# MEGAnno: Exploratory Labeling for NLP in Computational Notebooks

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.03095 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.03095/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 7 of its 22 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 8 Jan 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [Sentence-BERT: Sentence Embeddings using Siamese BERT-Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.10084/) (2019)
- [modAL: A modular active learning framework for Python](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.00979/) (2018)
- ["Garbage In, Garbage Out" Revisited: What Do Machine Learning Application Papers Report About Human-Labeled Training Data?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.02278/) (2021)
- [YEDDA: A Lightweight Collaborative Text Span Annotation Tool](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.03759/) (2017)
- [mage: Fluid Moves Between Code and Graphical Work in Computational Notebooks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.10643/) (2020)
- [Using the Jupyter Notebook as a Tool for Open Science: An Empirical Study](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.05492/) (2018)
- [Annotationsaurus: A Searchable Directory of Annotation Tools](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.06251/) (2020)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [LLM Content Moderation and User Satisfaction: Evidence from Response Refusals in Chatbot Arena](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.03266/) (2025)
- [SuperNOVA: Design Strategies and Opportunities for Interactive Visualization in Computational Notebooks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.03039/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We present MEGAnno, a novel exploratory annotation framework designed for NLP researchers and practitioners. Unlike existing labeling tools that focus on data labeling only, our framework aims to support a broader, iterative ML workflow including data exploration and model development. With MEGAnno's API, users can programmatically explore the data through sophisticated search and automated suggestion functions and incrementally update task schema as their project evolve. Combined with our widget, the users can interactively sort, filter, and assign labels to multiple items simultaneously in the same notebook where the rest of the NLP project resides. We demonstrate MEGAnno's flexible, exploratory, efficient, and seamless labeling experience through a sentiment analysis use case.