Semantic MediaWiki and Wikidata

Table of Contents

About Wikidata

The goal of Wikidata is to create a common data repository (something similar to Wikimedia Commons) where data can be shared among other Wikimedia projects and by/with third parties.

Differences between SMW and Wikidata

Figure 1:

Figure 2:

The main use case of Wikidata (a centralised, multi-lingual site that serves as a data repository) is different from that of SMW (a data-enhanced MediaWiki), and this leads to a number of differences.

Central to a wikidata statement is that its factual claim is supported by reference(s) (source of the claim). For example, when SMW makes a claim about the population of Berlin it would only be annotated with Berlin has a population of 3,5 Mio (see Figure 1) where Wikidata would make an extended statement describing it as Berlin's population being 3,5 Mio as of 2011 according to the German statistical office (see Figure 2).

As of Semantic MediaWiki 2.5.0Released on 14 March 2017 and compatible with MW 1.23.0 - 1.29.x. there is a datatype "Reference"Holds a value that associates it to individual defined provenance metadata record that allows to record individual defined provenance metadata.

In summary

• Every fact will also have an (optional) reference
• Wikidata will also use more complex datatypes (e.g., since many text values can be translated).
• Both Wikidata and SMW are still mostly based on property-value assignments, and Wikidata will have a Property namespace.
• Complex structures in Wikidata could be captured in SMW using subobjects

Common denominators of SMW and Wikidata

Integration between SMW and Wikidata

For a first example, see Service links and the page for Vienna with the Property:Wikidata ID. It demonstrates, how Service links or External identifiers can be used to link values of a SMW property to Wikidata IDs.

Technical background

The software underlying Wikidata is called Wikibase. It consists of two extensions: Repository (where data is stored; this will run at wikidata.org) and Client (that pulls data into other MediaWiki sites; this will run at wikipedia.org). Both extensions will be installable on MediaWiki sites to get Wikidata-like features there.

The user interface of Wikibase Repository will be based on input forms, a bit like a full-page, editable Factbox, but much more advanced, with a lot of support for entering values.

Ideas for a integration of SMW and Wikibase/Wikidata

• Semantic Wikibase
• Push data from SMW to a Wikibase instance (as it would be done wich any other triple store)
• Push data from SMW to Wikidata.
• Import ontolgies from Wikidata to SMW instances
• Consuming data from Wikidata in your SMW instance. There are several approaches:
  • get the data via SPARQL using the extension Linked Wiki
  • get the data via JSON using the extension External Data
  • get the data via JSON and accessing data based on the property Wikidata ID using the extension WikidataShow

See also

Some thoughts about Semantic MediaWiki and Wikidata Semantic MediaWiki working together with Wikibase on the same instance? To implement a new easy-to-use semantic MediaWiki-based internal knowledgebase, should I implement Wikibase or Semantic Mediawiki? Why?

Wikidata project page Data model Announcement about Wikidata to Bring Semantic Data to Wikipedia Notes on SMW and Wikidata People involved

Talks and presentations

A total of 20 contributions were made to concerning Semantic MediaWiki and Wikidata:

Contribution	Description	Speaker	Keywords	Type
Natural Language Queries to Wikidata: A Naïve Prototype	In this lightning talk, we'll delve into a prototype I've been tinkering with, which is all about enabling more intuitive interactions with Wikidata through natural language queries.	Robert Timm	wikidata, llm, rag, prototype	Lightning talk
Linked Data with SMW	The next SMW release will include schema.org and other vocabularies ready for re-use. The tutorial will cover aspects of linking to external data sources, re-using external vocabularies, and providing identifiers to be used to link to your own wiki.	Bernhard Krabina	import vocabulary, linked data, wikidata, datatype external identifier	Tutorial, In session
Wikidata Synchronization for the CEUR-WS publishing platform use case	Data synchronization between Wikidata and SMW on the CEUR-WS use case.	Tim Holzheim	wikidata	Lightning talk, Tutorial, In session
Linked Data with SMW (Tutorial)	How to use external vocabularies (e. g. FOAF) and reference to external idenifiers (e. g. Wikidata ID) with SMW.	Bernhard Krabina	Wikidata, semantc web, linked data	Tutorial
Wikidata Walkabout: a drill-down interface for Wikidata		Yaron Koren	Wikidata	Talk
What's new in the world of Wikibase and where is it going?	An overview of what's new around Wikibase and the plans we have for the Wikibase Ecosystem.	Lydia Pintscher, Jens Ohlig	wikibase, wikidata	Talk
Four years of Wikidata - where we are, what we learned and what's coming next	This presentation will provide an insight into the past four years of Wikidata and the upcoming future.	Lydia Pintscher	wikidata, wikibase extension, content management	Presentation
From graphs to tables	The case for storing semantic data in tables instead of, or in addition to, graphs - for SMW/Cargo, Wikidata, and beyond	Yaron Koren	Cargo, Wikidata, templates	Talk
Semantic MediaWiki for Assessment in Education		Lloyd Rutledge	wikidata, wikibase extension, content management	Talk
Wikibase, the Software behind Wikidata	Last year, Wikidata, the project that brings structured data to Wikipedia, was presented at SMWCon. This talk is all about Wikibase, the software behind Wikidata.	Jeroen De Dauw	Wikidata, Wikibase	Talk
SMW between OpenData, OpenGLAM, Linked Data and the Semantic Web	Overview of the Semantic MediaWiki ecosystem, it's todays relevance in relation to OpenData, WikiData, OpenGLAM and the Semantic Web.	Bernhard Krabina	open data, wikidata, dbpedia, glam, Semantic Web	Talk
Hands-on session 3. Wikidata programming	A tutorial showing you how to use Wikidata to enrich data in your wiki	Daniel Kinzler, Tobias Gritschacher	MediaWiki, Wikidata, API	Tutorial
Using the Wikidata API	An introduction to the Wikidata API	Daniel Kinzler, Tobias Gritschacher	MediaWiki, Wikidata, API	Tutorial
Breaking News Detection with Wikidata and Wikipedia	This talk informs about the work of incorporating Wikidata in "Wikipedia Live Monitor" tool.	Thomas Steiner	breaking news detection, wikidata, wikipedia	Talk
BlueForge Feature Matrix: WikiData - An experience report	This talk covers the experience made with Wikidata by "Hallo Welt! Medienwerkstatt GmbH". It's about why we chose it and what were the difficulties we had to deal with.	Markus Glaser, Robert Vogel	Wikidata, BlueForge, API	Talk, Technical talk
State of Wikidata	A quick look at what Wikidata has achieved so far and where it is going	Lydia Pintscher	Wikidata	Talk
Wikidata	Wikidata: Semantic Wikipedia	Denny Vrandečić	Wikidata	Keynote
Linked open data curation and visualization with SemanticWikibase	We provide an extended version of SemanticWikibase, that connects Wikibase with Semantic Mediawiki. Compatible with actual Mediawiki LTS version, extended functionality and tools for easy installation.	Kolja Bailly	GLAM, Wikibase, wikidata, Semantic Mediawiki, Semantic Wikibase, knowledge base, frontend, Wiki, Linked Open Data (LOD)	Lightning talk
Improving Wikidata some more	Thoughts on improving Wikidata's (and, more generally, Wikibase's) user interface.	Yaron Koren	Wikidata, wikibase	Talk
Wikibase4Research: A toolbox for Wikibase Users and Developers	Wikibase4Reserach is a fast and easy customizable docker pipeline to setup knowledge systems like Mediawiki, SemanticMediawiki, Wikibase or SemanticWikibase within minutes.	Kolja Bailly, Lukas Günther	Linked Open Data (LOD), MediaWiki, Semantic Mediawiki, Semantic Wikibase, Wikibase, content management, installation, knowledge base, wikidata, extension management, CI/CD	Tutorial