From Open Collaboration to Customized Control

Transitioning from Wikidata to Wikibase

John Samuel


FOSDEM 2025
Track: Collaboration and Content Management
February 1, 2025
Website: https://johnsamuel.info

Wikidata

Wikidata was launched in 2012 as a collaborative project aimed at creating a structured and linked knowledge base. Wikidata is a free, open, linked, structured, collaborative, and multilingual knowledge base.

• Free and Open: Wikidata's data is freely and openly available.
• Linked and Structured: Information is interconnected and structured according to the RDF model.
• Collaborative: Contributors from around the world add and edit data.
• Multilingual: Supports multiple languages to promote inclusivity.

Wikidata

Evolution of Wikipedia sites: From multilingual Wikipedia sites with multiple subdomains to a multilingual Wikidata site with a single domain.

Wikipedia and Wikidata

Wikipedia: Multilingual Articles

The Infobox is a key component of Wikipedia articles. It provides a structured and concise summary of essential information about a topic.

• Infobox Content:
  • Essential Information: Includes key details such as date of birth, location, statistics, etc.
  • Relevant Links: Often linked to relevant entities on Wikidata.

Wikipedia: Multilingual Articles

• Infobox Objectives:
  • Quick Accessibility: Facilitates quick access to important facts.
  • Uniformity: Maintains a consistent structure across articles.
• Dynamic Evolution:
  • Collaborative Updates: Can be collaboratively updated by the Wikipedia community.
  • Dynamic Links with Wikidata: Links can be dynamically connected to Wikidata data for centralized updates.

Wikipedia: Multilingual articles

Potential issues

• Possibility of redundancies between details in the Infobox and the main body of the article.
• Coordinated maintenance of Infoboxes across different Wikipedia editions can be complex.
• Difficulty in achieving centralized updates for all language versions.

Wikidata: Labels, Descriptions, and Aliases

Wikidata elements include labels, descriptions, and aliases. Labels are the primary, multilingual names assigned to each entity. Descriptions provide brief information about the nature or meaning of the element, while aliases are synonyms or variants used to facilitate search.

Wikidata Item: Labels and Properties

Properties define the characteristics or relationships of items. Examples: Date of birth, place of birth, gender, etc. They enable precise structuring of information related to items.

FOSDEM - Wikidata Properties

FOSDEM - Wikidata Properties

FOSDEM (Q475430) - Properties of Wikidata

Properties, Qualifiers and References

• Basic Information:
  • Item: Represents an entity in Wikidata (person, place, concept, etc.).
  • Unique Identifier (QID): Each item is associated with a unique identifier.
• Properties:
  • Definition: Characteristics or relationships specific to an item.
  • Examples: Date of birth, population, gender, etc.
  • Data Structuring: Organizes information in a categorical manner.

Properties, Qualifiers and References

• Qualifiers:
  • Precision: Add additional details to statements.
  • Examples: Period for a position held, location for an event, etc.
  • Data Refinement: Improve the accuracy of information.
• References:
  • Source of Information: Indicate the origin of the data.
  • Citations and Links: Include references for verification and transparency.
  • Basis of Reliability: Strengthen the credibility of the information.

Linked Open Data

Linked Open Data

Linked Open Data

1. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lod-datasets_2009-07-14.svg
2. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lod-datasets_2010-09-22_colored.png

SPARQL Queries

Identifiers of annual conferences.

SELECT ?annualconference WHERE {
  ?annualconference wdt:P31 wd:Q56220509.
}

What happens if we can choose a selection of features from Wikidata? And the answer is Wikibase.

• Open and Free: Choose your own license.
• Collaborative: Choose the people or institutions you want to collaborate with.
• Multilingual: Choose the languages you want to work with.
• Self-hosted Instance: Create your own local self-hosted (and private) Wikibase instance.
• Linked and Structured: Information is interconnected and structured according to the RDF model.

FOSDEM - Relevant Properties

SPARQL queries

Complete list of My Properties.

PREFIX wikibase: <http://wikiba.se/ontology#>
PREFIX rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#>
PREFIX rdf: <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#>
SELECT ?property ?label WHERE {
  ?property rdf:type wikibase:Property;
    rdfs:label ?label.
  FILTER((LANG(?label)) = "en")
}

Requêtes SPARQL

List of courses sorted by academic year

PREFIX wd: <https://jsamwrites.wikibase.cloud/entity/>
PREFIX wdt: <https://jsamwrites.wikibase.cloud/prop/direct/>
SELECT DISTINCT ?item ?title ?url ?year WHERE {
  ?item wdt:P3 ?url;
    wdt:P27 ?title;
    wdt:P10 ?time;
    wdt:P29 wd:Q1043.
  BIND(YEAR(?time) AS ?year)
}
ORDER BY DESC (?year)

Online Resources

• Wikidata https://www.wikidata.org/
• Wikibase https://wikiba.se/
• Wikibase Cloud https://www.wikibase.cloud/
• A tour of Wikibases in the cloud https://www.wikibase.cloud/discovery
• The Linked Open Data Cloud https://lod-cloud.net/
• Resource Description Framework (RDF) https://www.w3.org/RDF/
• Resource Description Framework https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_Description_Framework
• Wikimedia Commons

Thank You!

From Open Collaboration to Customized Control: Transitioning from Wikidata to Wikibase

John Samuel


FOSDEM 2025
Track: Collaboration and Content Management
February 1, 2025
Website: https://johnsamuel.info