The process developed for the Samples Data Management System for acquiring collecting event data begins with samples being annotated from video. Information about the MBARI video annotation system and database (Video Information Management System, or VIMS) may be found at: http://www.mbari.org/~jana/VIMSExternal/VIMSOverview.htm. The annotation interface (VICKI) was written at MBARI in the object-oriented language SmallTalk. Some features of VICKI are:

	VICKI employs a knowledge (rule) base of taxonomic and lithologic terms, equipment, behaviors, and other descriptive elements, so that the context and spelling of ideas are consistent. This same knowledge base is employed later by the samples database, so that specimens can be queried for by keywords derived from the same body of terms. See the concepts listed in text form.
	Annotations are stamped with the video frame numbers to which they apply. This frame number, also known as framecode, is logged separately on the ship, and from it, time and the other data logged on the ship can be linked with the annotations.

Samples are annotated as they are collected, or afterwards on shore, using the VICKI interface. The minimal information that must be supplied by a user ("interpreter") is a concept from the VIMS knowledge base "mbari.kno", and the string "sampled-by". Additional information that may be supplied is the sampling equipment used, a sample number (the property "physical-object identity reference") and a frame-grab. Other properties may be added to the annotation, but the VIF2staging script extracts only the above data. User instructions for using VICKI to annotate samples are on the internal MBARI web at: http://mww.mbari.org/samples/vicki.htm. Several frequently overlooked but critical steps are:

	The user must log into the VCR so that framecode is retrieved
	Samples must be annotated specifically as a property "sampled-by" added to the specimen’s concept (facilitated with the "S" button)
	the interpretation file must be saved so the subsequent process can run properly

VICKI operates on a file format called an interpretation file (INT file; filename.int). The interpretation file must be transformed  into the vicki interchange file (VIF file; filename.vif) ASCII format before the staging database can be created; it is the VIF file that the next step of the process, the script VIF2staging, acts upon. After VICKI is shut down at sea, the interpretation (INT) file is automatically transformed into a VIF file. To create the VIF file manually: using VICKI, select Source, then INT --> VIF, and save the VIF file. The term "annotation file" as used in this document may refer to either INT or VIF files.