What is DOTEbase?

DOTEbase is our software package that is designed to support qualitative analysis of large audio-visual data sets.

We built it because we wanted a software tool to help researchers to analyse larger corpora of data, either before they have been transcribed or after.

It piggybacks on sets of transcripts created using DOTE that are stored on the same computer or are accessible via an external drive or remote file system.

It maintains a local snapshot of all the transcripts that is updated in the background. As much data as possible is stored locally with the transcripts, so if something goes wrong, then the snapshot can be reconstructed again. If a remote drive goes offline, then DOTEbase will use the cached version until it comes online again.

It provides a range of tools to annotate, tag, make clips, collect clips and make visual mind maps of the data over time.

What does DOTEbase stand for?

DOTEbase is derivative of DOTE, our lovely transcription software package that was released in October 2022. DOTE is an acronym for Distributed Open Transcription Environment. By extension, DOTEbase is a Distributed Open Transcription Environment database.

Is DOTEbase for you?

If you need a tool to get a better grip on your audio-visual data and/or transcripts, then DOTEbase is for you. It is designed to support qualitative analysis. There are plenty of software tools to support quantitative analysis, but not so many to innovatively support how we do qualitative research in the social sciences and humanities. In addition, DOTEbase is natively supporting research with audio-visual data. It has been designed by qualitative researchers in discourse studies and social interaction in education/learning.

How do I try DOTEbase?

To use DOTEbase you need to purchase an Edition license. If you have already purchased an Edition license for DOTE before DOTEbase was released, then you can use the same license at no extra cost. DOTEbase is a standalone software package, but it relies on DOTE to organise audio-visual media and transcripts in Projects.

See the instructions to register DOTEbase using your Edition license.

How do I get help?

There is a lot to get familiar with, but we hope it is worth it. Please read carefully the help guide, which provides instructions to get you started with the basic transcription tasks using DOTE. There are plenty of video tutorials available as well.

Thanks and have fun, Dotebase Team