Using MediaWiki + WikiBase as a platform for library linked data: a pilot study
In this talk, we will provide a high-level overview of the MediaWiki and Wikibase platform, share the details of our recent 16 library pilot project, highlight the advantages and disadvantages of the platform, review our extensions, and share lessons learned and evaluations from the project participant libraries. Wikidata has evolved into a very important data source for those working with Linked Data, and the library/archive/museum communities’ interest in using Wikidata, both as a place to syndicate data as well as a source for data, has grown accordingly. The underlying technology platform for Wikidata is a MediaWiki extension called WikiBase, which enables the creation and storage of structured data in MediaWiki. During the pilot, OCLC deployed MediaWiki and WikiBase as a linked data platform, evaluating its capabilities for describing, curating, and discovering entities and relationships relevant to the library/archive/museum domains. We started with existing entities mined from the OCLC WorldCat database, combined with corresponding Wikidata data, to seed the dataset and then worked with project participants from 16 OCLC member libraries to explore, modify, and enhance the data. In addition to using the built-in features of this platform, we developed two applications to assist with data exploration and import.
