@Wikimedia interconnection, what it looks like for me

On twitter a reference was made to an article in the Sunday Times. The article is about the response of the UK government to the COVID-19 pandemic. It mentions many people and mentions their roles.

It is up to you to have your own opinion, but most if not all people are known in Wikidata, some have a Wikipedia article and all of them are in the spotlight. So when you get an edited sound bite, when you want to know if someone is "for real", it helps when you can turn to Wikimedia and find what there is to know.

This sound bite about "herd immunity" is too short to be properly understood. The argument made is that herd immunity is all that we have now that the genie is out of the bottle and, who can argue with that? Read the article as well.. After some tinkering, the Scholia for Prof Edmunds shows some 235 papers, many co-authors and still, even more co-authors are missing. The subjects he covered are extensive.. check out that Scholia. Prof Edmunds takes/tool part in UK government deliberations; it is mentioned in that Sunday Times article. He is asked to explain epidemiology to the public.

Wikimedia interconnection for me is to enrich our existing knowledge in cases like this. Tweeting about it, blogging about it may lead to even more and better information like a Wikipedia article. What we as Wikimedians do does not happen in a vacuum, connecting to what happens and who the players are help us and our readers understand who they are in  these early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Wikidata - Rachael E Jack; Spearman medal winner

On Facebook I mentioned a 2016 blog post about the Spearman Medal. I checked for missing entries; they were the two 2017 award winners, Mrs Claire Haworth and Mrs Rachael E Jack.

Adding award winners to Wikidata is something I do regularly. It always starts with a search. Mrs Jack was known as "Rachael Jack" on Wikipedia and by drilling down into the ORCID information I found confirmation that this is indeed the same person.

Mrs Haworth is known to ORCID as well, and through a link to a profile, there was a confirmation that it was the same person; the award winner of the Spearman medal.

Typically I do not spend that much time on red links. What I wanted to know is the value of the network. Given the titles of publications known at ORCID, some of the publications of Mrs Haworth could already be found in Wikidata and were linked.

Thanks to all the work done on scholarly publications, scaffolding information for Wikipedia articles become available.. These two ladies are notable if only because of being recipients of the Spearman medal.
Thanks,
     GerardM

#Wikidata - a "sand engine" for the UK?

The Netherlands are largely below sea level and given climate change, keeping our feet dry is not at all obvious. There are many ways to defend a coast line and a "sand engine" or "sand motor" is one.

According to EcoShape, there will be a sand motor protecting the Bacton Gas Terminal and the surrounding Norfolk coast.

This does have an impact on the existing Wikipedia articles about the sand motor. It is no longer about the Netherlands and as there are more coastal areas that need protection, more sand motors are to be expected. For Wikidata, all the sand motors can have their own item. It will become possible to query where they are, where they are planned and what areas are protected in this way. The original sand motor will have its own place in history but it will not be unique. That is good.
Thanks,
     GerardM

#Wikidata - I fucking love #science

When I am on Facebook, information from "I Fucking love Science" is always a nice read. Mrs Andrew received the Stamford Raffles Award. It is why I found her article.

When you read the article, it is heavy on Mrs Andrew's problem of being taking seriously because she is a woman and there is also a lot about the accusations of plagiarism. The problem is that plagiarism and the unlicensed use of intellectual property are quite distinct. Given that IFLS is about reporting on science, there should be no argument; they do not claim the ideas they report on as their own..

It is better to split the information about Mrs Andrew and IFLS; it brings clarity and it invites additional information about the reach of IFLS and the reason why she was awarded the Stamford Raffles Award.
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Wikidata - John Dalrymple Governor of British Mauritius

There is a list that has a John Dalrymple as Governor of British Mauritius. There are enough John Dalrymples to allow for a disambiguation page.

When there are multiple people with the same name, it is important to exclude the ones that do not fit. A date of birth and death is relevant. The time of having been governor is from 10 December 1818 to 6 February 1819 and that excludes most of them.

There is only one likely candidate; the eight earl of Stair. There is no source but hey, it is at least likely; one source describes the governor as a general and, this one certainly was one. I am however not sure.

There is a Listeria list of British Governors. When someone knows better, he can adapt Wikidata and everywhere where the list is used things will improve.
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Wikidata - Cornelius Alfred Moloney

Mr Moloney was one of the Governors-in-Chief of the Windward Islands.  As a colonial administrator for the British his tours of duty included work in Africa and in South America.

As part of his endeavours, he had an interest in forestry and even wrote a book about it. This resulted in him being known in the IPNI database of authors. All of these authors had been added so it was just a matter of merging the two items for Mr Moloney.

When you read the article on Mr Moloney, it does not mention his publication but it does mention that during his tenure at the Windward Islands there were riots because of the cost of water.

Every historic event does not happen in a vacuum. Pertinent information becomes more and more available and this can be provided either in Wikipedia or in Wikidata.  For the Windward Islands it would be that it is a "British Colony" with as its Governor in Chief Mr Molloney and possibly a map to make it clear what is included.

One problem with understanding many facts is that they are better understood when a context is known. As we gain more data it becomes feasible to provide it.
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Wikidata - Clare Hollingworth and #sources

Mrs Hollingworth was a famous journalist. She recently passed away and as I often do, I added content to the Wikidata item of the person involved.

Information like awards are something I often add and it was easy enough to establish that Mrs Hollingworth received a Hannen Swaffer Award in 1962. I found a source for the award and I had my confirmation.

The Wikipedia article has it that "She won the James Cameron Award for Journalism (1994)." There is however no source and I can find a James Cameron lecture and award but Mrs Hollingworth is not noted as receiving this award; it is Ed Vulliamy.

People often say that Wikipedia is not a source. The problem is that for Wikidata it often is. Particularly in the early days of Wikidata massive amounts of data were lifted off the Wikipedias and it is why there is so much initial content to build upon.

When you work from sources, you find an issue with the Wikipedia content. My source does not know about Mr Paul Foot either. Mrs Lyse Doucet does have a Wikipedia article but she is not linked in the Wikipedia list.

To truly get to the bottom of issues like these takes research and, I am willing nor able to do this for each and every subject that I touch. It is impossible to work on all the issues that exist because of everything that I did. I have over 2,1 million edits on Wikidata. What I do is make a start and I am happy to be condemned for the work that I did, work that does have issues but they are all there to be solved someday.
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Wikidata - Home Children

As I am adding more information to a female psychologist, Mrs Margaret Humphreys, I found that she documented Home Children, a British program of sending destitute children abroad. Sending them away was cheaper than leaving them with their families on welfare.

It became such a scandal that prime ministers of several countries that were involved apologised for the awful way people were treated.

Originally it was considered a solution to the slavery in the British match making industry. From good intentions it became something dreadful.

The problem; what statements to use to identify this program, the people who apologised for it, the original good intentions..
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Wikidata - Should it include #medicines

A Dutch article indicates that only 12% of the 2500 most prescribed medicines deserve the label "proven effective". It cites the British Medical Journal; the findings are in the Clinical Evidence Handbook.  The article describes a practice where pharmaceutical companies churn out "papers" that are to prove efficacy; papers published by what are effectively marketing companies.

At Wikidata a bot is registering chemicals that are registered as being recognised as a medicine. Arguably, when only 12% is effective it is better not to register such notions. It is potentially harmful. It also suggests that medicines mentioned in Wikipedia need to be checked against the Clinical Evidence Handbook.

In the article it is mentioned that it is a common practice for "scientists" to lend their names to such publications. It contaminates everything such "academics" stand for and it deserves a mention in both Wikipedia and Wikidata.
Thanks,
       GerardM

#Wikipedia - a 20% error rate

The one thing that makes Wikipedia strong are its wiki links. When they work they are great.. when they work they are.

The article on the Spearman Medal is a case in point. This medal is conferred by the British Psychological Society to psychologists. There were 19 links and two were wrong. One link was to a soccer and one to a football player. The award is conferred since 1965 so there ought to be quite a number of red links

With two sportsmen attributed to winning the Spearman Medal there was an error rate of 20%. With all the red links it is easy to be more informative using Wikidata. With such statistics it is obvious to make the argument that replacing links with links through Wikidata will enhance quality in the English Wikipedia.

This is unlikely to happen. Wikipedians seem to be more concerned in finding fault elsewhere than considering the quality of their own project. Particularly when "outsiders" point them to the error in their ways. It is psychology in action. 
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Wikidata - collaborating on data #sources II

#Freebase had a vested interest in the MacRobert Award. Its recent laureate is Artemis Intelligent Power,  As Wikidata continues to update its information, Freebase will become increasingly incomplete and as a consequence of less relevance to the people who use its data at :BaseKB.

When you do not know about the MacRobert Award, read about it. When this is the first time you hear about Artemis Intelligent Power, read the BBC article about it.. News like this gives us hope for our future.

We can support :BaseKB with our data, we can support any other source who is interested in what Wikidata has to say. It all starts with acknowledging them as sources and it all starts that quality has everything to do with it.

It is all in being open to quality. It is all to being open to reevaluating quality.
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Wikipedia - not a stamp collection

Anne Bannister

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anne Bannister (11 May 1936 – 26 March 2015) was a British child psychotherapist, a pioneer in using stories, toys and puppets to work with victims of child abuse.^[1]

The article about Mrs Bannister is not more than this. As a stub it does not inform us that she was important in the British Psychodrama Association, it does not mention that she published about her speciality; helping children who were sexually abused. You can find papers of her in Google Books. These will inform you that she worked for the NSPCC and the university of Huddersfield.

Mrs Bannister is now well represented at Wikidata. Even though many of the egregious cases of child abuse get all the attention, it is important to offset this with attention for everything that is good even when it is at the end of a relevant life.
Thanks,,
     GerardM

#Wikimania - a visa denied

Meeting Amir at a conference, a hackathon is a pleasure. Having him around is a sure way of getting all kinds of problems solved. Giving his intimate expertise of pywikibot and our projects he makes it seem easy to resolve issues. The biggest issue is often that it takes time for his bots to complete.

Amir has been to many conferences but we will have to miss him in London.. It took the British embassy several weeks and all kinds of excuses why it took so long to decide that they are afraid that he will not go back.

Really?

The success of Wikimania 2014 will not be as great because one of our best and brightest will not be among us.
Thanks,
       GerardM

#Wikidata - #European #parliament

The European parliament is in many ways a funny institution. Its parliamentarians represent the people of Europe, but the way they are chosen can be ever so different. It reflects the electoral system of the country they are from and as a consequence it is a bit like in Animal Farm where they are all thought to be equal as well.

Compare for instance the UK with the Netherlands; the UK knows electoral districts while the Netherlands has party representation. Arguably a British MeP represents only its district while the Dutch MeP represent a percentage of the population that voted for a specific party.

Wikipedia and by inference Wikidata knows about many European parliamentarians past and present. All of them have a career before and after their term in the European parliament and, to understand them and who and what they represent, it is important to know about this. You may find soccer stars, professors and any other occupation imaginable. You may find career politicians and "self made men/women".

On Wikidata a group of people have an interest in adding information about all MEP's. Once information has been added, it is in principle available in all the languages of the European Union. When your language is not one of them, there is nothing stopping you from adding labels for your language and enjoy as much information as we can bring to you.
Thanks,
      GerardM

Tom Kettle, a UK MP

Preparations are under way for edit-a-thons about the great war. The objective is that more quality information becomes available that can be associated with World War I.

As I am waiting for a plane home, I am adding images to humans who can be found in the category British Army personnel of World War I. The tool I use is WD-Fist and, this is a perfect way to wait, idling.

Many of the people who fought in World War I died. When you look at their images, they were so young. The ones with an article have to be notable in one way or another. Mr Kettle died at the Somme. He volunteered to fight, he was not the only MP who died.
Thanks,
      Gerard

#Wikipedia - Esmonde and Larbey

Esmonde and Larbey are two British authors. They were were a British television comedy script writing duo from the 1960s to the 1990s, creating popular situation comedies such as Please Sir! and The Good Life.

Mr Esmonde died in 2008 and Mr Larbey died recently on March 31. Such a combination of characters may make sense in an article, for Wikidata they have to be two distinct items. How else can you identify Mr Larbey as one of the recently dearly departed ?

Given that Wikipedia has them as one single article, Wikidata identifies Mr Esmonde and Mr Larbey as part of this duo.
Thanks,
      GerardM

Simma Holt, a #politician from #Canada

When you are interested in the message of Mrs Holt, you can read her books. When you read about her, it is bound to be relevant and surely of interest.

There is a Wikipedia article in English about her and, there is now a Wikidata item about her. Given that she is a Canadian politician, I would expect that there will be an article about her in the French language in the future.

When you run a bot adding the party affiliation to persons, you find that the overwhelming majority are American or British. There are hardly any politicians of other countries. When you see a name that seems to be not American, you find that the context of these people is lacking.

On the other hand, it is fun to work on the information that is lacking. Mrs Holt is easy; she does have her VIAF registration. People like Mohammad Nabavi may have a VIAF registration. He does not have a Wikipedia article yet.

When you look at criteria for notability, it seems to me that anyone who has ever had a political appointment has his English Wikipedia article. I wonder if the same criteria are used for politicians of the other countries.
Thanks,
      GerardM

Tagging #British paintings in public ownership

Another great British initiative: adding tags to the entire national collection of oil paintings in public ownership in the United Kingdom. What makes this project relevant is the huge number of volunteers collaborating on this.

The Public Catalogue Foundation has something to say about copyright. Sadly they are wrong. They say:

Is there copyright in the photographic image as well as copyright in the actual painting?
Yes, there is. The photographer uses training and skill to photograph a painting and he or she holds copyright in that photographic image. However, as part of its agreement with collections, the PCF agrees that its photographers will hand over copyright in all their photographic images for collections’ own use.

There is a word for this point of view: copyfraud. When this point of view is typically British, it is just that.

The PCF may claim copyright on the tags added to the paintings. There is no mention about this.
Thanks,
       GerardM

Supporting a #language

There is a #Wikipedia in 280+ languages. However, not all languages are equal. Some of the languages are not recognised as languages. From a support point of view this is not good. We prefer to make use of information that is available in standards. When the standard bodies have accepted information about a language, we can be relatively certain that what we do will be exactly what is done by other applications.

For the "Normandian" Wikipedia, the language is not recognised. It does not mean that there is no support possible or available. The language can be localised at translatewiki.net. The language falls back to English but looking at the text, it may be better to have French as a fall back language. It is unlikely that we know about special needs like plural or if we need to address women using the grammatical female form.

We are reaching out to all our languages and we we aim to provide proper support to all of them. With "Nourmande" it is extremely obvious that we do not know what to do. It is unlikely that any of us has the literature that answers these questions and really, as each of our Wikipedias must have people knowing enough of their language to support us.

You can support us by becoming a member of a language support team. You can support MediaWiki by localising the software in your language.
Thanks,
     GerardM

One million #Geograph pictures on #Commons

After technical delays, the upload of Geograph pictures has resumed. As the bot is uploading the pictures that give a wonderful overview of Great Britain and Ireland, the millionth picture finds its way to Commons.

One way of experiencing the flood of new pictures is a Toolserver tool that shows the latest files that have been uploaded.

Multichil hopes in two weeks to have uploaded all the 1,8 million pictures that we received from the Geograph community. Many of these pictures are exquisite and come with elaborate annotations.

Field on slopes of Cosdon Hill

The annotation for this random picture is wonderful:

Field on slopes of Cosdon Hill A view from the same spot as 989690, looking more to the left across a scarcely-improved field with rocks and gorse. The remains of a copper mine on the lower edge of Ramsley Hill is across the junction of four squares; the bracken-covered slopes on its right are in SX6592 and SX6593, while South Zeal village is largely in the latter square. The church tower is in South Tawton, in SX6594.

 Thanks,
      GerardM