom right of the annotation :

Moderators can delete annotations, or deny them without deleting them to request modification, but cannot edit its content. Only the author of the annotation can modify it

Comments and their replies can also be accompanied by attachments, be hidden from users thanks to the "Eye" icon, or shared on associated social networks, if the option has been activated for this media :

You will find all the administration options for annotations in the last chapter of this article.

 

Other annotations

The second type of social annotation is "I don't understand". This category allows you to specialise the comment and turn it into a question of understanding about a specific point in the video. It works in exactly the same way as the Comments except that it is pointed out by an orange question mark icon. This allows you to immediately identify where viewers are having difficulty understanding the content, and to respond quickly and effectively.

The third category is "Personal notes", which can only be seen by the author. Not even the Contributor, moderators or administration team can access this annotation, which remains totally confidential :

"Personal note" does not allow attachments to be uploaded, nor does "Report a problem", which, like "I don't understand", is a special note reporting a technical incident for the user, such as an element blocking media playback, or missing subtitles. This annotation is used strictly to help the Speaker and the administration team to resolve any technical problems that may arise as quickly as possible :

This annotation cannot generate a response in the community feed : it is a call for personalised assistance. However, you can select a problem category :

Including "Comments", these four annotations bring together interactions open to all users authorised to access the media. Others are reserved exclusively for media editors.

Editorial annotations are essentially used to organise and enrich the video. They make it possible to add an activity, chapters or attachments.

Chapters are used to create navigation points corresponding to the main sections of your media, generally related to the main points of your presentation. To add one, simply click on the "Plus" icon and choose "Chapter". This will open a window allowing you to give it a title, enter the corresponding time code as always, and finally the chapter level :

The level of the chapter corresponds to its indentation, i.e. its indented position when reading the annotations. In the following image, we can see a chapter with indentation 1 between a chapter with indentation 2 and a chapter without indentation :

This allows you to choose levels of importance for your chapters, and to create sub-chapters, making it easier to find your way around the annotations.

In editorial annotations, it is also possible to create Attachments. This allows you to add a file at any reading point.

Last but not least, "Activities" allow you to add a poll or questionnaire at any point in the video. This annotation can be used to test your audience's knowledge at any point during playback, or to ask for their opinion on any theme or segment of the media. We won't go into this subject any further in these lines, and invite you to discover the dedicated article Nudgis media activities.

 

Moderating

As we have seen in previous chapters, it is possible to validate, reject or delete a social annotation.

An annotation can be refused or deleted after it has been validated.

But it is also possible, among other things, to restrict access to the annotations themselves. When you enter video editing mode, go to the Community tab, Annotations section :

Here you can :

• Enable or disable access to annotations for the audience. If this option is disabled, only users with editing permission will be able to add editorial annotations (such as Chapters)
• Allow anonymous annotations, i.e. from users who are not logged in. Anonymous users will therefore be able to add public annotations. Please note, however, that a captcha must be presented to users who are not logged in for each annotation submitted
• Authorise anonymous votes. In the same way as the previous option, users who are not logged in will be able to take part in Activities proposed by the media
• Enable moderation of annotations. If moderation is enabled, all public annotations will only appear to viewers once they have been validated by a moderator

These options can be applied video by video, or applied to all the platform's media in the Administration panel. To do this, go to the  "Media and channels default settings" section, under the "Community and sharing" tab

You can also easily apply this moderation to all your media from the "Moderate annotations" section of the Administration panel :

On this page, you will find all the annotations related to the medias for which you are the moderator. You can filter by unmoderated annotation, and select all or part of the content :

You can validate, reject or delete several annotations simultaneously.

You can identify each annotation by the title of the attached media (a link to the video is available), and see the possible responses. You can also see the type and status of the annotation, the date and time it was submitted, the point in the video where it was made and, of course, the author and the annotation itself :

Finally, you can easily find a specific annotation using the keyword search :

 

Together, we have completed this overview of the annotations possible in the Nudgis Dynamic Rich Media Player, and their moderation by the video editors. You can now experience for yourself the wide range of options available, and the extent of the interaction between you and your audience, to make your media more than just a video, but a genuine forum for exchange and knowledge.

 

To continue : "Nudgis media activities"