Using VOICE-Online

6 Filters

This section offers information on how the filter function can be accessed and on how filters can be selected, combined and disabled again.

The filter function allows 'filtering' the corpus, i.e. selecting specific corpus texts for searches. If the filter function is activated, i.e. one or more filters are selected, subsequent searches are limited to the corpus texts that have been selected, i.e. the searches are carried out only in these texts. If no filter is active (which is the default setting), searches are carried out on the entire corpus, i.e. all 151 corpus texts.

The two classes according to which texts can be selected via the filter function are domain and spet (speech event type).

6.1 Accessing the filter function

The filter function can be accessed by clicking on the bar labelled Filter at the bottom of the application area. When you click on this bar (Filter), it slides to the top of the application area and reveals the default caption Corpus currently not filtered. Click here to add filter if no filters have been selected beforehand.

Accessing the filter function

6.2 Selecting a filter

When clicking on the caption Corpus currently not filtered. Click here to add filter in the application area, a pop-up window for selecting filters appears in the content area.

The filter pop-up for selecting a filter

A filter can be selected by clicking on one of the two filter options, i.e. domain or spet, and dragging the filter option into the grey box below (via the drag-and-drop function of the mouse).

The caption in the grey box now displays the selected filter class (e.g. domain). A drop-down menu lists the categories of this filter class (e.g. for domain: ED, LE, PB, PO, PR). Selecting a category from this list (e.g. PO) means selecting all the texts in this category (e.g. all texts in the domain 'Professional Organizational').

Example: selecting all texts of domain PO

Subsequent searches are carried out only in the corpus texts in this domain.

6.3 Selecting a negative filter: excluding texts

The operation of selecting texts from a specific filter category can also be reversed, i.e. texts from the selected category (e.g. domain PO) can be excluded from corpus searches. This is done by clicking on the exclamation mark located at the left-hand side of the grey box. The exclamation mark as well as the caption in the grey box (e.g. domain) are indicated in red if the negative selection is activated. This means that the search engine now searches everything BUT the selected filter category.

Selecting a negative filter

Clicking on the exclamation mark again revokes the negation and turns the filter category into a positive selection again.

6.4 Viewing the current filter selection

The filter which is currently selected is represented in writing in the application area (e.g. domain(PO) or not domain(PO)).

The current filter selection

If the filter selection is adapted, the new selection is immediately shown in the application area. Once the filter selection has been completed, the pop-up window Edit Corpus Filter can be closed by clicking on the X-symbol. The filter remains active also after the pop-up has been closed (until the filter is removed again via the pop-up menu). The pop-up Edit Corpus Filter can be accessed and modified again by clicking on the current filter selection in the application area.

The current filter selection is also mirrored in the list of speech events in the corpus tree. Clicking on the bar Corpus Tree hides the information on selected filters and reveals the corpus tree. Here, the corpus texts which are selected via the current filter selection are represented in italics and flagged with a small filter symbol next to the event ID. Searches are carried out only in these texts.

The filter selection mirrored in the corpus tree

6.5 Combining filters

The filter function also offers the option of combining several filters which select (or exclude) different filter categories. Filters can be combined via the operators in the Edit Corpus Filter pop-up which are explained in the following.

6.6 Removing filters

Filter categories can be removed by clicking on the minus-symbol located at the right side of the grey box. To disable the filter function, i.e. to cancel all limitations for searches, remove all grey boxes (by clicking on the minus-symbol) until the caption Corpus currently not filtered. Click here to add filter reappears in the application area. Close the pop-up window Edit Corpus Filter by clicking on the X-symbol. All filters have been removed and corpus searches now include all corpus texts.