Wikidata:WikiProject Disambiguation
A WikiProject to improve the coverage in Wikidata of homonyms, disambiguation pages, current and potential conflations
History
editThis project began with an analysis of disambiguation pages and missing items related to homonymous people in WikiCite initiatives. Over time, it became apparent that linking disambiguation efforts only to local platforms, while valid, posed challenges in organizing future work for similar names, leading to a need for an improvement of the Disambiguation pages project. The public discussion started in October 2022, and by mid-2024, the idea evolved into creating a parent project named "Wikidata Disambiguation", which would encompass various aspects of disambiguation work.
Goals
edit- The current policy of disambiguation pages is centered on local dynamics and lacks a broader vision.
- A focused effort on similar names by experienced users could clean up databases more efficiently.
- In particular, this can be integrated in the procedures of Data round-tripping that have been improved over the years. Cooperation with centralized national archives and libraries to avoid or reduce conflation is highly encouraged.
- It is suggested if there is sufficient expertiese, to create also disambiguation pages on local platforms when potential issues are spotted, especially on Wikimedia Commons, where such pages are less common.
- Uso of different from (P1889) should be more encouraged and standardized (especially when its insertion can be referenced by third party sources, which should be listed).
- Related to personal names, it could be possible also to analyze common family names and given names in the current Wikidata database to identify and address potential homonyms more effectively.
- The scenario with non-Latin scripts can be even more critical and may warrant a dedicated subproject in the future. Without focused attention, a significant gap in the quality of disambiguation could emerge between certain thematic areas.
Interested users
editThe participants listed below can be notified using the following template in discussions:{{Ping project|Disambiguation}}
Guidelines
edit- Ongoing and experienced projects should draft some "disambiguation and homonyms" policy, that is a dedicated subpage to discuss how they handle the presence of existing or potential similar or identical labels.
- Help:Homonyms should probably be created
- Wikidata:WikiProject Disambiguation/Preventive disambiguation in draft
To Do lists
editThe projects can also collects to do lists form other projects to be scrolled in the future.
- Wikidata:WikiCite/Researchers in Switzerland/homonyms a list of target names obtained while cleaning up Swiss items
- Wikidata:WikiProject Conflation/Items to untangle rough working list of items that conflate multiple concepts