Gregor says>
Or are you proposing to simply use the existing template programming
with the only the difference that wikidata is the only mediawiki where
the properties can be accessed within templates? Much of my argument
assumes that you are looking for a non-template based infobox
renderer, I may be wrong there.

I am proposing that, from the perspective of the Tiger article author, I would log on to wikidata and create a page called Infobox:Tiger using a Semantic Form named "Taxobox" whose fields track to the args for the Taxobox template. On the form, one would select whether a genus, familia, ordo, ... regnum is represented by the page... assume "genus" was selected, so.....
{{Taxobox
| status = EN (DUBLIN CORE PROPERTY: LANGUAGE)
| fossil_range = Early [[Pleistocene]] – Recent (DUBLIN CORE: COVERAGE)
| status_system = iucn3.1 (DUBLIN CORE: FORMAT)
| trend = down (DUBLIN CORE: FORMAT)
| status_ref =<ref name=IUCN/> (DUBLIN CORE: IDENTIFIER)
| image = Tiger in Ranthambhore.jpg (EMBEDDED {{IMAGE}} TEMPLATE CALL)
| image_caption = A [[Bengal tiger]] (''P. tigris tigris'') in India's [[Ranthambhore National Park]]. (PART OF {{IMAGE}} TEMPLATE CALL)
| image_width = (PART OF {{IMAGE}} TEMPLATE CALL)
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia (UNNECESSARY - LOOK IT UP VIA #ASK)
| phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]] (UNNECESSARY - LOOK IT UP VIA #ASK))
| classis = [[Mammal]]ia (UNNECESSARY - LOOK IT UP VIA #ASK))
| ordo = [[Carnivora]] (UNNECESSARY - LOOK IT UP VIA #ASK))
| familia = [[Felidae]] (UNNECESSARY - LOOK IT UP VIA #ASK))
| genus = ''[[Panthera]]'' (DUBLIN CORE PROPERTY: RELATION)
| species = '''''P. tigris''''' (DUBLIN CORE PROPERTY: TITLE)
| binomial = ''Panthera tigris'' (EMBEDDED {{BINOMIAL}} TEMPLATE CALL)
| binomial_authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758) (PART OF EMBEDDED {{BINOMIAL}} TEMPLATE CALL)
| synonyms = (DUBLIN CORE PROPERTY: TITLE)
<center>'''''Felis tigris''''' [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758<ref name="Linn1758" /> 
'''''Tigris striatus''''' [[Nikolai Severtzov|Severtzov]], 1858 
'''''Tigris regalis''''' [[John Edward Gray|Gray]], 1867</center>
| range_map = Tiger_map.jpg (EMBEDDED {{IMAGE}} TEMPLATE CALL)
| range_map_width = (PART OF EMBEDDED {{IMAGE}} TEMPLATE CALL)
| range_map_caption = Tiger's historic range in ca. 1850 (pale yellow) and range in 2006 (in green).<ref name="dinerstein07" />
| subdivision_ranks = [[Subspecies]]
| subdivision = (UNNECESSARY - LOOK IT UP VIA #ASK)
''[[Bengal tiger|P. t. tigris]]'' 
''[[Indochinese tiger|P. t. corbetti]]'' 
''[[Malayan tiger|P. t. jacksoni]]'' 
''[[Sumatran tiger|P. t. sumatrae]]'' 
''[[Siberian tiger|P. t. altaica]]'' 
''[[South China tiger|P. t. amoyensis]]'' 
†''[[Caspian tiger|P. t. virgata]]'' 
†''[[Bali tiger|P. t. balica]]'' 
†''[[Javan tiger|P. t. sondaica]]''
}}

One could create [[en:Infobox:Tiger]] and [[de:Infobox:Tiger]] to handle language differences. Alternatively there'd be only [[Infobox:Tiger]] that has language-qualified string properties, e.g, Title^en contains english title for the page vs Title^de that contains the German title, with the #ask pulling the correct one given the wiki's language eg |?Title^{{CONTENTLANG}}

For links, use the same magic word eg

|genus={{CONTENTLANG}}:Panthera

To be a bit fancier:

|genus={{#ifexist:{{CONTENTLANG}}:Panthera|{{CONTENTLANG}}:Panthera|en:Panthera}}

Now, the above is a traditional non-topicmap treatment without provenance. Let's add provenance first:

|genus={{Dublin Core|value=Panthera|creator={{USERNAME}}|date={{TODAY}}|language=}}

Now lets add the topicmap orientation

|genus={{Topic|name=Panthera|creator={{USERNAME}}|date={{TODAY}}|language=}}

So there's certainly alternatives to look at. The basic theme though is NOT to create a specialized "factbox editor" but rather is to use Semantic Forms to capture the values of template args - values that can be links, text, or template calls. And you're right, Gregor, the primary way to access wikidata's triples for purposes of regular template programming is to logon to wikidata. imho, that establishes wikidata as a black-box, with no additional mechanisms/extensions loaded onto any 'transcluding' wikipedia, which I think is the ideal posture for integrating wikidata resources into the wikipedias.

re: the whitepaper. Sure I'd be happy to put together a real "demo". But as a strugglin' contractor doing opensource dev since 1998, it'd be nice if.....

Gotta run - john

On 14.06.2012 09:29, Gregor Hagedorn wrote:

        Gregor, I'm a bit confused -- are you talking about the transclusion design approach in this statement?

    Yes, in the sense that it demands to be the only access to wiki data
    content in a Wikipedia.

        because, if so, I'd think there'd be a number of infobox "styles" that can be selected by an author on the wikidata platform when 'building' the infobox page. The author can transclude any number/any specific infobox(es) on their wikipedia page, eg {{wikidata:en:Infobox:Some topic/some custom imfobox}}

    As I say, I look forward to see an infobox builder being developed,
    but this is a serious challenge.

    See, e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger and take a look at the
    hierarchical arrangement of properties, formatting of them, linking of
    them (Headings link to concept explanations on the same-language
    Wikipedia, with the link being different than the display text, "Early
    Pleistocene – Recent" may be a time range, but the value is "Early
    Pleistocene" and the link is "Pleistocene"; similarly each taxonomic
    author - here only ony present, Linnaeus - should link on en.wikipedia
    to en.wikipedia and de.wikipedia to de.wikipedia), expressing some
    information with graphics, see Endangered (IUCN 3.1)[1], properties or
    property values containing footnotes, the fact that a subspecies is
    extinct being abbreviated with a symbol (†P. t. virgata) etc. Note
    that the latter case is actually a nesting: it is a list of
    subspecies, with each subspecies having multiple properties like
    Scientific Name, Wikipedia Page name, extinction status - I am not
    sure Wikidata plans to model such data in Phase 2 already.

    My bottomline: Keep the wikidata project manageable and doable with
    the available resources. Offer a method for Wikipedians to pick up
    Wikidata content within the existing template infrastrukture.

    But, desirable: ask a white paper which additional work would be
    required to create centralized, plain vanilla infobox rendering as
    well.

    Would you be willing to create such a whitepaper? How much of the
    above-shown Tiger example can be created centrally with a limited set
    of facilities? How feature rich must the customization become?

    Or are you proposing to simply use the existing template programming
    with the only the difference that wikidata is the only mediawiki where
    the properties can be accessed within templates? Much of my argument
    assumes that you are looking for a non-template based infobox
    renderer, I may be wrong there.

    Gregor

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