Tuesday, April 01, 2014

Arguments about #Wikidata quality

A lot of jaw movements have been involved about the Wikidata quality. However, the jaw movements that are really relevant involve pudding.

You can create a fine looking pudding, sprinkles on top, but it is all about how it tastes. It is all about how well it is actually made. The nicest thing that can be said about Wikidata quality is that it is improving. Everybody involved knows how much room in any direction there is for improvement.

When actual use is the proof of the pudding, we should concentrate on actual use cases. The "Authority control" template for instance gets additional information from Wikidata. For this to function correctly, a Wikidata item has to exist. It has to have one or more links to external sources like VIAF or the GND.

Recently attention was given on Facebook to a tool that shows coats of arms on a map. For this to function, a Wikidata has to exist that has statements for the geocoordinate and for the image of the coat of arms. It looks good but it would be cool when new items pop up when they become available.

When Autolist is able to show the people who died in 2013, it is wonderful that it can also show for whom we do not know a date of death in Wikidata. This allows anyone to improve on the available data and add dates of death.

When people add to the network of data that is Wikidata, they are cooking the pudding. They are improving the quality. Everything else is academic, a distraction ... jaw movements.
Thanks,
       GerardM

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