#Wikidata - Expressing its quality

Quality is relative. Take for instance the category about "Thai painters" or the Dutch or Thai categories. The first two know only about one painter who is Thai. The Thai Wikipedia knows about 24 painters.

At this time Wikidata knows about 20 Thai painters. It takes a little effort to add any missing painters known to a Wikipedia.

When all the Thai painters known to Wikipedia are known to Wikidata, it means that its quality to list them is as good as any Wikipedia category. Obviously there are many more notable Thai painters. They all deserve to be known in Wikidata.

Reasonator is able to express the quality of Wikidata. It uses queries that are based on the Wikidata data. By quantifying for example the painters from a given country, it becomes obvious what Wikidata has to offer. Reasonator can do a better job than any category that can be expressed as a list or a query.
Thanks,
      GerardM

A barn star

#Appreciation is a good thing. Today I received notice that last year I had made my first edit on the Dutch Wikipedia ten years ago. Apparently it had to do with the genus Hoodia.

It is wonderful that people take the effort to make others feel appreciated. It is how a community maintains itself, it gives a sensation of belonging.
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Wikidata and #diversity

Frank Lloyd Wright is considered to be one of the best USA architects. When you look at his off spring, you will find only boys. When you read his article in English, you will read that several girls turned out to be an architect as well. He had several wives they too are not covered either in a Wikipedia article or as a Wikidata item.

As diversity is relevant, there is hardly an excuse to have only articles for the boy architects and not the girl architects. They are related to the same great man.

Addressing issues that have to do with diversity in Wikidata is easy and quick. It translates easy to many languages and cultures. It is an obvious way to address one item at a time.
Thanks,
      GerardM

The sound of #Wikidata

#Quality is a relative thing. When people talk Wikidata and quality, typically they complain that both quality and quantity is not good enough. The reality though is that it is its qualities that makes Wikidata function in the first place.

When people ask: "When will Wikidata be good enough to be used by Wikipedia". They fail to appreciate that its first achievement was to bring improved quality to Wikipedia's interlanguage links. Every Wikipedia does benefit and uses Wikidata.

These interlanguage links can be improved on. Many articles and items should be merged. Research supports this as a fact. However, items can only be merged when they are on Wikidata. The Chinese item for the "Quercus robur" was merged because someone had added the name as a label. It is therefore a quality when articles have a corresponding Wikidata item and are enriched with statements and labels.

Many items link to external sources. For many items such links are yet unknown. Often the external sources know about links to Wikipedia and when we collaborate, we can add all of them as items to Wikidata. It increases the quality of Wikidata. When Wikipedia articles have been missed, they can be merged to improve quality even more.

Some statements are made by bot and others by hand. James Schlesinger died. Many new statements were made. Statements were made to other people who were "United States Secretary of Defense". The web of information grew and with it the quality of Wikidata. Dexbot is adding claims for "is in the administrative-territorial entity" for items that Wikipedia knows to be in the USA. It grows the web of information in a spectacular way.

When you wonder why a  Reasonator is succeeding, why a WDQ makes a difference, it is because Wikidata is increasingly valuable. Its value is in the sum of what it connects. When you assess the quality of Wikidata, it is obvious that there is more to connect. It may be obvious that many connections are redundant. The relevancy of Wikidata however is in the great amount of data that is added all the time, that gets connected all the time, that gets merged all the time.

The question when Wikidata will be good enough to be used by Wikipedia has an answer; it has been used from the start and as time goes by more subsets of information will be better represented in Wikidata than in any Wikipedia.
Thanks,
       GerardM

#DBpedia & #Wikidata - Gerarda Rueter, a Dutch sculptor

At the Dutch #Wikimedia chapter, we had a talk with the Dutch DBpedia chapter. We want to cooperate and there are multiple things that we can do. DBpedia is excellent in harvesting information from Wikipedia. The Dutch DBpedia harvests from the Dutch Wikipedia.

For one of the first DBpedia projects, we want to set a repeatable example. It should be easy and the benefits need to be obvious. Mrs Gerarda Rueter typifies what we hope to achieve. We only knew that she was a sculptor and all the other information on the page was added by hand later. What we did was identify her as a human and as a female. We added the date and place of both her birth and death. We added her father. For him and Mrs Rueter's siblings, we added spouses when known.

When you present the data using Reasonator, relevant information becomes visible. What can be considered is that names are spelled the same in many languages. That however is probably for a next round when nationalities are included.
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Monuments of #Switzerland

The problem with #data is, how do you keep it all up to date. For the monuments of Switzerland much of the data is kept on the toolserver. It works just fine.

Wikidata has matured enough to include much if not all of that same data. Missing in the official functionality are the tools to make use of it. Yes, you can store information on the connected Wikipedia articles but that is not the same as using it to administer a project like Wiki loves Monuments.

Un-official functionality meanwhile does provide much of what is needed. This is a list of all the monuments known to Wikidata in Switzerland. I added 86 pictures to the Wikidata items using the WD-Fist functionality.

As more tools get connected, these tools are increasingly attractive to use for a project. One big advantage of Wikidata is that you do not need to have an article for every monument you know about.
Thanks,
     GerardM

#Wikipedia - Edward Copleston (1776–1849) Bishop of Llandaff

According to the information about the painting of Mr Copleston, this picture can be copied to Commons. This is a lot of work and it involves copying a lot of information about this picture to yet another Wiki page. It has to be done "exactly right" because when you fail to do this, it may mean that the picture gets lost because of the not so obvious bureaucracy at Commons.

There are many pictures like this. It would be more convenient when Commons shares its meta data about media files with all the other projects. Moving an image to Commons would be nothing more than indicating the available for general use.

That would make much of the administrative hassle go away.
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Wikidata - the best tools

The best tools are the tools that are used. This tool by Sany14 ticks many important boxes. Its intention is to manage Wikidata items that are linked to only one Wikipedia. There are some 8,609,483 such items. Many of these items should be merged with other items. Rahimanuddin Shaik informed me that many of the lonely links to the Telugu Wikipedia should be merged.

The question is if there is an easy way to identify potential matches. The next question will be, what to do when you have identified a match. When an item is in Telugu only, the first thing to do is to add labels in other languages. When you do, it makes sense to compare existing items in that other language. They are the potential duplicate items.

It would be awesome when people who develop tools share technology. When Sandy14 has a way to query a dump for lonely items, it may be possible to do this on a database that is kept up to date. In this way users of the tool will notice the results of their work. When shared components are used, a hover box can be used that shows known information in a language. Automated descriptions will not only inform our readers but also help our tool users. The tool users, they are us.

I am excited about this tool and I hope it will get more exposure and becomes part of a tool set that brings out the best of Wikidata.
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Commons - Picture of the year

#Reasonator statistics

The Reasonator statistics are constantly updated. Most attention is given to the overall page views but the break down per language is probably as interesting.

The percentage of visitors in Spanish is practically the same for Reasonator and Wikipedia: 14.4% and 14,5%. Of equal interest is the growth for Persian, it adopted extended Wikidata search and now the numbers are going up.

When you compare Chinese with Tamil, it is obvious that the Chinese are not yet aware of Reasonator and the power of Wikidata. More involvement of the Chinese in Wikidata would be awesome because many of the items exclusive to Chinese can do with statements, with labels in other languages and often with merging.

Equally interesting is that some languages are lacking in interest. I represent probably most of the page views in Dutch. The Germans are also very much underrepresented.

What I would love to know is to what extend these numbers are similar to the numbers of people adding to Wikidata.
Thanks,
     GerardM

#Wikidata #statistics

It takes an effort to understand where Wikidata is taking us. It is not clear, it is not obvious and all we have are trends. The latest statistics of Wikidata show that items with statements and the items with labels are growing nicely. It is encouraging to notice that the number of items with multiple statements and to a lesser degree the items with multiple statements are growing more quickly than the number with none or one. What it means is that Wikidata becomes more usable. With more statements there is more information to provide. With more labels more information is available in more languages. Given the multiplier involved because of the use of items in other statements, adding labels has a profound effect on the usability.

When you look at the number of links per item, you will find that this year the number of items linked to only one project has grown. One reason is that bots have run to add missing articles to Wikidata. This makes it easier to add statements about all entries in a category for instance. It makes Wikidata more complete and consequently more valuable. Having to merge items can be easy and obvious with a bit of experience in Wikidata.

The statistics that break down the number of labels and links per project provide a different perspective. It indicates to what extend we are able to share in the sum of the knowledge that is available to us. For English, the language we support best, 41.6% of the Wikidata items have a label. We can provide information about the missing items because of tools like the Reasonator. It does provide fall back to labels in other languages.

It is fun to write about subjects like Reasonator and Wikidata. Opportunities arise, issues arise and it is wonderful to notice that many are addressed. It is wonderful to experience how useful Wikidata is becoming. At some stage these blog posts will be the subject of research because what is happening is not what is foreseen.

Thanks,

      GerardM

#Wikipedia - Piet Zwart

According to his peers, Piet Zwart was the most relevant Dutch designer of the 20th century. Sadly, no picture illustrates his article. He was awarded several awards; they were all unknown at Wikidata.

He received for instance the Quellinus award in 1959. The award was named after Artus Quellinus and, it is still being awarded.

There are several opportunities; you can spend time finding more people who were awarded the award. You can add more statements to Piet Zwart. You can spend time on the Quellinus family. You can even introduce the Redwd template to the Dutch Wikipedia.

No reason to be bored.
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Wikipedia MOS:DABRL#Red_links

If the title is immediately clear to you, it may be that you have immersed yourself in Wikipedia lore to an extend that may not be healthy. For the rest of us, it is about the use of red links. Wikipedia policy has a lot of red tape and it is often not clear and obvious. For instance: "A link to a non-existent article (a "red link") should only be included on a disambiguation page when an article (not just disambiguation pages) also includes that red link." The problem here is that a link to a disambiguation page is not a red link.

The "Redwd" template is a game changer when you are considering the whole notion of red links. Technically it is not a red link. It is a template that includes the functionality of a red link. It refers to both Wikidata and to Reasonator and consequently it demonstrates that information exists on a similar level as a "stub". Like a stub, the information can be expanded by adding statements in Wikidata.

The difference between a stub and a Reasonator page on the same subject is, that when statements have been added, new information will show in all Wikipedias that use this functionality. It will show when an item is selected when "expanded Wikidata search" is used.

There is an additional opportunity; disambiguation pages are comparable to the result of a search using the Reasonator. Often Reasonator has more results than what can be found on a disambiguation page. The opportunity exists to add a link to Reasonator from each "disambiguation" page.

Oh and by the way, the policy needs a makeover.
Thanks,
       GerardM

How about a #Cactus, it is prickly

The #nomenclature of species has its history. Understanding it takes an effort. The family of the Cactaceae is a nice one to show some of the problems involved.

The latest update of the Reasonator copes with one problem that you will find in Wikidata. What is meant by Cactaceae has changed over time. There are four "parent taxons" for this family and, Reasonator will now only show the preferred one. This limits the list of higher order taxons a lot because all these parent taxons have their own parent taxons.

The problem is that lower level taxons end up all being part of the same family of the Cactaceae. Technically all these lower level taxons are "valid". What is understood by the family differs greatly and showing the preferred parent taxon is the best we can do.

Old descriptions like Cactus ficus-indica exist in Wikidata. You will appreciate that the old gets merged with the new. For you and me, it has always been a "prickly pear".
Thanks,
      GerardM

Mark Davis is the co-founder and president of the #Unicode Consortium

Mark is one of those persons who is associated with what is now "basic functionality". He is still working in the field of Unicode and language support and is therefore one of the movers and shakers in the computer industry.

When you search for Mark Davis, he is one of 28 items that show up. They are many people, a house, two computer games and a movie made by a Mark Davis. These 28 items represent the combined knowledge of Wikipedia, Wikisource and Wikivoyage.

When you hover over any of the items in the list, you will get a box with pertinent information. When available, a picture shows up. I asked Mark if I could use a picture of him to be used in Wikidata and Wikipedia. I could and have the chat log to prove it.

When I told Mark that Wikidata is harvested, among others, by DBpedia, he realised that the picture used will have an impact on the semantic web. He was impressed and, is now considering if he has an even better picture to share.
Thanks,
      GerardM

Mark Davis wrote "Shama Lama Ding Dong"

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One of the items in Wikidata is the song "Shama Lama Ding Dong". This song was first performed in the National Lampoon's Animal House and, the Band of Oz, won People's Choice Song of the Year at the 1995 Carolina Beach Music Awards.

Mark Davis does not have a Wikipedia article. But the trouble has been taken to provide him with a Wikidata item. Given that "best practice" has the link go to the disambiguation page where Mark is not to be found either, it was a fine moment to introduce the "Redwd" template. It does link to Wikidata and the Reasonator while keeping the link red.

This is a good way to revive the function of the red link. It does provide information that is specific to this Mark Davis and, it could be the start for someone to write the missing article.

I want to thank Magnus for creating the template and Multichill for adding the documentation.
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Reasonator - #Cambridge revisited V

When Reasonator presents Cambridge in Tamil, you want a map to be in Tamil as well.

By making sure that the information you get is as much as possible in *YOUR* language, it becomes increasingly interesting to make sure that *YOUR* language is well served in Wikidata.

It pays to have many labels in *YOUR* language because your reward will be that you will be better serviced in *YOUR* language.
Thanks,
     GerardM

#Wikipedia and the impact factor of #Nature magazine

As Nature has a Wikipedia article, it has a #Wikidata item. It can be presented in Reasonator and as my friend John has an interest for scientific publications, he had a look at it.

He made several comments, one of them was that there were many more statements to make. We added thinks like the publisher, a few external sources and the impact factor. It was 38.597 for Nature in 2012.

There is a problem with the impact factor. Thomson Scientific, the company that fabricates this number, has the tendency to deny others to use the impact factor. To quote from the "properties for deletion" page on Wikidata: "Thomson Scientific Inc. remind academics and universities that they do not permit any republication or re-use of their Impact Factor lists".

When Thompson Scientific does not want its impact factor on Wikipedia, it has the opportunity to say so. It has not done this for many years. When it does, the impact factor will be removed and, another more nuanced factor will be found to qualify the relative merit of publications, authors and papers. The proposal for deletion has it that it is "derived from a curated dataset (not all journals are included), it involves subjective decisions (which papers are citable and valid citations), the creators of it do apply their own non-automated adjustments".

I am sure that when Thompson Scientific does decide to send a cease and desist letter to the Wikimedia Foundation, many people will remember this famous American who also went to court.
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Reasonator - #Cambridge revisited IV

Reasonator is very much user-centred; you are in the driving seat. You decide in what language you want to see the information. You decide if you want to look at any of the sources provided. You decide if you want to look at a map.

The latest improvement to Reasonator includes an icon for a map in the "hover boxes". Hover boxes are everywhere in Reasonator and maps are now one click closer.

The logo we use for a map is the best we could find. Our current choice is the only one at Commons that does not have a black background. An alternative would have been the OpenStreetMap logo, we use OSM to project our Wikidata items on. If you have a suggestion, it has to be recognizable as a globe/map at 16px height.
Thanks,
      GerardM

Friends - Where they live

Lately #maps are more often the topic of conversation. A friend of mine send me this to indicate where he works. When you compare it with where I live, you get an idea of how much bigger Australia is compared to the Netherlands. Both maps show items that are within a radius of 15km.

Words are expressive but maps, illustrations are really powerful.
Thanks,
      GerardM