Wikidata:WikiProject LD4 Wikidata Affinity Group/Wikidata Working Hours/2023-June-5 Wikidata Working Hour
June 5, 2023 Wikidata Working Hour edit
Monday, June 5, 2023 at 11:00 am PT / 2:00 pm ET / 18:00 UTC / 8:00 pm CEST
Recording edit
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Metrics edit
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Background edit
Today's Working Hour will help to improve metadata used in the Black Bibliography Project (BBP), a collaboration between scholars at Yale University and Rutgers University. This project, piloted in 2019 and funded with a grant from the Mellon Foundation for a new phase beginning in 2023, aims to revive the practice of descriptive bibliography for African American literary studies through the use of linked data.
In this phase of the Project, the BBP team will use linked data to create robust bibliographic records for a selection of The Pen is Ours, Jean Fagan Yellin and Cynthia D. Bond's bibliography of writings by and about African-American women before 1910, many of whom were held in slavery.
While the BBP uses a bespoke data model for its unique Wikibase instance, the utility of the data therein is enhanced through links to existing Wikidata items. In this Working Hour, we will focus on:
- Creating new Wikidata items for early African-American women authors
- Discussing potential solutions and best practices for metadata about enslaved persons and their narratives
To facilitate this, the agenda outline (subject to change) is as follows:
- Brief overview of data model
- Demo of creating an author item
- Free time for author items
- Discussion of select data modeling problems
Creating Author Items edit
We'll be looking at the spreadsheet to determine what names to create in Wikidata. We will be creating names for those authors who do not already have a Wikidata record.
Steps:
- Open this Google spreadsheet
- Claim an author name that doesn't yet exist in Wikidata (no Q number next to it) by filling in your initials in the adjacent column.
- Search the name in Wikidata to double-check that it hasn't been created.
- Click "Create a new item" to start the creation process.
- The data model below has been created as a basic guide. Feel free to supplement with any relevant fields.
- Once your item has been created, add its QID to the Wikidata QID column.
Basic statements edit
| Property | Value | Usage note |
|---|---|---|
| Label | Person's name as most commonly known | Recommended to search name in web browser to see if that's the common usage |
| Alias | Other form of name in use or previously used | |
| Description | based on predominant field of work | Guidelines: Some examples: American memoirist, American poet |
| instance of (P31) | human (Q5) | no reference needed |
| occupation (P106) | based on predominant field of work | Ex: writer (Q36180), memoirist (Q11774156); do not use enslaved person (Q12773225) -- see note below |
| ethnic group (P172) | African Americans (Q49085) | Add reference: stated in (P248) The Pen is Ours (Q118220585). Ethnicity statements require a high standard of proof; see note below. |
Notes on using "slave" edit
- The documentation for this item suggests that this item should be used with social classification (P3716) rather than with occupation (P106).
- Most controlled vocabularies, including the Library of Congress Subject Headings are preferring "enslaved persons," "formerly-enslaved persons," or similar language which emphasizes the humanity of the person in question over the dehumanizing term "slave." This change has yet to be made within Wikidata; however, in free-text fields such as "description," best practice is to use the adjective "enslaved" rather than the noun "slave."
- A previous version of this documentation incorrectly stated that Enslaved.org uses "slave" as a value for "occupation." That is not the case; this information is conveyed instead through "relationship" and "person status" statements. You can read more about how related Wikibase instance Enslaved.org denotes enslavement status in their controlled vocabulary documentation.
Note on using "ethnic group" edit
- The documentation for this property requires ethnicity statements to meet a high standard of proof. In general this means 1) the subject claims it themselves, or 2) it is widely agreed on by scholars, or 3) is fictional and portrayed as such). In the case of this Working Hour, all names are pulled from an authoritative bibliography of African American literature (The Pen is Ours (Q118220585)), which could be referenced to justify these statements.
Optional statements edit
- Can search for additional properties on Wikidata List of Properties page.
| Property | Value | Usage note |
|---|---|---|
| date of birth (P569) | YYYY-MM-DD | add reference; can be limited to YYYY or YYYY-MM only |
| date of death (P570) | YYYY-MM-DD | add reference; can be limited to YYYY or YYYY-MM only |
| social classification (P3716) | enslaved person (Q12773225), freedman (Q841571), Free people of color (Q5500267) | add reference; use only for pre-emancipation authors; qualify with start and end times when known |
| sex or gender (P21) | female (Q6581072), etc. | requires references -- please read note below before use. |
| languages spoken, written or signed (P1412) | languages spoken, written or signed | no reference needed, but specify retrieved (P813), language of work or name (P407) |
| educated at (P69) | institution | add qualifiers as per information available: academic degree (P512), academic major (P812), start time (P580), end time (P582), point in time (P585); add reference |
| described at URL (P973) | if an author is described in another online resource | example: Sojourner Truth |
| notable work (P800) | QID of work | dependent on whether it exists in Wikidata; Example: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl |
| residence (P551) | place of residence | if location has existing Wikidata item; include reference |
| place of birth (P19) | place of birth | if location has existing Wikidata item; include reference |
| place of death (P20) | place of death | if location has existing Wikidata item; include reference |
| genre (P136) | genre typically works in | examples: Poetry, Memoir, Slave narrative; no reference needed |
| Library of Congress authority ID (P244) | LCCN from national authority record | can be searched [lastname, firstname] at: https://authorities.loc.gov/ ; Format should be 1 or 2 letters and then numbers (no spacing), e.g., no2019050143 (no reference needed) |
| VIAF ID (P214) | VIAF ID | can be searched at: https://viaf.org/ (no reference needed); format should be numerical, such as: 5150565527606250501 |
| Enslaved.org person ID (P9315) | Enslaved.org Person ID | if relevant; search Enslaved.org |
Notes on using "sex or gender (P21)" edit
- Only use in cases where the subject specifically claims a gender identity themselves. In such cases, add a reference.
- Assigning gender is no longer recommended practice for PCC authority work. As the PCC Task Group on Recording Gender in Personal Name Authority Records noted in their report, "Gender identity, the vocabulary used to describe it, and the degree to which individuals are able to and choose to disclose it, are complex, contextual, personal, and subject to change over time and in different environments and jurisdictions."