Our Wikibase activities

Wikibase courses

6 December 2023 - Introduction about Wikibase in relation to medieval manuscripts. See also the textual summary on Github.
7 November 2023 - Setting up your own Wikibase reconciliation service (e.g. for OpenRefine) - How to install a reconciliation service for your own Wikibase instance, how to connect it to OpenRefine and what settings in the Wikibase itself need to be checked to allow data from OpenRefine to be written to the Wikibase.
7 September 2023 - Introduction to Wikibase (in Dutch) to make newcomers more familiar (and somewhat self-reliant) with the (sometimes confusing) world of Wikibase. Also see the textual summary on Github.

Overview of Wikibase resources (Github)

On 13 september 2023 we launched a collection of resources, overviews, links and knowlegde related to Wikibase on Github.

This overview was originally extracted as a textual summary of the (rather long and visual) slide deck of the lecture Introduction to Wikibase, the basics of 7 September 2023 (see above). Further reasons for creating this overview were:

From experience we know that it can be very time-consuming to discover and understand all the different aspects of the Wikibase universe, and to find your way around this rather confusing ecosystem, especially for newcomers. We hope that this centralized knowledge hub can help others making this journey a bit easier/faster.
KB has been able to acquire most of its Wikibase knowledge because of the openness and generosity of the international Wikibase community, and their strong willingness to make free knowledge findable, visible, and reusable. It is nothing more than 'good reciprocal decency' to give this centralized and summarized knowledge back to the community.
As a place to record interesting Wikibase stuff, not only for internal KB purposes, but also publically, for others to profit from.

On 6 December 2023 we updated this overview with section about medieval manuscripts, extracted from the presentation Introduction to Wikibase for medieval manuscripts (see above).

Wikibase.cloud

Wikibase.cloud is a cloud-based platform by Wikimedia Deutschland providing free, full-fledged and fully managed Wikibase instances.

KB Wikibase.cloud sandbox instance

Using this service, the KB created a a Wikibase sandbox for playing, experimenting, learning about the functionalities, possibilities and limitations etc. of Wikibase, and knowledge sharing activities resulting from these learnings. It is maintained by Olaf Janssen, the Wikimedia coordinator of the KB, mainly as a tool for experimentation, learning, skill-building, knowledge sharing and consultancy about Wikibase, both towards KB staff, (inter)national Wiki(base) communities, GLAMs, KB network partners, as well as other 3rd parties. It does not contain any offical data(sets) of the KB, and the data can be changed/deleted at any time.

KB Wikibase.cloud unboxing experience

In June-July 2002 the we created and configured our sandbox instance on Wikibase.cloud. Many of the steps we needed to take in the setup process were as to be expected when working with fresh MediaWiki instances in general, and Wikidata in particular. However, some steps were not immediately logical, manifest, clearly documented or simply beyond our (then) knowledge and experience.

We created a presentation and a text transcript in which we share experiences and first impressions of unboxing, setting up, configuring and tweaking our Wikibase.cloud sandbox instance. We also present solutions for most of the issues we encountered.

Dutch Wikibase knowledge group

Early 2022 the KB noticed an increasing interest in Wikibase within Dutch heritage and knowledge institutions (and related organizations), so in February we took the initiative to set up a Dutch Wikibase knowledge group.

Aim

The aim of this group is to bundle and exchange knowledge & experiences about the use of Wikibase, to learn from each other, and to keep each other informed about the (international) developments and opportunities surrounding Wikibase.

Membership

Membership is open to everyone in the Netherlands who already works with Wikibase, wants to work with, or is otherwise interested in this software. Mainly for - but certainly not limited to - professionals from Dutch heritage and knowledge institutions, and related organizations and companies. Current members represent the following institutions: KB, national library of the Netherlands - Kunstmuseum The Hague - Treasor - Wageningen University - Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken - Wikimedia Netherlands - OpenRefine - Micelio - IP Squared - Digitaalwerktuig.nl - Dutch Digital Heritage Network (NDE) - Naturalis Biodiversity Center - African Studies Centre Leiden - Dutch Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE)

Members bring and gain a diversity of knowledge, experience and resources: some are forerunners already doing advanced things with Wikibase, while others have only just started their journeys of discoveries. Some join the meetings just to listen, others share information actively. Some are mainly interested in the technical aspects of Wikibase, others in the organizational ones. Every member can participate from his/her own interests, needs and strengths.

Interested in joining? Or do you know somebody who might be interested? Please contact the Wikimedia coordinator of the KB, Olaf Janssen.

Communication channels

To learn more: contact the Wikimedia coordinator of the KB, Olaf Janssen.
Mailingslist: wikibase-nl@lists.wmnederland.nl
Collaboration environment (Loomio): https://loomio.rhizome.org/wbgn/ (login required)

Meetings

The group meets quarterly. The main goals are networking, knowledge sharing and keeping each other informed of developments and opportunities of Wikibase for GLAMs and knowledge institutions. At the start of each meeting, there is a short update on (inter)national Wikibase developments during the previous quarter. In addition, there are presentations in which institutions explain their Wikibase projects in more detail and share tips & tricks on how to use Wikibase and related tools (such as OpenRefine) to enrich and publish collections and data.

Meeting agendas and reports are available via the website of the Wikibase Stakeholder Group: https://wbstakeholder.group/events/presentations#netherlands-wikibase-knowledge-group (or see below).

2023

For 2023, the group has planned four (quarterly) meetings.

5th meeting, 15 March 2023

Overview of recent Wikibase developments, period December 2022 - March 2023
Pres by LR en DE - WBSG
Pres by VW en EZ - WMDE
Report & agenda (in Dutch)

15 March 2023 - Overview of recent Wikibase developments, period December 2022 - March 2023

2022

4th meeting, 23 November 2022

Overview of recent Wikibase developments, period July-November 2022
Setting up your own Wikibase reconciliation service (e.g. for OpenRefine).
Review of Beyond Notability - Presentation slides
Update Wikibase Luxemburg (LUDAP)
Report & agenda (in Dutch)

23 November 2022 - Overview of recent Wikibase developments, period July-November 2022
23 November 2022 - Setting up your own Wikibase reconciliation service (e.g. for OpenRefine) - How to install a reconciliation service for your own Wikibase and use it in OpenRefine

3rd meeting, 22 July 2022

Overview of recent Wikibase developments, period May-June-July 2022
KB Wikibase.cloud unboxing experience. Experiences and first impressions of the KB with unboxing, setting up, configuring and tweaking their Wikibase.cloud sandbox instance
OpenRefine and Wikibase: Status and plans 2022
Report & agenda (in Dutch)

22 July 2022 - Overview of some recent Wikibase developments, period May-June-July 2022, per 22 July 2022.
22 July 2022 - Experiences and first impressions of the KB with unboxing, setting up, configuring and tweaking their Wikibase.cloud test instance.

2nd meeting, 18 May 2022

Overview of recent Wikibase developments, period March-April-May 2022
Wikibase at the Kunstmuseum Den Haag / delftsaardewerk.nl
Introduction to the LUDAP project in Luxemburg
Report & agenda (in Dutch)

18 May 2022 - Overview of some recent Wikibase developments, period March-April-May 2022, per 18 May 2022.

Kick-off meeting, 11 March 2022

Global overview of the Wikibase landscape and ecosystem, per March 2022.
Report & agenda (in Dutch).

11 March 2022 - Global overview of the Wikibase landscape and ecosystem, per March 2022.

Wikibase Stakeholder Group

In March 2022 Olaf Janssen, the Wikimedia coordinator of KB, became a member of the Wikibase Stakeholder Group (WBSG).

This international group actively lobbies to embed institutional requirements of GLAMs and knowledge institutions (such as the KB) into Wikibase development roadmap. It works to produce and maintain open source Wikibase extensions and documentation for organizations that want to deploy and maintain full-fledged Wikibase instance(s), such as the KB. Membership is open to organizations using Wikibase, open source projects that produce tools that interact with Wikibase, Wikibase service providers, consultancy companies, software developers and other individuals. See the

Wikidata:GLAM/Koninklijke Bibliotheek Nederland/WikibaseActivities

Our Wikibase activities

Contents

Wikibase courses

Overview of Wikibase resources (Github)