*(This [SIGNIFICANT Change Announcement] is relevant for all Wikidata users
working with Labels and Aliases.)*
Hello,
You may recall our previous announcement
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikidata@lists.wikimedia.org/me…>
inviting you to test out the “default values for all languages” feature,
introducing the language code "mul" for labels and aliases, on
https://test.wikidata.org. I'm pleased to announce that we are now
proceeding with a limited release on Wikidata. This feature will be
available for testing starting July 29.
Note of Caution and Tips for Testing
-
To try out the new feature during this limited release, you need to add
the language code “mul” to your Babel boxes
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Userboxes#Babel>. A full release
will follow on the week of August 12, displaying default values to everyone
by default.
-
Please refrain from starting any Bot-runs for mul during the limited
release. We will use this limited release to test the performance and
verify that everything works as planned. Bot-runs for mul should only
commence after the full feature is released.
-
Please also test the help page
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help:Default_values_for_labels_and_aliases>
explaining how to use the feature. It will be important to get this help
page right, as the full release will initially contain an onboarding
element that guides people to this help page.
I would like to thank everyone who has participated in the previous testing
phases or provided feedback thus far. We are eager to hear more from you
during this limited release. Please do not hesitate to reach out with
questions or concerns on the talk page of the Help page
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help_talk:Default_values_for_labels_and_alias…>,
or for technical details, in this Phabricator ticket (phab:T356169
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T356169>)
There has also been some discussion on the help page
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help_talk:Default_values_for_labels_and_alias…>
regarding the copy used for the language. We would like to reach a
consensus before the full release. Join the discussion to add your thoughts
and input on the thread. This week, a survey will be included in the Weekly
Summary for those who prefer to provide anonymous feedback.
Cheers!
-Mohammed
On Mon, Feb 12, 2024 at 9:00 AM Mohammed Sadat Abdulai <
mohammed.abdulai(a)wikimedia.de> wrote:
> (This announcement is relevant for all Wikidata users working with Labels
> and Aliases.)
>
>
> Hello,
>
> We're excited to invite you to participate in the community testing of the
> “default values for labels and aliases” feature. Based on a long-standing
> community request around language fallback (T285156
> <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T285156>), and based on your feedback
> from our previous announcement
> <https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikidata@lists.wikimedia.org/me…>,
> we are currently testing this feature on https://test.wikidata.org
> <https://test.wikidata.org/wiki/Q42> with the release planned for Q1 2024.
>
> What is coming?
>
> 1.
>
> Default values for labels and aliases (mul): Items that repeat the
> same label and aliases over and over are hard to maintain and can strain
> our infrastructure, especially the Wikidata Query Service. As a solution,
> we are introducing the option for default values in the termbox. The
> default values are considered in the language fallback chain (language code
> “mul”).
>
>
>
> 2.
>
> Visualisation of the language fallback chain: Previously, Wikidata’s
> fallback chain was not visible in the user interface, making it challenging
> to determine if additional information was needed. As a first step toward
> improvement, we will now clearly show what content is already available via
> language fallback in the placeholders for labels (including default values).
>
>
> We need your feedback
>
> Please leave your feedback on Help talk:Default values for labels and
> aliases
> <https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Help_talk:Default_values_for_lab…>.
> Your feedback will play a crucial role in verifying if the current version
> is ready for Wikidata. Additionally, you can find some test Items, known
> limitations and open questions there for you to review. We will analyze
> your feedback one week after today's announcement.
>
> The next steps
>
> After you have left your feedback, please make sure that the guidelines
> on Help:Default values for labels and aliases
> <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help:Default_values_for_labels_and_aliases>
> are ready for the launch. You can also already plan bot-runs for mul, but
> please be sure to start with uncontroversial cases. If there are no
> blockers, we will then prepare a limited release on Wikidata in the
> coming weeks. The limited release will only be visible if you put mul in
> your Babel boxes. We will use this limited release to test the performance
> and verify that everything works as planned. Please don’t start any
> bot-runs for mul during the limited release. A full release will follow a
> few weeks later, displaying default values for everyone by default, and
> featuring an onboarding element that will guide people to the help page.
> Bot-runs for mul can commence at this stage.
>
> Do not hesitate to reach out with questions or concerns in the talk page
> of the help page
> <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help_talk:Default_values_for_labels_and_alias…>
> and for technical details in this Phabricator ticket (T356169
> <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T356169>).
>
>
> Thank you for your support!
>
> Cheers,
> --
> Mohammed Sadat Abdulai
> *Community Communications Manager, Wikidata*
>
> Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | 10963 Berlin
> Phone: +49 (0) 30 577 116 2466
> https://wikimedia.de
>
> Grab a spot in my calendar for a chat: calendly.com/masssly.
>
> A lot is happening around Wikidata - Keep up to date!
> <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Status_updates> Current news and
> exciting stories about Wikimedia, Wikipedia and Free Knowledge in our
> newsletter (in German): Subscribe now
> <https://www.wikimedia.de/newsletter/>.
>
> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
> sum of all knowledge. Help us to achieve our vision!
> https://spenden.wikimedia.de
>
> Wikimedia Deutschland — Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e. V.
> Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Charlottenburg, VR 23855 B.
> Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für Körperschaften I Berlin,
> Steuernummer 27/029/42207. Geschäftsführende Vorstände: Franziska Heine,
> Dr. Christian Humborg
>
Hello all,
I'm happy to announce that we started preparing our next Wikidata community
online event: the *Data Reuse Days 2025
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Event:Data_Reuse_Days_2025>*.
The event will be focusing on *how people and organizations use Wikidata's
data to build interesting applications and tools*. It aims to bring
together data reusers and editors to learn from each other and discover
cool Wikidata-powered applications. We will also cover technical aspects of
Wikidata and share research and ideas for the future of reusing Wikidata’s
data.
The event is taking place *online*, we will have sessions taking place
during *periods of 2 hours through 8 days: from February 18 to 27, 2025*.
You will be able to join sessions live, or to watch the replay later on.
You will find the schedule below on this page. The sessions take place in
English, and are open to everyone interested in the topic of data reuse.
We are welcoming proposals from Wikidata editors and reusers who want to
showcase their applications or facilitate discussions! You can *propose
sessions on the talk page until January 12th
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Event_talk:Data_Reuse_Days_2025>*. We will
then select some of them and add them to the schedule. We are especially
welcoming demos of tools or applications using Wikidata's data, discussions
between editors and reusers, and technical presentations.
While waiting for the event to take place, you can also rewatch some
sessions from our last edition in 2022
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLduaHBu_3ejNaZk15ybdHNWY8z-FyunRm>.
If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to write on the talk
page or to reach out to me directly.
Best,
--
Léa Lacroix
Community Engagement & Events Consultant
Contractor for Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
Hello,
This is a breaking change announcement for the options parameter of the
wbformatvalue API. Based on recent usage data, we don’t expect most API
users to be affected by this change.
The wbformatvalue API has an options parameter, where various formatting
options can be specified in a JSON object. Historically, Wikibase has
allowed any option to be set to any (JSON) value here, and because the
formatter implementations often did not validate the options, it was
possible to produce various (mostly harmless) crashes in Wikibase by
setting e.g. a string-valued option to an integer. Also, even when the
options were being used correctly, most of them were of questionable
usefulness, and tracking shows
<https://grafana.wikimedia.org/d/h-hXQTtIz/wikibase-api-wbformatvalue?orgId=…>
that only very few options were actually used in practice.
To simplify the API, we are changing it so that only four options are
allowed in the JSON: lang, applyRounding, applyUnit, and showcalendar.These
allowed options and their possible values are documented in the API
documentation. Currently, invalid values for these options are already
rejected; as of 2024-11-27, any option name other than these four will also
be rejected, regardless of value. According to the tracking mentioned
above, no API request has mentioned any of the other options in the past
six months, so we do not expect that anyone will actually have to update
their code to stop sending other options.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment on T323778
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T323778>.
--
*Danny Benjafield*
Community Communications Manager
Wikidata Integrations Team
Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | 10963 Berlin
Phone: +49 (0)30-577 11 62-0
https://wikimedia.de
Keep up to date! Current news and exciting stories about Wikimedia,
Wikipedia and Free Knowledge in our newsletter (in German): Subscribe now.
<https://www.wikimedia.de/newsletter/>
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge. Help us to achieve our vision!
https://spenden.wikimedia.de
Wikimedia Deutschland — Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e. V.
Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Charlottenburg, VR 23855 B.
Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für Körperschaften I Berlin,
Steuernummer 27/029/42207. Geschäftsführende Vorstände: Franziska Heine,
Dr. Christian Humborg