
Brat Bit: A Comprehensive Guide to the Text Annotation Tool
Are you looking for a powerful text annotation tool that can help you structure and analyze your text data? Look no further than Brat. In this article, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know about Brat, from its installation to its features and usage. Let’s dive in!
What is Brat?
Brat, short for BRAT, is a web-based text annotation tool designed for structuring and analyzing text data. It allows users to annotate text with entities, events, relations, and attributes, making it a valuable tool for natural language processing tasks such as named entity recognition, relation extraction, and sentiment analysis.
Why Use Brat?
There are several reasons why you might want to use Brat for your text annotation needs:
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Brat is user-friendly and easy to use, even for those without a technical background.
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It supports a wide range of annotation tasks, making it versatile for various applications.
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Brat is open-source and free to use, which means you can customize it to suit your specific needs.
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It integrates well with other natural language processing tools and frameworks.
System Requirements
Before you install Brat, make sure your system meets the following requirements:
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Operating System: Linux (CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, etc.)
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Web Server: Apache 2.2 or higher
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Python: Python 2.5 or higher
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Java: Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.6 or higher
Installation
Follow these steps to install Brat on your Linux system:
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Install Apache:
sudo apt-get install apache2
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Download Brat:
cd /var/www/html wget https://github.com/nlplab/brat/releases/download/v1.3p1/brat-1.3p1.zip
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Extract the zip file:
unzip brat-1.3p1.zip
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Move the extracted directory to the Brat folder:
mv brat-1.3p1 brat
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Change the permissions of the Brat folder:
sudo chmod 777 -R /var/www/html/brat
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Run the installation script:
cd /var/www/html/brat ./install.sh
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Enter the required information:
brat username (e.g., editor) brat password (for the given user, e.g., annotate) administrator contact email (e.g., [email protected])
Configuring Apache
After installing Brat, you need to configure Apache to serve the Brat application. Follow these steps:
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Open the Apache configuration file:
sudo nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
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Locate the following section and add the following lines:
<Directory /var/www/html/brat> AllowOverride All Require all granted </Directory>
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Save and close the file.
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Restart Apache to apply the changes:
sudo systemctl restart apache2
Using Brat
Once you have installed and configured Brat, you can start using it to annotate your text data. Here’s a brief overview of the main features:
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Annotation Interface: Brat provides a user-friendly interface for annotating text. You can create and edit annotations using a simple point-and-click interface.
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Annotation Types