Viso - User and Location Management
Last updated: Jul 25, 2026
Annotation Module: Important Terms
Subjects
Subjects are the individuals in your study. Define subjects if you are interested in different behaviors for different persons or animals. For example, if you observe teaching skills for teachers and work attitude for students.
Since it is likely that you study different individuals in each session, do not define the names or identities as subjects, but define the roles. So define Teacher and Student instead of Mr. Jones and Mark.
You do not have to score subjects. If you mark only episodes and general events in your test, for example Test 1, Test 2, or Instruction Phase and Test Phase, do not define subjects. Also do not define subjects if you observe only one individual in each session. You cannot score subjects only.
Markers
With Markers you can mark events that are of interest for your study. Markers mark a moment in time and have no duration. Use a marker to mark the start of a phase in your study, or the start of a behavior of your test persons or animals. Examples of markers are Start of Open question by a therapist and Answer by a client, or Instruction by the teacher and Work in parallel for students. Examples of markers without subjects are Start of test 1 or Start of counseling session.
Remarks
With a remark you can enter information as free text if something unexpected happens that you did not define as a marker beforehand. Like with markers, you can only enter a remark if you are logged in. Your user account must include the rights to enter remarks (Technician, Administrator, Trainer). Remarks are not connected to a subject. If you want to connect the unexpected event to a subject, add a marker instead.
Codes List
Subjects and markers are organized in codes lists. This makes it easy to select the correct codes for your specific session. For example, you can make two different codes lists for a parent-child observation and for a classroom observation. A codes list can contain maximally 36 subjects and 36 markers, so for each category you can use all letters and numbers on your keyboard. You can make as many codes lists as you want, but you can only use one codes list per session.
You can only create codes lists and annotate if you are logged in. Your user account must include the rights to create codes lists (Technician, Administrator, Trainer).
Event Log
The Event Log is your record of the scored Subjects, Markers and Remarks in your session.
Timeline
In the Timeline, the scored events and remarks are plotted against time.
Annotator
The person who has the right to annotate a session. By default, the annotator is the person who recorded the session. This person can assign the role of annotator to a colleague or a student, or reclaim the role of annotator.
The annotator can make his or her own Codes list or use an existing Codes list. Trainees can only use existing Codes lists. If you transfer the ownership of a session to a colleague, he or she will automatically be assigned as the annotator of the session. Changing the annotator of a session does not automatically change the owner.
Highlight Video
When creating Highlight Videos, you can export sections of your sessions with point events of special interest, potentially adding subtitles created from Markers or Remarks. You may export these point events of special interest individually or merged into a single video file.
Create Codes Lists
Aim: To specify the events of interest for your study. Subjects and markers are organized in codes lists. Each list can contain maximally 36 subjects and 36 markers.
Prerequisites:
- Your license includes the Annotation Module.
- Your user role allows creating codes lists (Technician, Administrator, or Trainer).
Procedure:
- Open the Codes tab.
- Click New List.
- Name the list and, optionally, add a description.
- Optionally, add subjects by entering them in the Add subject field and clicking the + button, or pressing the Enter key.
- Add markers by entering them in the Add marker field and clicking the + button, or pressing the Enter key.
If you already created other codes lists, the names of similar elements appear if you enter the first letter in the Add subject or Add marker field. Select the subject or marker you want to add to the list.
Notes:
- New subjects automatically get a key code. New markers automatically get a key code, shape, and color. Within one list, a key code can only be used once. The key code is by default the first letter from the subject or marker name that has not been used for other markers in the same list yet. You can change the key code, shape, and color manually.
- To change the order of subjects and markers in the codes list, drag and drop them.
- Codes lists cannot be edited, to ensure that they contain the same markers in all the sessions in which you use this list. You can duplicate and then edit a list and save it with another name. To do so, right-click a list in the Markers tab and select Copy and edit.
- To view details of a Codes list, open the Codes tab and click the + button in front of it to unfold the item.
Annotate
Aim: To score markers during session recording, or afterwards while playing the recorded session back.
Prerequisites:
- Your license includes the Annotation Module.
- To annotate during session recording, your user role allows recording (Technician, Administrator, or Trainer).
- To annotate a session while playing it back, you recorded the session, received session ownership, or have been assigned as the annotator.
To Annotate During Session Recording
- Open a location. If you selected multiple locations, use the carousel control to open the location.
- Click Codes in the lower-left corner of your screen to open the Codes tab.
- Click the list selection button and select the correct list. This is possible until you score the first Subject or Marker.
- Optionally pan, tilt, or zoom the cameras and select which microphones to hear in the preview.
- Start recording.
- Annotate by clicking the subjects (optional) and markers in the Codes window or by pressing the associated keys on the keyboard.
If you defined subjects, score the subject first and then the marker. As soon as the subject is scored, the Markers tab in the Codes window opens so you can score the marker. The moment the subject is scored is recorded as the timestamp.
To score markers without a subject, open the Markers tab manually in the Codes window, or press Ctrl + /. Then score the marker.
If you did not define subjects, score the markers either in the Codes window or with the keys on your keyboard.
To Add Codes During Session Recording
Important: The added subjects and markers are saved for the present session only. They are not stored in the Codes list for future sessions. If you have a multi-location recording and selected Separate sessions, the codes are stored for the session that is open on your screen only.
- Subject: Open the Subjects tab and click Add Subject. Enter a name and accept the default keycode or choose another one.
- Marker: Open the Markers tab and choose Add Marker. Enter a name and accept the default keycode and symbol or choose other ones.
How Annotations Appear
The scored annotations appear in the Event Log and the Timeline.
Event Log: To view the Event Log, open the Events pane at the bottom-left side of your window.
Timeline: In the Timeline, the events are plotted against time. Subjects are listed vertically. The markers are displayed horizontally on the Timeline. During session recording, the subjects are shown in the order they were scored; the last subject scored is shown at the top. While reviewing, the subjects are shown in the same order as in the Codes list.
If markers were scored without a subject, the markers are displayed in the row No Subject in the Timeline. Remarks are also displayed in the No Subject row.
To Annotate After Session Recording
- Open a recorded session and play it. This locks the session for other users, who can now only view the session and cannot score markers. If you have a multiple-location recording, use the carousel control to open the location you want.
- Click Codes in the lower-left corner of your screen to open the Codes tab.
- If you did not select a Codes list during session recording, click the list selection button to select one. Also use this button to change the codes list. This is possible until you score the first marker.
- Annotate, following the same procedure as described above. During session playback you can only score subjects and markers from the same list that you used during session recording. However, you can add subjects and markers for this session.
- To save changes before you exit the session, press Ctrl + S. The markers are also saved if you exit the session.
Note: You can select codes lists created by others, but you can only annotate your own sessions, the sessions for which you received ownership, or annotator rights.
Note: Others cannot view scored markers and remarks when you are recording and annotating a session.
Note: Others can view the scored markers and remarks when a recorded session is being edited. To do so, open the Sessions tab and open the session. The markers and remarks appear when the person editing the session saves it (Ctrl + S).
Annotations in a Multiple-Location Recording
If you selected multiple locations, how annotations are stored depends on whether you selected separate sessions for each location or a composite session.
Separate Sessions
Each session has its own annotations. This means that you can annotate the separate sessions differently. The annotations are stored for the location you have open on your screen while you are annotating. Codes you add during session recording will be added to the codes list of the session that is open on your screen only.
Composite Session
The composite session will have one Event Log. The Event Log for the different locations is the same, independent of which location is open on your screen. You can open another location and continue with the same Event Log. All annotations are stored in the same Event Log. Codes you add during session recording are added to the codes list of all locations.
If the user recording a composite session switches locations, a Remark is added to the Event Log with the location name. The Remark has the timestamp of when the new location was opened.
Note: If you do not have the Annotation Module, no Remark is added when you change locations during recording.
Enter a Remark
Aim: To mark something of interest that you did not define in the Codes list. This can be done during session recording or afterwards while playing the session back.
Prerequisites:
- Your license includes the Annotation Module.
- To add remarks during session recording, your user role allows recording (Technician, Administrator, or Trainer).
- To add a remark while playing a session back, you recorded the session, received ownership or annotator rights for the session.
Remarks in a Multiple-Location Recording
Separate Sessions: The remarks are added to the session that is open on your screen only.
Composite Session: Since all locations share the same Event Log, the remarks are added to all locations.
Procedure:
- Click the Remark button or press Ctrl + R.
- Enter the text and click Add.
Note: A remark with the location name is added automatically when you switch locations in a composite session.
View Annotations
Aim: To view the annotations from a session recorded by someone else.
Prerequisites:
- Your license includes the Annotation Module.
- You either have rights to view the session (Technician, Administrator), you created the session (Trainer), you have received ownership or annotator rights, or you are invited to view the session.
- The session has been recorded.
Procedure:
- Open the Sessions tab.
- Double-click a session to open it.
- Play the session. The annotations are shown in the Event Log and the Timeline.
Event Log: To view the Event Log, open the Events tab at the bottom of your window. To jump to an event in the Timeline and videos, click it in the Event Log.
Timeline: To jump to an event in the videos and Event Log, click it in the Timeline.
- To display an event, hover over a symbol.
- To move to the next event, click the Skip to next event button or press Ctrl + Right Arrow.
- To move to the previous event, press Ctrl + Left Arrow.
- To zoom in and out of the Timeline, hover your mouse cursor over the Timeline and use the mouse wheel.
- To view an interval in detail, drag the borders of the line below the Timeline.
Playback Events
If you want to play back a specific event, set a pre-roll interval to start playing a few seconds prior to the event.
The default pre-roll interval is 5 seconds. The maximum duration you can set is 15 seconds.
Edit Scored Subjects, Markers, and Remarks
Aim: To correct annotation errors.
Prerequisites:
- Your license includes the Annotation Module.
- Your user role allows session recording (Technician, Administrator, or Trainer).
- If you have the user role Trainer, you created the session, received ownership or annotator rights. Trainees can also receive ownership or annotator rights.
Procedure:
- Open a recorded session and play it.
- To make new annotations, enter them following the procedure in Annotate.
- To add a remark, press Ctrl + R or click the Remark button.
- To delete a scored subject, marker, or remark, right-click it in the Event Log and click Delete.
- To modify a scored subject or marker, right-click it and select Modify subject or Modify marker, then choose the correct one.
- To save the session before you exit it, press Ctrl + S.
- When done, choose Back. Choose Save to save new edits.
Note: Others can view the scored markers and remarks when a recorded session is being edited. To do so, open the Sessions tab and open the session. The markers and remarks appear when the person editing the session saves it (Ctrl + S).
Note: Scored Markers and Remarks can only be edited by the user that created the session and users that received session ownership or annotator rights.
Select Another Codes List
Aim: To choose another Codes list than the one that was used for scoring and annotate with that list.
Important: To choose another Codes list, you must delete all annotations from the original list first. The deleted annotations cannot be restored.
Prerequisites:
- Your license includes the Annotation Module.
- You created the session, received session ownership or annotator rights, or are a Technician or Administrator.
Procedure:
- Open the session.
- Right-click the markers that were already scored in the Event Log and click Delete.
- Click the list selection button and select another Codes list.
Change the Annotator
Aim: To assign the role of session annotator to another user.
Source: Viso 12 Reference Manual