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
>>
>
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…
Hello all!
The Search Platform Team usually holds an open meeting on the first
Wednesday of each month. Come talk to us about anything related to
Wikimedia search, Wikidata Query Service (WDQS), Wikimedia Commons Query
Service (WCQS), etc.!
Feel free to add your items to the Etherpad Agenda for the next meeting.
Details for our next meeting:
Date: Wednesday, October 2, 2024
Time: 15:00-16:00 UTC / 08:00 PDT / 11:00 EDT / 17:00 CEST
Etherpad: https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/Search_Platform_Office_Hours
Google Meet link: https://meet.google.com/vgj-bbeb-uyi
Join by phone: https://tel.meet/vgj-bbeb-uyi?pin=8118110806927
Have fun and see you soon!
Guillaume
--
*Guillaume Lederrey* (he/him)
Engineering Manager
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Hello, everyone –
We have our next LD4 Wikidata Affinity Group Session on Tuesday, October 1, 2024 at 9am PT / 12pm ET / 16:00 UTC / 6pm CEST (Time zone converter<https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1727798400>).
New Format!
We have decided to try a new programming format starting this fall. We’ll work with members of the community to highlight their projects and provide editing support by coordinating Project Series lasting two months. The general format will be to host one presentation and discussion oriented call followed by three Working Hour-style editing sessions in support of that project. All events will take place during our regular every-other Tuesday timeslot (12pm EST/9am PST/16:00 UTC/6pm CEST).
We are thrilled that Christa Strickler will be our first Project Series lead, with her joint project with the Wikidata Religion & Theology Community of Practice to contribute biographical data to Wikidata from the IRFA<https://irfa.paris/en/en-learn-about-a-missionary/> database using the Mix’n’Match tool. We are excited to learn more about this project, provide a forum for discussion and shared learning, and lend a hand while building new skills. Sessions for this series will be on September 3rd and 17th, and October 1st and 15th.
Here is the plan for the series sessions:
Session 1 (September 3)
Intro to community of practice and the project
Session 2 (September 17)
Working session using Mix‘n’Match<https://mix-n-match.toolforge.org/#/catalog/5301> to add Wikidata items
Session 3 (October 1)
Working session using a data model and the UseAsRef user script<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/User:Bargioni/UseAsRef> to enhance items
Session 4 (October 15)
Working session to demonstrate an image search for item enhancement and celebrate with data visualizations of the work we’ve done
Instructions will assume rudimentary knowledge of Wikidata, but beginners and their questions are most welcome! Step-by-step instructions will be provided, so hopefully even those unfamiliar with Wikidata will be able to follow along.
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, 1 October, 2024 at 9am PT / 12pm ET / 16:00 UTC / 6pm CEST (Time zone converter<https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1727798400>)
Zoom link info: https://notredame.zoom.us/j/99242314441?pwd=Yxm1vCdSNHllZWK6b4fhMqlKfnNRYt.1
Meeting ID: 992 4231 4441
Passcode: 149356
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/
Series event page: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_LD4_Wikidata_Affinity_Gr…
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
Hi everyone,
A rerun of the Wikidata Open Online Course
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Open_Online_Course> will kick off
on October 1, 2024, and will be available for the following 5 weeks. The
previous iteration of the course saw a great turnout, with positive
feedback from learners, including GLAM professionals and students. Here’s
what you can expect:
*📚 Course Structure*
- Chapter 1: The Wikimedia Movement and the Creation of Wikidata
- Chapter 2: Understanding Knowledge Graphs and Queries
- Chapter 3: Discovering Wikidata, Open Data, and the Semantic Web
- Chapter 4: Contributing to Wikidata, the Community, and Data Quality
- Chapter 5: Bonus Resources on Scientific Bibliography from Wikidata
Head over to Wikidata 101: An Introduction
<https://learn.wiki/courses/course-v1:Wikimedia-Deutschland+WMDE001+2024_2/a…>
to enroll, and don’t hesitate to share it with your friends and colleagues.
The course is hosted on learn.wiki, and you can sign up using the same
credentials you use for Wikimedia projects.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me directly.
Cheers,
--
Mohammed S. 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: cal.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, everyone –
We have our next LD4 Wikidata Affinity Group Session on Tuesday, September 17, 2024 at 9am PT / 12pm ET / 16:00 UTC / 6pm CEST (Time zone converter<https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1726588800>).
New Format!
We have decided to try a new programming format starting this fall. We’ll work with members of the community to highlight their projects and provide editing support by coordinating Project Series lasting two months. The general format will be to host one presentation and discussion oriented call followed by three Working Hour-style editing sessions in support of that project. All events will take place during our regular every-other Tuesday timeslot (12pm EST/9am PST/16:00 UTC/6pm CEST).
We are thrilled that Christa Strickler will be our first Project Series lead, with her joint project with the Wikidata Religion & Theology Community of Practice to contribute biographical data to Wikidata from the IRFA<https://irfa.paris/en/en-learn-about-a-missionary/> database using the Mix’n’Match tool. We are excited to learn more about this project, provide a forum for discussion and shared learning, and lend a hand while building new skills. Sessions for this series will be on September 3rd and 17th, and October 1st and 15th.
Here is the plan for the series sessions:
Session 1 (September 3)
Intro to community of practice and the project
Session 2 (September 17)
Working session using Mix‘n’Match<https://mix-n-match.toolforge.org/#/catalog/5301> to add Wikidata items
Session 3 (October 1)
Working session using a data model and the UseAsRef user script<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/User:Bargioni/UseAsRef> to enhance items
Session 4 (October 15)
Working session to demonstrate an image search for item enhancement and celebrate with data visualizations of the work we’ve done
Instructions will assume rudimentary knowledge of Wikidata, but beginners and their questions are most welcome! Step-by-step instructions will be provided, so hopefully even those unfamiliar with Wikidata will be able to follow along.
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 September, 2024 at 9am PT / 12pm ET / 16:00 UTC / 6pm CEST (Time zone converter<https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1726588800>)
Zoom link info:
https://notredame.zoom.us/j/99370077916?pwd=MYK5tqxAJqk1AnNi1zvHWOdWwhmNsh.1
Meeting ID: 993 7007 7916
Passcode: 771807
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/
Series event page: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_LD4_Wikidata_Affinity_Gr…
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