Abstract-Wikipedia July 2021

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6 participants
5 discussions

Word Sense Disambiguation
by Andy 04 Sep '21

04 Sep '21

Is very hard to make large or even medium size corpus of sentences, in which each word would be manually annotated with sense. Abstract Wikipedia not only allows generate text in many languages from one source but can be WSD corpus. Moreover: in many languages. This allows understanding natural text and operations like: 1) translation from any natural language to disambig form 2) translate from this form to other natural language and after step 1 this form will very useful not only for translation I was interested in this Abstract Wikipedia project one year ago.Now I'm not up to date on the topic On Arctic Knot conference will be look on project as database of disambiguated knowledge?

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Newsletter #39: Abstract descriptions
by Denny Vrandečić 04 Aug '21

04 Aug '21

The on-wiki version of this newsletter is available here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2021-07-29 -- Our goal with Abstract Wikipedia is to enable everyone to write content in any language that can be read in any language. Ultimately, the main form of content we aim for are Wikipedia articles, in order to allow everyone to equitably have and contribute to unbiased, up-to-date, comprehensive encyclopedic knowledge. In the coming months, we will take major milestones towards that goal. Today, I want to sketch one possible milestone on our way: abstract descriptions for Wikidata. Every Item <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help:Items> in Wikidata has a label <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help:Label>, a short description <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help:Description>, and aliases <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help:Aliases> in each language. Let’s say you take a look at Item Q836805 <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q836805>. In English, that Item has the label *“Chalmers University of Technology”* and the description *“university in Gothenburg, Sweden”*. In Swedish it is *“Chalmers tekniska högskola”* and *“universitet i Göteborg, Sverige”*. The goal of the label is to be a common name for the Item, and together with the description it should uniquely identify the Item in the world. That’s why, although multiple Items can have the same label, as things in the world can be called the same but be different, no two Items should have both the same label and the same description in a given language. The aliases are used to help with improving the search experience. The meaning of the descriptions across languages is often the same, and when it is not, although sometimes intentional, it usually differs by accident. Given there are more than 94 million Items in Wikidata, and Wikidata supports more than 430 languages, that would mean that if we had perfect coverage, we would have more than 40 billion labels and as many descriptions. And not only would the creation of all these labels and descriptions be a huge amount of work, they would also need to be maintained. If there are not enough contributors checking on the quality of these, it would be unfortunately easy to sneak in vandalism. The Wikidata community has known about this issue for a long time, and made great efforts to correct it. Tools such as AutoDesc <https://autodesc.toolforge.org/> by Magnus Manske <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Magnus_Manske> and bots such as Edoderoobot <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/User:Edoderoobot>, Mr.Ibrahembot <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/User:Mr.Ibrahembot>, MatSuBot <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/User:MatSuBot> (these were selected by clicking “Random Item” and looking at the history) and many others have worked on increasing the coverage. And it shows: these bots often target descriptions, and so, even though only six languages have *labels* for more than 10% of Wikidata Items, a whopping 64 languages have a coverage over 10% for *descriptions*! Today, we have well over two billion descriptions in Wikidata. These bots create descriptions, usually based on the existing statements of the Item. And that is great. But there is no easy way to fix an error across languages, nor is there an easy way to ensure that no vandalism has snuck in. Also, bots give an oversized responsibility to a comparably small group of bot operators. Our goal is to democratize that responsibility again and allow more people to contribute. Descriptions in Wikidata are usually noun phrases, which are something that we will need to be able to do for Abstract Wikipedia anyway. We want to start thinking about how to implement this feature, and then derive from there what will need to happen in Wikifunctions and in Wikidata. This work will need to happen in close coöperation with the Wikidata team, and the communities of both Wikidata and Wikifunctions. It will represent a way to ramp-up our capabilities towards the wider vision of Abstract Wikipedia. Timewise, we hope to achieve that in 2022. We don’t know yet how exactly this will work. Here are a few thoughts, but really I invite you so that we all work together on the design for abstract descriptions: - It must be possible to overwrite a description for a given language - It must be possible to retract a local overwrite for a given language - The pair of label and description still must remain unique - It would be great if implementing this would not be a large effort - The goal is not to create automatic descriptions <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Automating_descriptions>, but abstract descriptions The last point is subtle: an automatic description is a description generated automatically from the given statements of an Item. That’s a valuable and very difficult task. The above mentioned AutoDesc for example, starts the English description for Douglas Adams <https://autodesc.toolforge.org/?q=Q42&lang=en&mode=short&links=text&redlink…> as follows: *“British playwright, screenwriter, novelist, children's writer, science fiction writer, comedian, and writer (1952–2001) ♂; member of Footlights and Groucho Club; child of Christopher Douglas Adams and Janet Adams; spouse of Jane Belson”*. The Item <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q42>'s current manual English description is the much more succinct *“English writer and humorist”*. There can be many subtle decisions and editorial judgements to be made in order to create the description for a given Item, and I think we should be working on this — but later. Instead, we want to support abstract descriptions: a description, manually created, but instead of being written in a specific natural language, it is encoded in the abstract notation of Wikifunctions and then we use the renderers to generate the natural languages text. This allows the community to retain direct control over the content of a description. Here are a few ideas to kick off the conversation: - We introduce a new language code, qqz. That code is in the range reserved for local use, and is similar to the other dummy language codes <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:$wgDummyLanguageCodes> in MediaWiki, qqq and qqx. Wikidata is to support the qqz language code for descriptions. - The content of the qqz description is an abstract content. Technically we could store it in some string notation such as “Z12367(Q3918 <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3918>, Q25287 <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q25287>, Q34 <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q34>)”. Or we could store the JSON ZObject. - The abstract description would be edited using the same Vue components we develop for Wikifunctions for editing abstract content. - The abstract description is a fallback for languages without a description. It can be overwritten by providing a description in that language. - Every time the renderer function or the underlying lexicographic data changes, we also need to retrigger the relevant generations. - One question is whether we should store the generated description in the Item, and if so, how to change the data model in order to mark the description as generated from the abstract description. - We also need to figure out how to report changes to everyone who is interested in tracking them. If we store the generated description as proposed above, we can piggyback on the current system. All of these are just ideas for discussion. Some of the major questions are whether to store all the generated descriptions in the Item or not, how to represent that in the edit history of the Item, how to design the caching and retriggering of the generated descriptions, etc. What would that look like? Let’s take a look at an oversimplified example. The description for Chalmers is *“university in Gothenburg, Sweden”*. That seems like a reasonably simple case that could easily be templated into abstract content say of the form “Z12367(Q3918 <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3918>, Q25287 <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q25287>, Q34 <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q34>)”, where Z12367 (that ZID is made-up) represents the abstract content saying in English *“(institution) in (city), (country)”*, Q3918 <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3918> the QID for university, Q25287 <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q25287> the QID for Gothenburg, and Q34 <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q34> the QID for Sweden. (In reality, this template is actually nowhere near as simple as it looks like - we will discuss this more in an upcoming weekly newsletter. For now, let’s assume this to be so simple.) Renderers would then take this abstract content and for each language generate the description, in this case *“university in Gothenburg, Sweden”* for English, or *“sveučilište u Göteborgu u Švedskoj”* in Croatian. Since there is already an English description, we wouldn’t store nor actually generate the text, but in Croatian we would generate it, store it, and mark it as a generated description. We think of this as a good milestone on our path to Abstract Wikipedia, with a directly useful outcome. What are your thoughts? Join us in discussing this idea on the following talk page: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2021-07-29 ------------------------------ In other news, Lindsay has created a video of a new feature: how Testers and Implementations work together to show whether the tests pass. The video is availabe here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikilambda_Testers_on_Code_based_Im… The video shows how she is changing the implementation and re-running the testers several times. Testers will be a main component in ensuring the quality of Wikifunctions. The next opportunity to meet us and ask us questions will be at Wikimania. On 14 August, at 17:00 UTC, we will host a 1.5 hour session on Wikifunctions and Abstract Wikipedia. This year, Wikimania will be an entirely virtual event and registration is free. Bring your questions and discussions to Wikimania 2021. Next week, we are skipping the weekly update.

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Newsletter #38: Boolean logic in Wikilambda
by Denny Vrandečić 23 Jul '21

23 Jul '21

The on-wiki version of this update is here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2021-07-22 ---- In the last few weeks, the Wikifunctions prototype has passed a few critical milestones. We have massively improved the testability of our codebase and increased the robustness of our tests. There’s still plenty to do, but, considering the development ahead, it is reassuring to see the code becoming more robust. Another step is that the first parts of evaluating function composition are now working. We can neatly compose any combination of built-ins, code-based implementations, and other compositions. I found myself having quite a bit of fun working with the prototype. Last week, in order to capture some of the possibilities, I made a video where I set up a new Wikilambda instance and defined a few functions for Boolean algebra. Booleans are one of the types that come pre-loaded with a Wikilambda instance. The main reason why they come as a pre-loaded type is because they are necessary for the builtin If function, and the If function is extremely useful. In the demonstration video, I defined the Negate function, which takes one of the two Boolean values (i.e. either True or False) and returns the other. Then I implemented the Negate function using the If function: If true then false else true. I followed this by implementing a few other Boolean functions with two parameters, such as the And function (conjunction), the Or function (disjunction), the Nand function, and the Exclusive or function. Some of the functions are implemented using solely the built-in If function; others combine previously composed functions together (such as Nand, implemented as Not And). The video also shows how to call these newly-created functions and see that they work. You will notice a number of bugs in the video. Most of them are already filed and being worked on; some of them have even been solved already. A number of the workflows that you see have already been improved, such as creating an implementation directly from a newly defined function, etc. Also, please remember that the UX is still intentionally rough, and we will give it a complete overhaul before we launch. The video runs for 24 minutes and is available on Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boolean_Algebra_with_very_early_Wik… Thanks so much to the team for getting the prototype so far! I am very proud, and looking forward to what comes next. ---- We are hiring! We are looking for an Engineering Manager: https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/3270135 Our hires can be based remotely. The next opportunity to meet us and ask us questions will be at Wikimania. On 14 August, at 17:00 UTC, we will host a 1.5 hour session on Wikifunctions and Abstract Wikipedia. This year, Wikimania will be an entirely virtual event and registration is free. Bring your questions and discussions to Wikimania 2021: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wikimania-2021-tickets-161884957265 And a reminder that all Wikimedians are invited to attend the Grammatical Framework Summer School from 26 July to 6 August 2021 for free. The link explains how to register and gives more background: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updat…

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Newsletter #37: Welcome Max Binder! - and we’re hiring!
by Denny Vrandečić 17 Jul '21

17 Jul '21

The on-wiki version of this newsletter is available here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2021-07-16 -- It is our pleasure to announce that Max Binder <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:MBinder_(WMF)> will join the Abstract Wikipedia team part-time for a while in order to provide us help and support with our processes and tools. Max is a Senior Team Effectiveness Coach and joined the Wikimedia Foundation in 2015. I want to let Max introduce himself with his own words: Hello! :) My name is Max (it’s not short for anything, which I have found is uncommon). I use he/him pronouns. I am excited to join this team from the Technical Program Management <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Product/Technical_Program_Manageme…> team, and support healthy team practices. Here are some links to things I’ve written previously about who I am and how I approach my work: Meta page: User:MBinder (WMF) <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:MBinder_(WMF)> Approach and style: Team Effectiveness Coach Approach and Style <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Product/Technical_Program_Manageme…> I will be with this team as long as it takes to codify needs and norms thereof, and eventually onboard a Technical Program Manager for ongoing support thereafter. Picking a favorite Wikipedia page is like picking a favorite child, but I’ve always enjoyed: List of helicopter prison escapes <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_helicopter_prison_escapes> and Toliet paper orientation <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet_paper_orientation> One goal for Max is to help us get our processes ready to scale for more new members. Speaking of which: we are hiring! We are currently hiring for two Software Engineers <https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/3298646?gh_src=03df28cb1us> and an Engineering Manager <https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/3270135> for Abstract Wikipedia. The positions can be remote and can be outside the United States. If you are interested, or know someone who might be, or a good community to spread the word about the positions, please share the link. We also want to say thanks to Carolyn Li-Madeo and Simone Cuomo, who have been working with us for the last few months. Carolyn was helping to kick-off the design work within Abstract Wikipedia with Aishwarya, and is now stepping away from the day to day work on Abstract Wikipedia in order to focus more on her primary work within the Foundation. Simone has worked on a number of tasks on the front end, for example making the front-end more testable and modular, and is now ramping up to provide support for the Structured Data team. Our deepest gratitude to both of them for their contributions to the project and the support they provide to the organization and user experiences more generally. We also got word that we were selected for a session at Wikimania 2021 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2021>. Wikimania will be held from August 13 to 17, 2021. On August 14, at 15:00 UTC, we will host a two hour session on Wikifunctions and Abstract Wikipedia. This year, Wikimania will be an entirely virtual event and registration is free <https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wikimania-2021-tickets-161884957265>. Bring your questions and discussions to Wikimania 2021! Another reminder that there is an invitation to attend for free <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2021-06-24> the Grammatical Framework Summer School from 26 July to 6 August 2021.

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Synonyms and word senses
by Andy 02 Jul '21

02 Jul '21

In WikiData is very large amount of Qnnnn entities and much smaller set of Lnnnn lexems. One lexem can have many senses and many different words can be synonyms (problem: sometimes very close meaning but not the same) For example in multilingual Wordnet : Polish->English word "kot" has: 02121808-n kot, kot domowy domestic cat, house cat, Felis domesticus, Felis catus any domesticated member of the genus Felis 10149241-n kot grunt an unskilled or low-ranking soldier or other worker 10508379-n kot raw recruit an inexperienced and untrained recruit 02121620-n (18) kot cat, true cat feline mammal usually having thick soft fur and no ability to roar: domestic cats; wildcats 10641301-n kot sprog a new military recruit # of them: 10149241-n 10508379-n and 10641301-n are English synonyms, very close meanings, differ lexem. In Polish is one lexem "kot", In Polish shouldn't distinguish this 3 senses, instead of should be one general definition. Problem: in Abstract Wikipedia source text should be language independent, sense-centered We need common sense for 3 differ English lexems? Senses are distinguishable in differ degree in differ language, for example "snow" in African languages vs Siberian languages. - how Abstract Wikipedia will do with senses? - how view senses in Wikidata?

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Abstract-Wikipedia July 2021