Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Mikhail Kalashnikov

All that is too complex is unnecessary,
and it is simple that is needed 
A friend asked me some advise, he wanted to know how to add some awards Mr Kalashnikov had received. I challenged him to write something about it. I am happy to publish it. :)
Thanks,
      GerardM
Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov is best known as the inventor of the AK-47 assault rifle. He died on December 23, invoking a host of volunteers working on his Wikipedia entry in numerous languages.  
Moreover Kalashnikov is an interesting subject for Wikidata: he received +50 decorations, awards, medals and other honours which allow us to perform queries or populate infoboxes.  
But there is more to the Russian small arms designer. The 6 books he wrote, his participation in WW2 and basic information about his family are not added to Wikidata so far. 
Enhancing Kalashnikov's Wikidata entry allows us to find new connections that have not been visible before and helps anyone to gather basic information about Kalashnikov in their native tongue.

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