On Thu, Sep 5, 2024 at 8:15 PM Physikerwelt <wiki(a)physikerwelt.de> wrote:
>
> Dear Luca,
>
> the communication was good I think.
>
> However, I don't understand the decision process. Who is the
> responsible person, e.g., the product manager, who eventually decided
> to cut WDQS into pieces?
>
> Moritz
The decision was defined together by the Search Team at Wikimedia
Foundation and the people in charge of Wikidata at Wikimedia
Deutschland. In particular, Lydia Pintscher is ultimately responsible
for all Wikidata product decisions at WMDE.
I would like to stress how this decision was not taken lightheartedly.
It's been three years that we know that Blazegraph is on the verge of
failing, we wrote a playbook in case of dramatic failure,[1] and we
evaluated several alternatives to Blazegraph,[2] each with its pros
and cons.
While evaluating which way to go, knowing that no solution would be a
"magic wand" that would magically solve all our problems - in fact, no
"magic solution" exists, each comes with its load of problems and
costs - we came to terms with the fact that we needed more time and
the split was a harsh, but ultimately effective solution to buy some
time in the transition to the next backend.
Hope this helps.
L.
[1] https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:SPARQL_query_service/WDQS_backend_up…
[2] https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:SPARQL_query_service/WDQS_backend_up…
*Registration for the 2025 Wikimedia Hackathon is now open! *
*(with apologies for cross-posting)*
The annual Wikimedia Hackathon
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Hackathon_2025> is organized by
the Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/> in
collaboration with Wikimedia User Group Turkey (WMTR)
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Turkey> and
will be taking place in Istanbul, Turkey, from May 2nd through May 4th,
2025 at the Renaissance Polat Istanbul Hotel
<https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/istrn-renaissance-polat-istanbul-hote…>
.
The Hackathon is an on-site, in-person event. Those people who cannot
attend the Hackathon in-person will be able to follow some of the program
content online, but should not register using the link provided below. More
information will be provided closer to the event on how to participate
remotely. Registration will be open until mid April 2025, or until we reach
event capacity.
The Hackathon event is free for all* to attend *and each person that
attends the Hackathon is required to register.
- Catering (lunch, dinner, snacks, and drinks) will be provided during the
event.
- Covid-related equipment will also be available upon request (e.g. self
test kits and masks).
- We’ll have discounted room codes for those that want to stay at the hotel
venue, to be announced in the coming weeks.
- Check if your passport is up to date and if you will need a visa (or an
e-visa) to travel to Turkey, citizens of most countries can apply for an e-visa
online <https://www.mfa.gov.tr/visa-information-for-foreigners.en.mfa>.
Participants are expected to book their own travel arrangements and
accommodation. However, the Wikimedia Foundation is offering to take care
of travel and accommodation for a limited number of scholars and you will
be able to apply for a scholarship during the registration process.
Scholarship applicants - please note:
-
*Scholarship application and Wikimedia Foundation staff sponsorship will
only be available to request until December 10th, 2024. *
-
Priority will be given to scholars who can mentor or support in areas
of high demand and staff with ambitious or impactful projects.
-
Those that have requested a scholarship or sponsorship will be notified
by mid to late December 2024 about the status of their application.
-
All scholarships provided will adhere to the WMF travel policy
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Scholarship_travel_policy>
guidelines.
*Scholarship to this event will cover:*
-
Roundtrip airfare between your city of residence and Istanbul, Turkey -
arriving on May 1, 2025 and departing on May 5, 2025.
-
Private accommodation at the conference hotel for up to 4 nights
-
Medical Insurance Coverage for any scholars traveling outside of their
home country. (Scholars local to Turkey will need to use their regular
insurance coverage.).
-
Airport transfers between the Istanbul Airport (IST) and the conference
hotel.
-
All meals will be provided for the duration of the event (lunch, drinks,
snacks, and dinner will be provided on event days; breakfast will be
provided by the hotel for guests staying there). In addition, dinner will
be provided on Thursday before the Hackathon officially kicks off.
-
Fees associated with obtaining a visa to travel to Turkey (visa
application fees, and travel to in-person travel visa appointment (if
needed)).
-
Citizens of most countries can apply for an e-visa online
<https://www.mfa.gov.tr/visa-information-for-foreigners.en.mfa>.
*Scholarship to this event will not cover:*
-
Per diem costs on travel days.
-
Ground transportation costs between your residence and home airport.
-
Insurance for your personal possessions.
The Hackathon registration form runs on Pretix (a free, open-sourced
third-party platform that helps organize and manage events) which may
subject your data to additional terms <https://pretix.eu/about/en/privacy>.
For more information on WMF’s privacy and data-handling for the Hackathon,
please read the privacy statement
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal:Wikimedia_Hackathon_Privacy_Sta…>
.
<https://pretix.eu/wikimedia/hackathon2025>
If you encounter any issues while registering, or have questions about the
registration process, feel free to contact the coordination team at
hackathon(a)wikimedia.org.
Cheers,
Deb
--
deb tankersley (she/her)
developer outreach program management
Wikimedia Foundation
Hello,
Last week, we announced that a limited release of the “default values for
all languages” feature—introducing the language code "mul" for labels and
aliases—will soon be coming to Wikidata. We are currently working on
improvements for “mul” in the Termbox on Item pages. We’ve already received
feedback from some of you on the discussion pages, but we’d also love to
hear from those who prefer to *provide* *anonymous feedback*.
Please share your thoughts on this 5-10 minute anonymous survey until
August 4: https://wikimedia.sslsurvey.de/Wikidata-default-values-feedback
If you have any questions or concerns feel free to let us know in this
Phabricator ticket (phab:T356169 <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T356169>
)
Many thanks for your time.
-Mohammed
On Mon, Jul 22, 2024 at 10:03 AM Mohammed Sadat Abdulai <
mohammed.abdulai(a)wikimedia.de> wrote:
> *(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
>>
>
It's time for Wikidata Cleanup 2024 !
The year 2024 is slowly coming to an end as the end of this month is
approaching. Also in 2024 many items have been created, and while in many
cases this went well, also many items are missing the basic properties.
When people see such an item, we have no clue what the item is about and
with queries they can't be found. This results in that an item without
properties is almost useless. If we don't tackle this problem, the number
of items with this problem will only be growing each year. Therefore I
think it is good to have some coordinated effort to work on this together
in the last ten days of 2024 when many users have some extra time because
of holidays.
Why are basic properties missing?
It can be simple vandalism, a risk especially with Q's with lower numbers
and many interwiki links. If such comes across, it might be the easiest to
just check the history of an item and revert the vandalism if someone tried
to (partly) empty an item.
Also it is still a problem that there are still users that simply remove
basic properties if one is considered to be wrong, instead of replacing it
by the right one.
Or a basis property was simple forgotten to be added or the user who
created the item did not know it is needed.
In many cases, just one of the basic properties is missing, but often
multiple of them are missing on items. To keep it a bit clear, I divided
the missing properties in multiple levels. Each level builds on a previous
one. Once a certain level has been added to an item, it can be found
(quicker) by people working on the other levels. You can just work on one
level, but it would be handy if you could also see if you can easily add
another other basic level(s) too.
It is not my intention to be complete with all basic properties as there
are too many groups of subjects with their basic properties. I have chosen
the most generic and largest basic properties, and I just hope that this
would help to reduce the backlog.
== Level 1 ==
Every single item (Q) should have the property "instance of" (P31
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P31>) or "subclass of" (P279
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P279>). So our goal is to make sure
all items have one of these two properties, sometimes both.
For many obvious, but as it still goes wrong, please use "instance of" on
specific examples of that subject, and "subclass of" on items that are a
subset. Example: K2 <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q43512> is an instance
of mountain; volcano <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8072> is a subclass of
mountain.
How to start working on this? There can be various approaches and each one
that results in the missing properties to be added (properly) is good,
choose the one that works for you. I share my approach here below. I think
it can be helpful for users if other approaches are shared to so it becomes
easier to work on this problem.
The approach I personally choose is to work by language. As my native
language is Dutch, I try to make sure that all items with a sitelink to the
Dutch Wikipedia have P31 and/or P279.
To do that I use this query
<https://query.wikidata.org/#SELECT%20%3Fitem%20%3FitemLabel%20WHERE%20%7B%0…>.
The limit is set on 10, otherwise the query can result in error because it
takes too much time. If you want to use it for your language, just replace
2x the "nl" into the language code of your language.
If you are unsure about which item to select with P31/P279, please check
other items about similar subjects.
The goal is to make sure every single item to have P31 or P27. If you work
by language like I do, when done with one language, please consider also to
work on other languages, especially the ones with a limited amount of
speakers/users active.
== Level 2: country ==
One of the main characteristics of many subjects is that they are related
to or located in a certain country. A country is basic knowledge people
want to know about a subject, and in queries, the country is often used to
limit the amount of results.
What does have a country?
Use "country" (P17 <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P17>) for
buildings and other structures, human settlements, physical features
(rivers, mountains, etc), sports event/competition, and more.
But not with subjects on Antarctica, in international waters, on a
different planet or other astronomical object, etc.
*With Antarctica:* set "country" with no value and add the property
"continent" (P30 <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P30>) with "
Antarctica <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q51>".
*In international waters:* set "country" with no value.
*On other astronomical object:* set "located on astronomical body" (P376
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P376>).
Example query
<https://query.wikidata.org/#SELECT%20%3Fitem%20%3FitemLabel%20%3FitemDescri…>,
excluding Antarctica, items with "country" no value and items with
astronomical body.
Use "country of citizenship" (P27
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P27>) for people.
Use "country of origin" (P495 <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P495>)
for some other subjects.
== Level 3: location ==
There are about 23 towns with the name "Paris" in the United States, so
just saying that a certain item is an instance of and is located in a
certain country is not enough.
Use "located in the administrative territorial entity" (P131
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P131>) for physical subjects.
Use "coordinate location" (P625
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P625>) to add coordinates.
Use "location" (P276 <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P276>) for
other indications of a location, but not for streets (use "located on
street" (P669 <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P669>)), not for
mountain ranges (use "mountain range" (P4552
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P4552>)), not for rivers and other
water bodies (use "located in or next to body of water" (P206
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P206>)) and not for others natural
features (use "located in/on physical feature" (P706
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P706>)).
== Level 4: sports ==
A popular name for various sports competitions are for example League or
Liga 1, so knowing which sport (P641
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P641>) a league or liga is part of
is basic information.
Example query
<https://query.wikidata.org/#SELECT%20%3Fitem%20%3FitemLabel%20%3FitemDescri…>
for sports season without sport.
== Bonus: series ==
With various groups of subjects, an item is part of a larger series. For
example sports events or seasons of competitions with each item about one
season. There are two things needed:
1. Make sure an item of a certain year/season has the same properties as
the previous/next year, and try to avoid variances between them.
2. Make sure each item is connected to the previous (P155
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P155>) and next (P156
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P156>) item of that series.
Often the newly created item for a new year/season is missing properties,
sometimes this is the case for multiple years on a row.
== Input welcome ==
Do you know another or better query to work on the listed problems above,
please share them so working on it becomes easier.
For everyone: have a nice time in the coming days!
Romaine
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, everyone –
We have our next LD4 Wikidata Affinity Group Session on Tuesday, December 17, 2024 at 9am PT / 12pm ET / 17:00 UTC / 6pm CET (Time zone converter<https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1734454800>).
If you anticipate attending the workshop sessions, please fill out this brief survey<https://forms.gle/tQqQiEt41uCmkiSZ6> to help us prepare relevant materials for you. You only need to fill it out once, no matter how many sessions you plan to attend.
Wikimedian Mahir Morshed is leading a series of four sessions focused on lexicographical data<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Lexicographical_data/Documentation> in Wikidata. We are looking forward to learning more about these Wikibase entities! Sessions will be held on November 5, November 19, December 3, and December 17, 2024 at our regular time of 9am PT / 12pm ET / 17:00 UTC / 6pm CET.
Here is the plan for the series sessions:
Session 1 (November 5)
This first session started with an introduction and discussion of the multitudes of uses for Wikidata’s lexicographical data, with specific examples and motivations provided for each use case, and ended with a listing of specific actions that can be taken depending on the language an editor wishes to improve. The remaining workshop sessions will elaborate on these actions.
Session 2 (November 19)
Working session covering ways to improve existing lexemes and tools to find lexemes to create
Session 3 (December 3)
Working session covering how modeling parts of complex lexemes in one language can be used to improve Wikidata’s ability to express concepts in other languages
Session 4 (December 17)
Working session covering how sentences can be modeled and formed using Wikidata lexemes and items
The call details are below. Working sessions will not be recorded, but demos and how-to sections will be made available as recordings. To receive notifications about upcoming calls and session information you can subscribe to the <https://groups.google.com/d/forum/ld4-wikidata> ld4-wikidata Google Group<https://groups.google.com/d/forum/ld4-wikidata>.
Call Details:
Date and Time: Tuesday, 17 December, 2024 at 9am PT / 12pm ET / 17:00 UTC / 6pm CET (Time zone converter<https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1734454800>)
Zoom link to join meeting:
https://washington.zoom.us/j/99751624871?pwd=9aP5kaCixHlMRwCbppaZHitt8Un3wZ…
Meeting ID: 997 5162 4871
Passcode: 113059
Series event page: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_LD4_Wikidata_Affinity_Gr…
The LD4 Wikidata Affinity Group is associated with the LD4 Community and investigates how libraries can contribute to and better integrate library metadata with Wikidata to improve access to library resources on the web. The Affinity Group calls provide an informal space to share information and learn more about Wikidata.
Communication:
Ld4-wikidata Google group: <https://groups.google.com/d/forum/ld4-wikidata> https://groups.google.com/d/forum/ld4-wikidata
#wikidata channel on LD4 Slack: <https://ld4.slack.com/> https://ld4.slack.com/
Website: <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_LD4_Wikidata_Affinity_Gr…> https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_LD4_Wikidata_Affinity_Gr…
On behalf of the LD4 Wikidata Affinity Group co-facilitators,
Hilary Thorsen
Resource Sharing Librarian
Stanford Libraries
thorsenh(a)stanford.edu
650-285-9429