https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Community:2023-08-08
2023-08-07 22:26 GMT+02:00, Denny Vrandečić <dvrandecic(a)wikimedia.org>rg>:
> I got the numbering wrong, this was #123, not #114. Sorry!
>
> On Mon, Aug 7, 2023 at 1:18 PM Denny Vrandečić <dvrandecic(a)wikimedia.org>
> wrote:
>
>> This newsletter can be found on the Web here:
>>
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/08/07/wikifunctions-is-starting-up/
>>
>> After three years of development, we are excited to share that
>> Wikifunctions
>>
<https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikifunctions:Main_Page>
>> is
>> slowly beginning to roll out.
>>
>> Wikifunctions, the newest Wikimedia project, is a new space to
>> collaboratively create and maintain a library of functions. You can think
>> of these functions like recipes for a meal—they take inputs and produce
>> an
>> output (a reliable answer). You might have experienced something similar
>> when using a search engine to find the distance between two locations,
>> the
>> volume of an object, converting two units, and more.
>>
>> You can learn more about how Wikifunctions works in this short video on
>> Commons
>> <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikifunctions_in_7_minutes.webm>
>> and YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHy63VOp0RQ>.
>>
>> Wikifunctions is a project that allows you to create new functions, run
>> existing functions, and understand how they work. We anticipate that the
>> system will eventually be able to generate sentences, texts, and full
>> articles. Using the simple facts housed in Wikidata
>> <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Main_Page>, you will be able to
>> write functions that make calculations, provide a person’s age, estimate
>> population densities, and more, and integrate the results into Wikipedia.
>>
>> Additionally, Wikifunctions allows you to read and implement functions in
>> your native language, be that English, Spanish, Arabic, Bengali, or one
>> of
>> the hundreds of other supported languages.
>>
>> At the moment, just like any other new Wikimedia initiative, we are
>> rolling out Wikifunctions with minimal content and features to start.
>> Logged-in contributors can run a few early functions, and editing will be
>> limited as we test the project’s stability. You can request edit access
>> <https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Wikifunctions:Apply_for_editing> on
>> Wikifunctions, and we will give out the rights to more people as we test
>> and learn. Things will bend, break, get fixed, and break again as we
>> build
>> up the project’s capabilities. For now, we are excited to announce that
>> the
>> Wikimedia communities have decided on the very first function: *join
>> together* <https://www.wikifunctions.org/view/en/Z10000>. The function
>> takes two strings and returns them combined. If you are logged-in, you
>> can
>> try it out now on Wikifunctions
>> <https://www.wikifunctions.org/view/en/Z10000>.
>>
>> We are looking forward to a thriving community to grow and maintain a
>> library of many useful and interesting functions in the future.
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Wikifunctions is a core component of the larger Abstract Wikipedia
>> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Abstract_Wikipedia>
>> initiative,
>> which will enable Wikimedia volunteer editors to create and maintain
>> content in a single place that can be shared across languages. In short:
>> Abstract Wikipedia will build a system where an editor can contribute
>> knowledge using their native Swahili, and a reader will be able to
>> benefit
>> from that knowledge by reading it in their native Japanese.
>> Thank you
>>
>> On behalf of the Abstract Wikipedia team and the whole Wikimedia
>> movement,
>> please join me in welcoming Wikifunctions as a new project. We can’t be
>> more excited to invite you to experience it.
>>
>> We plan to continue developing Wikifunctions to add new features: we will
>> build in better support for programming languages, access to Wikidata,
>> integration with Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, the ability to
>> deal with binary data files, and much more.
>>
>> If you are interested in working with us to build a catalog of functions
>> (and have some patience to deal with the hiccups of an early new
>> project),
>> please join us <https://www.wikifunctions.org/> as a contributor on
>> Wikifunctions! We are looking forward to becoming a new community.
>>
>> We thank
Google.org, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Wikimedia
>> Endowment for their support.
>>
>