Wikidata:WikiProject Archives Linked Data Interest Group/Describing Organizations
This recommendation includes required statements for describing corporate entities in wikidata and a set of properties based on the ISAAR(CPF) (Q494240) and Describing Archives: A Content Standard (Q5263780) standards. Corporate bodies refers to corporations, organizations, or other groups of people which operate as an organized entity. It may include anything from local nonprofits to churches to clubs to universities to corporations and international conglomerates. See also the wikidata list of properties about organizations.
Fields edit
| property | DACS element | ISAAR-CPF element | expected / required value | description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| label | n/a | n/a | textual string. May not exceed 250 characters. | As a wikidata entity, corporate bodies should have a label consisting of a word or phrase by which the corporation is known or can be identified. This may or may not be the same as its formal name. Must be associated with a language. May repeat for multiple languages. Use alias ("also known as,"" see below) to include other common forms of the name. Recommend including the field official name (P1448) official name (P1448). |
| official name (P1448) | 10.1.1 Authorized Form of the Name (Required) | 5.1.2 Authorized form(s) of name (Required) | textual string with qualifying language field | Use main subject (P921) to specify the primary topics or themes of an item or collection. These may range from specific events to concepts. Note, Wikidata properties do not map directly to Library of Congress or other controlled subjects. |
| also known as | 10.3.1 Parallel name, 10.3.2 Standardized forms of names according to other rules, 10.3.3 Other forms of name | 5.1.3 Parallel forms of name, 5.1.4 Standardized forms of name according to other rules, 5.1.5 Other forms of name | textual string. may not exceed 250 characters. may repeat. | Also known as/skos:altLabel is a built-in Wikidata property used to designate the other names by which an entity is known. Also known as can be used to record differences in spelling or punctuation, abbreviations, or older forms of a name (when changes to the institution are not significant enough to create a new entity and replaced by/replaces relationship between the two). |
| description | n/a | n/a | textual string, beginning with lower-case letter unless the first word is a proper noun. | Provide a brief textual description (normally a sentence-fragment) to describe the entity at a high level, e.g. "state university located in Pennsylvania" or "student club at Howard University" or "socialist political party in Taiwan". The descriptive field must be associated with a language and may repeat once for each language. |
| instance of (P31) | 10.2.1. Type of Entity (Required) | 5.1.1 Type of entity (Required) | one or more wikidata entities which represent the type of entity being described. e.g. organization (Q43229), public company (Q891723), business (Q4830453), society (Q8425), holding company (Q219577), or a very specific entity type, e.g. doll hospital (Q85690742) | instance of (P31) is a fundamental Wikidata property used to declare the type of thing the Wikidata entity describes. When possible, choose the highest applicable level. A single entity may have more than one kind of instance of (P31). Specify multiple types of instance of when useful for describing significantly different aspects of the corporate body (see Alphabet Inc. (Q20800404)). |
| industry (P452) and/or product or material produced or service provided (P1056) and/or field of work (P101) | 11.5 Functions, Occupations, Activities | 5.2.5 Functions, occupations and activities | a wikidata entity with appropriate instance of (P31) for the type of statement being made | Document the functions performed by the corporate entity. Use industry (P452) to document the industry in which a corporation operates. Use product or material produced or service provided (P1056) if the corporate entity produces products/materials. Use field of work (P101) when the corporate entity acts in a sector or field that is not an industry. Review similar entities on wikidata and consider adding further properties as appropriate. |
| inception (P571) | 11.1 Dates of Existence (Required) | 5.2.1 Dates of existence (Required) | a date | As a part of providing a history of the corporate body, add its date of creation if known, using inception (P571). Values may include uncertain dates such as the 1980s or 19th century. See Dates for more information about formatting dates. |
| dissolved, abolished or demolished date (P576) | 11.1 Dates of Existence (Required) | 5.2.1 Dates of existence (Required) | a date | As a part of providing a history of the corporate body, add its date of dissolution if known, using dissolved, abolished or demolished date (P576). Values may include uncertain dates such as the 1980s or 19th century. See Dates for more information about formatting dates. |
| headquarters location (P159) | 11.3.1 Places | 5.2.3 Places | wikidata entity for the headquarters location. May be qualified with address, postal code, geo coordinates, etc., see property page for allowed qualifiers. | Use for corporate bodies with many locations or branches. |
| street address (P6375) | 11.3.1 Places | 5.2.3 Places | textual form of full street address where the repository is located. include building number through to post code. associate with a language. | Use for corporate bodies which can be associated with one street address. |
| located in the administrative territorial entity (P131) and/or country (P17) | 11.3.1 Places | 5.2.3 Places | a wikidata entity for the place being recorded. in cases of administrative territories, record the most specific place known (e.g. city over county, county over state, state over country) | If the corporate body is located one or a small set of countries/administrative entities (e.g. the US and Canada or Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia), record country (P17) and/or located in the administrative territorial entity (P131)). |
| coordinate location (P625) | 11.3.1 Places | 5.2.3 Places | latitude and longitude coordinates | If the corporate body being described has a single coordinate location associated with it, record as latitude and longitude. This may be used for mapping the location. Expects degrees, minutes, seconds, e.g. 51°12'30.72"N, 3°14'0.14"E vs. decimal format. |
| phone number (P1329) and/or fax number (P2900) | n/a | n/a | the telephone number in the RFC3966 format, e.g. +1-814-555-1234 or +31-20-674-7001 | Contact information is not an element of ISAAR-CPF but may be appropriate for corporate entities which currently exist. Use references to cite the source of this information along with its date of retrieval. Large entities may have more than one public phone number or fax number for separate uses. If so, consider adding the qualifier has use (P366) with the appropriate function for each number. |
| email address (P968) | n/a | n/a | the email address, preceded by mailto: e.g. mailto:DPO@adobe.com | Contact information is not an element of ISAAR-CPF but may be appropriate for corporate entities which currently exist. Use references to cite the source of this information along with its date of retrieval. Large entities may have more than one public email address separate uses. If so, consider adding the qualifier has use (P366) with the appropriate function for each number. |
| official website (P856) | n/a | n/a | url with http(s):// or other appropriate prefix | Specify the corporate body's primary website using official website (P856). This should include the http(s):// or other appropriate prefix. A corporate entity should only have one official website per language/country.
However, if the website's URL has changed, rank the most recent [1] as preferred along with reason for preferred rank (P7452) with a value of most recent value (Q71533355). Include qualifier language of work or name (P407) to provide information about the language in which the website is written. Do not remove previous official websites. Consider adding start time (P580) and end time (P582) information if known. |
| founded by (P112) and/or owned by (P127) | 12.1.1 Names/Identifiers of related corporate bodies, persons, or families, 12.2 Types of Related entity, 12.3 Nature of relationship, 12.4 Dates of the relationship | 5.3.1 Names/Identifiers of related corporate bodies, persons or families, 5.3.2 Category of relationship, 5.3.3 Description of relationship, 5.3.4 Dates of the relationship | a wikidata entity representing the entity with whom the entity described has this relationship along with appropriate qualifiers, such as start/end time | When describing a corporate entity which has a known founder/owner consider adding a founded by (P112) and owned by (P127) relation to their entity. If ownership includes known proportions, you may add proportion (P1107). |
| parent organization (P749) and has subsidiary (P355) or part of (P361) | 12.1.1 Names/Identifiers of related corporate bodies, persons, or families, 12.2 Types of Related entity, 12.3 Nature of relationship, 12.4 Dates of the relationship | 5.3.1 Names/Identifiers of related corporate bodies, persons or families, 5.3.2 Category of relationship, 5.3.3 Description of relationship, 5.3.4 Dates of the relationship | a wikidata entity representing the entity with whom the entity described has this relationship along with appropriate qualifiers, such as start/end time | If the corporate body is administratively part of another organization or entity, specify the relationship using parent organization (P749) or part of (P361). If using parent organization (P749), you must add an inverse has subsidiary (P355) statement on the parent organization’s wikidata item. If the corporate body has its own subsidiaries which have wikidata entities (or whose wikidata entities you choose to create), designate using has subsidiary (P355). Record the inverse relationship parent organization on the subsidiary’s entity record. As part of and parent organization/subsidiary are not exclusive, you may choose to use both. Part of may also apply when the corporation is a member of a larger group, whether a trade organization, an industry special interest group, etc. |
| operator (P137) and/or authority (P797) | 11.6 Mandates/Sources of authority | 5.2.6 Mandates/Sources of authority | a wikidata entity | Record the name of the authority responsible for operation, oversight, and administration of the corporate entity. Use qualifiers start time (P580) and end time (P582) to record any additional information about when an authority became or ceased to be responsible for the entity. Authorities are most likely to be government-adjacent bodies. When possible, link to or cite the document, law, directorive, or charter as a reference. |
| archives at (P485) | n/a | n/a | the wikidata entity for the institution holding the organization's archives. | Use to record the institution or institutions which hold the an organization's records, archives, or papers. |