Wikidata: A Revolution for Wikipedia, Between Opportunities and Challenges
The deployment of Wikidata across all Wikipedias began on March 6, 2013, marking a significant milestone in the history of the collaborative encyclopedia. This initiative represents excellent news for multilingual Wikipedians, who no longer have to juggle between different language versions to modify the same information.
What is Wikidata?
In simple terms, without going into technical details, Wikidata is a project initiated by Wikipedia Germany and taken over by the Wikimedia Foundation thanks to charitable funds. Its main objective is to create a centralized and unified database for all language versions of Wikipedia.
Let's take a concrete example: for individuals, dates of birth and death, as well as other important events in their lives, are stored only once in Wikidata. Any modification made to this data is automatically reflected in the approximately 280 existing language versions of Wikipedia.
The Advantages of Wikidata:
- Data Centralization and Consistency: Wikidata ensures the consistency of information between the different language versions of Wikipedia, avoiding contradictions and translation errors.
- Time Savings for Contributors: Modifications no longer need to be made manually on each Wikipedia, which represents a considerable time saving.
- Improved Maintenance: Data maintenance is simplified, as a single modification is sufficient to update all language versions.
- Data Use by External Tools: Wikidata's structured data can be used by external tools and applications, opening new perspectives for research and analysis.
- Improved Interoperability: Wikidata facilitates interoperability between Wikipedia and other knowledge databases.
Challenges and Potential Sources of Conflict:
The idea of shared data is appealing, but it also raises significant challenges, particularly due to differences in viewpoints and conflicts of interpretation that may exist between contributors from different language versions.
Here are some examples of potential conflicts:
- Differences in Calendars and Dating Conventions: As mentioned in the original text, disagreements can arise regarding dates, for example between the Gregorian and Hijri calendars.
- Differences in Historical and Political Interpretation: Statistics concerning disputed territories, such as Palestine/Israel, or controversial historical events, such as the Algerian War, can be the subject of significant disagreements. The number of deaths, the names of places (French Algeria vs. Algeria), and the interpretation of facts can vary considerably depending on the sources and perspectives.
- Management of Non-Consensual Viewpoints: How to manage information that does not reach consensus within the community? Which version of the information should be displayed by default? How to report different viewpoints neutrally and in a balanced way?
Wikidata's Response to Conflicts:
Wikidata developers have anticipated these difficulties. A fundamental principle is that each Wikipedia retains a certain autonomy and the possibility of locally managing data for which a consensus has been reached within its community. In particular, the information displayed in infoboxes (the information tables on the right of articles) can be managed locally. The English text of Wikidata is clear on this point. This makes it possible to take into account cultural specificities and local debates.
Conclusion:
Wikidata represents major progress for Wikipedia, by centralizing data and facilitating collaboration between different language versions. However, it also raises significant challenges related to the management of conflicts and differences in interpretation. Respecting the autonomy of local Wikipedias and establishing conflict resolution mechanisms are essential to ensure the success of this ambitious project. We can indeed expect a period of adjustment and debate within the Wikipedia community, but the potential benefits of Wikidata make it a promising initiative.
more info https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikidata/Deployment_Questions
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