The EthoWatcher OS offers the capability to conduct classical behavioral categorical transcriptions, employing a predefined behavioral catalog. Furthermore, it facilitates the extraction of kinematic and morphological descriptors, such as tracking data, frame-by-frame measurements of size, distance, angles, and other pertinent attributes of the observed animals. Moreover, has analytical methods including state-of-the-art concordance analysis and sequential analysis approaches that have been discussed in the existing body of knowledge but are not commonly implemented in other software of a similar nature.

Additionally, the structured data organization and open data format (XML, and tabular format with XLSX) within the EthoWatcher OS enable the application of artificial intelligence algorithms, enhancing the potential for advanced and data-driven insights. This distinctive feature sets EthoWatcher OS apart as a versatile and powerful tool for behavioral research and analysis. It's free to use, see below how to download and start using.

Click here to go to the page that provides instructions on how to install and download the software. Every time you run the software you will need to accept the license, the license is the GNU GPL-V3.

To use the program, you will need a user (go here for instructions to create a user), this file will be used to mark every file you make. After creating a user, you will need to register a new behavioral catalog (go here for instructions to create a Behavioral catalog). You need to set up your experimental videos in EthoWatcher OS. Here's how: https://github.com/EthoWatcher/ethowatcher/wiki/Register-video-files-window.

You can register as many videos as you want, but be careful: register the video and save them to the same path on Windows. We recommend that you send your video files and EthoWatcher OS files to the "C:" path (e.x. C:\EthoWatcherOS). In this repository, organize your different data in folder, example below.

After registering the experimental videos, consider creating a list of videos that are related and blind to yourself. For more detailed information about the blinded path and video management tools, please refer to the EthoWatcher Wiki.

After registering the files of your behavioral experiment, including the behavioral catalog and some experimental videos, you can begin the Ethography process. For detailed information on classifying behavior in every selected video frame, refer to the EthoWatcher Wiki.

By utilizing our system, you can assess the reliability of your measurements. For more information, [read this paper]. Additionally, you can freely download the module and watch a tutorial video in Portuguese.

This program facilitates the inference of measurement reliability through two repetitive measurements of the same registered video. Importantly, it allows you to assess reliability without depending on arbitrary rules or subjective judgments of “good” or “bad”.

The summary (image below) provides information on K (Cohen’s K), P (Prevalence), B (Bias), and the K and Kmax distance for the overall catalog and individual behavioral categories obtained by the Bootstrap algorithm. Investigate further how to make this image of your studies.

The tools of Kinematic and Morphological Transcription Analysis and of etography allow performing analyzes that are important for the field of study that the program operates, but are rarely found. You can do this by:

• Time segmentation of behavioral report (go to time segmentation report). This module divides the Ethography report by a fixed period of time. For this report, the result of segmentation is given in frequency, latency and duration of each behavior for each time interval.

• Generate a transition matrix from behavioral recording

• Segmentation of the ethography and tracking report by behavior (go to build a category-specific video file). The behavioral targeting can partition the ethography and tracking report from a catalog category. At the end of segmentation, this algorithm generates a video with the frames found in the analysis.

• Segmentation of the tracking report by area. The area-segmentation algorithm separates the tracking result into different areas of interest previously recorded in the preparation tools.

This is an open-source project, you have access to the code in this repository. If you require any further assistance, want to make contributions such as drafting tutorials, propose ideas for improvements, or need to report a bug, you can do so by opening an issue on our GitHub repository.

You are welcome to engage with us and contribute to the improvement of EthoWatcher OS!