Wikidata:Development plan/archive2019
This is an archived page of the Wikidata and Wikibase development roadmap for 2019. Archived on January 22nd, 2020.
Wikidata and Wikibase roadmap for 2019 edit
You will find below the roadmap of the Wikidata development team (Wikimedia Germany) for Wikidata and Wikibase for 2019. If you have any question or comment, feel free to write on Wikidata:Contact the development team.
Please note that the roadmap presents the main projects that the development team will work on during 2019. Things like maintenance of the software and fixing pressing bugs are not mentioned in the roadmap, but will be included in the workflow over the year.
Overview of the roadmap edit
The most up-to-date version of the roadmap can be found on an online project management tool: view in blocks, view in timeline. You can click on the different items to see further information, like a description or planned start date.
You can also find screenshots below:
Increase data quality and trust edit
Basic ShEx support edit
Shape Expressions are a way to define a model (or shape) for a subset of items. This would allow you to for example define that we want items about humans to have a statement specifying the date of birth and at least one external identifier. We can then check items against the shape and find items that need attention. This will make it easier for wiki projects for example to keep the thousands of items they care about in good shape.
Signed statements edit
We want to give people more confidence in our data and references. One of the steps we need to take for this is make sure that the data we have is actually what the reference says and has not been tampered with in a bad way. At the same time we want to make sure that Wikidata stays an open project. Signed statements will enable institutions to cryptographically sign statements related to them. If the data is changed but the reference stays the same the signature breaks and we can indicate that something might be wrong and needs looking at. For now we focus on signing large imports and not one-off signing of individual statements.
Improved reference support (Citoid) edit
Not enough people reference data they enter. One of the reasons for that is that it is currently hard. We can make this easier. One way to do this is with Citoid that is already in use on Wikipedia. It allows you to enter for example a URL and then fills out the rest of the reference (title, author, ...) for you.
Automated adding of references based on semantic markup edit
Too many statements on Wikidata don't have a reference. For some of these statements we can automatically find references. We can do this by comparing our data with data in linked websites (marked up with schema.org or similar mark-up). These websites could be in the identifiers, references or even connected Wikipedia articles.
Encourage more data use edit
Editing Wikidata from Wikipedia and sister projects (Wikidata Bridge, former client editing) edit
Editors on the other Wikimedia projects want to be able to edit Wikidata's data directly from their project instead of having to go to Wikidata.
Documentation is taking place on Mediawiki: mw:Wikidata Bridge
Query builder edit
Wikidata's data only truly comes alive when you are able to query it and bring data from many items together. Right now we have a big hurdle though. A large number of people can't write SPARQL queries. We want to provide a nicer way to click together a SPARQL query that allows more people access to the data in this way.
Enable more diverse data and users edit
Better mobile web support (viewing terms) edit
When visiting Wikidata on a mobile device it is currently not possible to see the labels, descriptions and aliases in a different language. This is unfortunate as it prevents users on mobile devices from accessing all of our content. We need to change this by bringing the termbox to the mobile view of Wikidata.
Better mobile web support (editing terms) edit
Editing should be possible for everyone, not restricted to the desktop version of the site. We need to make it possible to edit terms on mobile devices as well.
Lexicographical data support (compact Forms and Senses) edit
Some languages have a huge number of Forms for each word. Some words have a large number of Senses. Add on top of that a few statements for each of them and you have a Lexeme page that no-one can work with. We want to work on a more compact view to allow people to scan the page more easily and find what they are looking for.
Build out the ecosystem edit
Federation (ontology reuse) edit
3rd-party Wikibase installations are becoming more common and interesting. A significant number of them does not want to build their own ontology from scratch but instead use items and properties from Wikidata to make statements in their own installation. This is the same we are doing internally for structured data on Commons and making statements about media files there with items and properties coming from Wikidata.
Wikibase website edit
Wikibase is becoming more and more relevant as a stand-alone project. It needs a good representation to the outside world via the wikiba.se website. The website should be the landing page for anyone interested in Wikibase. It should answer questions like: What is Wikibase? What is it good for? What are others doing with it? How can I try it? How can I install and configure/customize it? What are the tools around it I might want to try? How can I get in touch with the project and people around it?
Develop a partnership model around Wikibase edit
Wikibase is becoming more and more interesting for institutions and projects. They have different wishes and ideas for how they want to work with the Wikidata development team and community. We need to figure out how this can all work nicely so that everyone gets what they need or at least knows what is not possible.
Define the landscape and segments of Wikibase users edit
Wikibase is becoming more attractive in different areas and for different institutions and projects. We need to more clearly define who we are catering to and how.
Other edit
WikidataCon edit
The Wikidata community is growing. We need to give room to connect, reflect and plan. The WikidataCon 2019 will be focused on networking and strategic discussions around Wikidata and Wikibase, with a special focus on lexicographical data.
Storage infrastructure improvements edit
Wikidata is growing and the storage infrastructure is reaching its limitations. We need to scale better in order to keep up with growth.