Wikibase-resources

<< Back to workshops and courses index >> To the Github repo of this page

Wikibase resources

A collection of resources, overviews, links and knowlegde related to Wikibase, collected and curated by KB, national library of the Netherlands.

This page was originally extracted from the slides of the lecture Introduction Wikibase, the basics, for employeees of KB, national library of the Netherlands on 7 September 2023. This (rather long) slidedeck is available on Wikimedia Commons and Zenodo.

This overview is heavily inspired by the Wikibase knowledge graphs, A collection of open source tools and resources related to Wikibase knowledge graphs by Renat Shigapov. I’ve used his centralized overview many times to improve my understanding of the Wikibase universe, and hope to extend it via the overview below, and help others in a similar way.


Motivation

I created this page for several reasons:

Contributing to this page

This page is maintained by Olaf Janssen, Wikimedia coordinator of KB. See his Wikidata user page and expert page on kb.nl for contact details.

I plan to improve & expand the overview in the future. If you would like to contribute, please let me know.

Reuse and licensing

This overview can be reused freely and openly, it is available under the CC-BY 4.0 license, so attribution is required. Use something like

Wikibase resources, Olaf Janssen & KB national library of the Netherlands, https://github.com/KBNLwikimedia/Wikibase-resources

Latest updates

Latest update: Version 0.3, 6 December 2023 (added Wikibase projects for medieval manuscripts)


Contents

Table of contents generated with markdown-toc


Recap Wikidata

This section ia a summary of the lecture Introduction to Wikidata (Zenodo) (in Dutch)

Institutional use cases incompatible with Wikidata

What is Wikibase?

  1. The open-source, free software that powers Wikidata - “Wikibase is essentially a blank copy of Wikidata into which you can put your own structured data” (source),
  2. Allowing you to build & manage your own LOD knowledge base,
  3. Without the disadvantages of Wikidata,
    • You can create your own data models, as domain-specific/specialist/esoteric as you want/need.
    • Large data sets are no problem
    • Custom rights management (control over who is allowed to contribute)
    • Wikibase instances can be non-public
    • You can host your own instance
  4. With all the benefits of Wikidata
    • Focused on collaboration and connection (including Wikidata community)
    • For people and machines
    • User-friendly GUI for structured data
    • Native multilingualism support
    • Version history and control, rollbacks
    • Clear ontology: Items, Properties, Statements etc.
    • Output in various data formats (including JSON, RDF/XML, N3)
    • Search via SPARQL
    • Well suported and documented MediaWiki API
    • Support for tools (including OpenRefine)
    • Documentation for Wikidata is in general applicable to Wikibase as well

Wikibase courses and tutorials

See also Awesome Wikibase tutorials collected by Renat Shigapov.


Examples of institutions/projects using Wikibase


Wikibase projects in libraries

Wikibase is being evaluated by libraries as a tool to help them store and manage their structured data, as well as connect to the world of linked open data.

Wikibase projects for other GLAMs

Wikibase projects for medieval manuscripts

This section is extracted from the presentation Introduction to Wikibase for medieval manuscripts dd 6 December 2023. See the sections about Digital Scriptorium and Biblissima.

Digital Scriptorium

Biblissima


Wikibase components & architecture

Diefenbach et al. (2021), Wikibase as an Infrastructure for Knowledge Graphs: the EU Knowledge Graph, see “3.1 Wikibase infrastructure”


Wikibase data model

Using alternative vocabularies in Wikibase


Wikibase hosting


Requesting data from a Wikibase

1) HTML content in web browser

Theun de Vries in KB sandbox Wikibase GUI, 4 equivalent URLs

2) Non-HTML content in web browser

3) MediaWiki Action API

4) SPARQL


Cool Wikibase SPARQL queries


Adding data to a Wikibase

Useful links:

1) Add a new item via the GUI

Using KB’s sandbox WB (login required) we can create a NewItem, resulting into an item about the Dutch poet H.H. ter Balkt

2) OpenRefine (in bulk)

3) QuickStatements (in bulk)

4) Advanced data import tools


Wikibase community

1) Wikibase Community User Group (WBCUG)

Its mission is to cultivate Wikibase’s development and to encourage like-minded developers and data analysts not only to improve Wikibase’s existing tools but also to create new ones.

About the WBCUG - WBCUG history - WBCUG members - WBCUG monthly online meetings - The Wikibase Live sessions - WBCUG Mailing list (archives) - WBCUG Telegram (or here)

2) Wikibase Stakeholder Group (WBSG)

Commissions production and maintenance of open source extensions to Wikibase, and documentation for institutions that want to operate and maintain a fully-fledged instance of Wikibase. The group will focus on extensions to Wikibase instead of contributing to Wikibase core.

About the WBSG - WBSG members - WBSG meeting calender - WBSG monthly online meeting minutes - WBSG Loomio - WBSG Mastodon - WBSG Twitter

3) Wikibase Knowlegde Group Netherlands (WBGNL)

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 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.

About the WBGNL - WBGNL meetings (also available here) - WBGNL mailing list - WBGNL Loomio

4) Wikibase community workshops, trainings, meetups etc. (archive)


Staying updated


Finding help

Active help (by humans)

Passive help (documentation, manuals, HOWTOs, tutorials etc.)

More help