Integrate Wikidata

[tfmorris]

There's a ton of stuff that we could be leveraging Wikidata for in addition to just linking author records to Wikidata.

• Add Wikidata IDs to works (and add OL work IDs to Wikidata)
  • Addressed in Add UI for adding work IDs #3430
• Import book series from Wikidata like A Song of Fire and Ice
• Import from Wikidata awards like NPR Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books (Q20899118)
• Import more photos, information about awards received, links to interesting places (Wikipedia in N languages)
• Import places associated with authors, works, etc to offer interesting OL stuff about places

Etc, etc. Basically use Wikidata to bling it up without having to spend a lot of time/effort.

[nichtich]

First step would be to link corresponding Wikidata ID to works, editions, authors and subjects. Links can be added in Wikidata with two Wikidata properties:

• https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P648
• https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P3847

To avoid synchronization headache it may make more sense to keep Wikidata as master for these links and harvest them regularly (plus live via SPARQL or MediaWiki API). Nevertheless OL should provide an editing interface to these links but directly edit in Wikidata via OAuth.

[LeadSongDog]

Second step could be to flesh out identifier lists and classification lists in the OL edition records using harvests from wikidata. This opens the door to finding other (non-IA) online-access copies.

[xayhewalo]

I think the steps are our good start but should be more granularly delineated. @hornc Your insight would be valuable in this thread.

[tfmorris]

@nichtich I'm surprised Open Library subject got approved as a Wikidata property. I recommend we discourage it's use since OL Subjects are a mess and going to change when we get around to either normalizing them or internationalizing them (or both). It has less than 600 uses now versus ~207,000 for the Open Library ID property.

@guyjeangilles I won't object if you want to break this into 5+ tickets, but that task could also be left until someone's ready to work on it in the spirit of Agile's just in time planning.

One thing I left off the original list was harvesting author birth & death dates, profession, AKAs, etc to help with disambiguation and photos for authors who don't have them.

[xayhewalo]

@tfmorris I'm not apposed to adopting Agile planning in the future, but considering our habit of leaving issues unattended for years, I'm assigning @hornc for the time being per slack discussion.

[RayBB]

Adding wikidata ids to works is blocked by #1797

[RayBB]

The first steps are awaiting review in #8236
I also have this handy wiki page with some idea and I've added yours there.

[tfmorris]

The first steps are awaiting review in #8236

So apparently that got closed and replaced by #9130 without linking it to this issue so that people could comment.

I also have this handy wiki page with some idea and I've added yours there.

Why use a wiki page instead of a series of sub-issues linked to this master issue (ie epic) so that they can be commented on? There's also apparently another secret version hiding here - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-xAija9Pfhtwc-wCAgERHBx6GvFv40Hb-nfHd9f6SPc/edit

[mekarpeles]

@tfmorris just wanted to comment in that I don't think anyone is trying to make things secret or hidden and I don't imagine the phrasing makes folks feel particularly good / valued -- I observe people being generous with their time and working hard to be on the same team, contribute meaningfully to the project, and move things forward. We're a small community, there's a lot to do, and it can be hard to do everything to everyone's satisfaction. As a result, I think constructive criticism is pretty essential.

I value your passion and commitment to the community and appreciate that you invest the time and energy to voice your opinion. And at the same time, as per our code of conduct, I humbly and kindly request we try to make an effort to keep our critiques constructive and our language welcoming. It's more important that we feel comfortable and good about contributing as a team than getting everything right and I think we're more likely to respond well to criticism when it's delivered out of genuine care. Thanks for caring :)

[tfmorris]

@mekarpeles Just stumbled across this as I was revisiting needs to be done with Wikidata. Thank you for the reminder -- and thank you also for recognizing how generous we all are with our time.

I would humbly and constructively suggest that Github issues remain the focus, as they historically has been, rather than diverting to wikis, Google Docs, or other less accessible channels, and that new issues / PRs link to the relevant issues that they complement / address. You didn't comment on the main thrust of my suggestion in the previous reply, so I'm unsure as to whether this is something that you support or disagree with.

Thank you for recognizing that I continue to care despite having contributed for decades with zero thanks -- and Happy New Year!

[tfmorris]

Analytics review for Wikidata engagement in #10294