Wikidata

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Wikidata is a collaboratively edited knowledge base hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. It is designed to provide a common source of data that can be used by Wikipedia, Wikivoyage, Wiktionary, and other Wikimedia projects. The data on Wikidata is structured to be easily read and edited by both humans and machines.

History

Wikidata was launched on October 29, 2012, and was the first new project of the Wikimedia Foundation since the launch of Wikiversity in 2006. The initial development of Wikidata was funded by donations from entities such as the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and Google Inc..

Structure

Wikidata is structured around items, each identified by a unique identifier prefixed with a "Q" (e.g., Q42 for Douglas Adams). Each item can have multiple statements, which consist of a property and a value. Properties are also uniquely identified by a "P" prefix (e.g., P31 for "instance of").

Items

Items are the central concept in Wikidata. Each item represents a topic, concept, or object and is described by a set of statements. Items can be linked to each other, creating a rich web of interconnected data.

Properties

Properties describe the data that can be associated with items. Each property has a specific datatype, such as a string, number, or another item. Properties are used to create statements that describe the attributes of an item.

Statements

Statements are the basic building blocks of Wikidata. They consist of a property and a value, and they can also include qualifiers to provide additional context. For example, the statement "Douglas Adams (Q42) - instance of (P31) - human (Q5)" describes that Douglas Adams is a human.

References

References are used to provide sources for statements, ensuring the data's reliability. Each statement can have one or more references, which can include links to external databases, publications, or other verifiable sources.

Usage

Wikidata is used by various Wikimedia projects to centralize and standardize data. For example, infoboxes on Wikipedia can pull data directly from Wikidata, ensuring consistency across different language versions. Additionally, Wikidata's structured data format makes it a valuable resource for researchers and developers working on semantic web and linked data projects.

Community

Wikidata is maintained by a community of volunteers who contribute to the project by adding and editing data. The community follows guidelines and policies to ensure the quality and reliability of the data. Discussions and decisions are often made on the project's Project chat page.

See also

• Wikipedia
• Wikimedia Commons
• Wikivoyage
• Wiktionary
• Semantic web
• Linked data