2023:Program/Submissions/Wikispecies and Wikidata: Where next? - VK87CE

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Title: Wikispecies and Wikidata: Where next?

Speakers:

Andy Mabbett

Contributor since 2013, as User:Pigsonthewing. Wikispecies admin, regular volunteer on en.Wikipedia, Wikidata and Commons. Wikimedian in Residence at multiple institutions. Image: Lionel Allorge. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimania_2014_-_102_CROP.jpg

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Start time:

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Type: Roundtable / open discussion

Track: Research, Science, and Medicine

Submission state: submitted

Duration: 90 minutes

Do not record: false

Presentation language: en

Abstract & description

Abstract

A follow-up to the Wikimania 2017 session, "Wikispecies and Wikidata - a match made in heaven, or hell?"

What have we learned, and done, since 2017? What remans to be done?

Description

Since the 2017 session [1], Wikispecies makes more and better use of Wikidata, especially in the biographies of taxonomists. More of Wikispecies' bibliographic metadata has been drawn into Wikidata. But a lo of data is still storred twice, and more could be done to keep things synchronised. The taxon data itself is still not well-linked, and sometimes uses different interpretations of taxonomy (with further differences in various Wikipedias, and Wikimedia Commons).

External sites which require data on taxonomic subjects tend to draw it from Wikidata, not Wikispecies

Does any of this this matter? If so, what can be done? How can we foster better and more productive relationships between these projects, and their communities of volunteers? How can we reduce the workload for volunteers, and provide better services to those who consume them, by making more intelligent use of the tools which link projects?

[1] https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions/Wikispecies_and_Wikidata_-_a_match_made_in_heaven,_or_hell%3F - the session asked "On the face of it, Wikispecies can easily be populated with data from Wikidata. But there is much resistance to this within the Wikispecies community. Do they have a point? Are Wikidata's interface and/ or community norms off-putting to the taxonomists who make up a significant proportion of Wikispecies editors? How can their needs be accommodated? Do we need to store data more than once?"

Further details

Qn. How does your session relate to the event themes: Diversity, Collaboration Future?

This is particularly about collaboration between projects, and the future of those projects, and making their content available to all, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, technical ability or other privilege.

Qn. What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?

Average knowledge about Wikimedia projects or activities

Qn. What is the most appropriate format for this session?

• Onsite in Singapore
• Remote online participation, livestreamed
• Remote from a satellite event
• Hybrid with some participants in Singapore and others dialing in remotely
• Pre-recorded and available on demand