Spatial and temporal coding of Nicaraguan Sign Language in MediaTagger: Documenting three dimensions with a two-dimensional tool

We recently began using the new multimedia tool MediaTagger to transcribe and code Nicaraguan Sign Language. Previously, this work had been conducted using glosses and coding spreadsheets that referred to analog video timecode. MediaTagger offers many advantages over analog videotape and glossing: it allows immediate access to tagged video segments, and enables the linking of those segments directly to the relevant transcription and coding. It does inherit some of the drawbacks of glossing, drawbacks that are shared with other tools available. In particular, the temporal order of signs takes priority over their spatial location. This bias in all of our tools may make us inadvertently attend to time more than space in our analyses. However, a new location-tagging feature may prove to overcome much of this imbalance. Overall, we find that MediaTagger provides us with a powerful and convenient tool for viewing and coding sign language data.