Creating and maintaining a data model for Wikibases
| MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference Fall 2025 | |
|---|---|
| Creating and maintaining a data model for Wikibases | |
| Talk details | |
| Description: | This talk will be about developing, uploading and maintaining a data model for research data in Wikibases. |
| Speaker(s): | Lucia Sohmen |
| Type: | Talk |
| Audience: | Developers, Academics, Admins |
| Event start: | 2025/10/29 11:40:00 |
| Event finish: | 2025/10/29 12:00:00 |
| Length: | 20 minutes |
| Video: | click here |
| Keywords: | data modelling, linked data, wikibase |
| Give feedback | |
When using Wikibase for research data, it is generally a good idea to maintain a formal data model. This way, all researchers can agree on the same classes and properties to describe their data. There are a few advantages to storing and developing the data model separately from the Wikibase, which include an easy overview of all classes and properties, quickly editing and deleting data and a way to publish just the data model which may be useful to other research projects. In Wikibase4Research, a service developed by the TIB (Technische Informationsbibliothek) within NFDI4Culture (German national research data infrastructure for culture), we maintain a generic data model for cultural objects which is offered to all research projects using the service. It is also published in Gitlab (https://gitlab.com/nfdi4culture/wikibase4research/auxiliary-service-repositories/wikibase-model/-/tree/main). This talk will cover different ways to develop and upload a data model to Wikibase as well as strategies for maintaining and updating the data model. It will also discuss possible issues that arise because of the way that Wikibase handles data and ways that the Wikibase software could be improved to mitigate those issues and become a better place for hosting linked data for research projects.
