Wikidata:WikiProject LD4 Wikidata Affinity Group/Affinity Group Calls/Meeting Notes/2021-01-26
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Call details[edit]
- Date: 2021-01-26
- Topic: Wikibase, the Integrated Authority File (GND) project at German National Library, and the WikiLibrary Manifesto
- Presenters: Georgina Burnett (Wikimedia Deutschland), Barbara Fischer (DNB)
Presentation materials[edit]
Notes[edit]
Wikibase - Georgina Burnett (Wikimedia Deutschland)[edit]
Presentation notes[edit]
- Wikibase from a Wikidata perspective:
- Software underlying Wikidata
- Developed considering needs of Wikidata community in mind
- Lots of functionalities appreciated in Wikidata carry over to Wikibase instances
- More recently, this has changed--Wikibase has become a product in its own right, with dedicated staff developing it
- Benefits, largely overlapping with Wikidata:
- rich UI
- allows data models specific to institutional needs
- SPARQL query service
- Data can be exported in a number of formats
- When might I look to Wikibase?
- Need for multilingual access
- (vs Wikidata) if data collection is beyond the scope of Wikidata, either in size or degree of specialisation
- Vision: linking Wikibase instances together
- Current ecosystem at a glance: see pie chart in slides
- Lots of GLAM institutions
- Resources from the presentation
Questions/discussions[edit]
- interesting that such a large portion of WB instances are GLAM, since GLAM = only 25-30% of wikipedia articles!
- interested in more info about the scope of wikidata - if specialised/granular info is stored in sep wikibase instances, can that metadata be integrated into a global search?
- Georgina will get back to group on:
- Pie chart N
- Feasibility of federation, given highly specialised nature of many Wikibase instances
- there are still/currently challenges populating wikibase instances with properties - what is the current status of efforts to make it easier to copy wikidata properties over to a wikibase instance? are there tools being developed?
- Yes. Also see: 2020 wikibase roadmap
- For technical questions, contact Georgina (georgina.burnett AT wikimedia.de). She will find answers and get back to you!
GND project at the German National Library (DNB) - Barbara Fischer (DNB)[edit]
Presentation notes[edit]
- GND (integrated authority files) - 300 properties and their qualifiers
- objectives/exploring/questions:
- how to enable synchronization, between primary/main copy in CBS and the wikibase instance
- how to empower users - make it easier for them to add new items/datasets to GND
- observations so far - notes for improvement:
- tech/infra: still too complex for new adopters to get WB instance installed via Docker,
- WB is not yet a complete software architecture -- bc it was developed from mediawiki to serve needs of wikidata, this is still a limitation. need a more modern, internally-consistent architecture
- functionality: gaps bt the specific needs of institutions, and the solutions from WB so far:
- bulk import - DNB is trying to import 9 million items, and also the properties
- export - needs to meet specific needs of institution
- very aware of: being so dependent on WB development, and the direction/decisions of its core functions, but without a real say in this process/priorities
- these organizations who are using WB lack the IT personnel/expertise to use/support this software -- so feels like they are relying on a very small pool of “experts”/contracting from the same small group of folks!
- as clients/institutions still have a diff mindset from some of the smaller groups that are WB users. hard to fit in to that system, and causes org to wonder if we can be quick enough to keep up with the community?
- WikiLibrary Manifesto
- 2 parts bc they wanted to make a commitment to implementing specific actions/not just high-level ideas https://www.wikimedia.de/the-wikilibrary-manifesto/
- 2 parts:
- principles
- measures
Questions/discussions[edit]
- will bibframe ontology play a part in your transition to RDA ontology as well?
- No, at least in the beginning stages.
- is the mapping that DNB has created shareable?
- yes! and it will be shared. covid has delayed the work
- is the new UI for editor an implementation of ShEx?
- Will be designed to be as interactive as possible (lots of questions given to user to help mould/define the item), so that people who have little context for current rules can still use it
- As things stand now--there’s a lot of PDF reading involved to describe items
- (vs Wikidata) Wikidata tries to make items as rich as possible--lots of context. With authority files, the focus is more on getting enough information to clearly distinguish different entities.
- at the most recent SWIB conference - Bernhard Krabina argued for Semantic Wikimedia as a better fit for many library use cases than wikibase - has GND discussed this?
- yes, we are monitoring this discussion, but focused on WB for now
- IT infra and small pool of staffing available for these kinds of projects - what kind of paths are there?
- there are already many people with expertise in wikidata and associated skills/tools - SPARQL queries, and the tools available to wikidata - there is a large volunteer community around this, and many contractors available. But when seeking staffing for WB project specifically, very few applicants! have also heard similar stories from other orgs trying to implement WB.
- WMDE has set up a page to document contractors with WB expertise -- currently so few people; it feels like an exclusive club!
- does the lack of staffing/expertise lead more orgs to just try things on their own, and so potentially = greater inconsistency, lack of shared standards/processes?
- Lots of bootstrapping with whatever existing technical knowledge, by independent orgs putting together their own WB instances.
- As part of effort to lower barriers to entry, WMDE recently brought on technical writer (Dan Shick; presented during November 2020 LD4 call on community documentation)