Commons:Structured data - Wikimedia Commons
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About Structured Data on Commons
Structured data on Commons
is
multilingual information about a media file
that can be understood by
humans
, with enough consistency that it can also be uniformly processed by
machines
A short, beginner-level introduction to Structured Data on Commons (3 minutes 43 seconds)
The basics
Each media file page on Wikimedia Commons has a 'File information' and 'Structured data' tab.
We look at a simple example of a featured image on Wikimedia Commons:
Würfelzucker (2018)
Add multilingual captions to files
Under the
File information
tab, you can add
file captions
in many languages: short, factual descriptions about the file, without hyperlinks or wikitext. These file captions make the file easier to find in search.
What is depicted (shown) in a file?
Under the
Structured data
tab, you can indicate what is portrayed ("depicted") in the file. In this case: twelve white sugar cubes. The screenshot below is animated, demonstrating how the descriptive elements are multilingual. You can see structured data in a different language by switching your interface language setting.
More information: see
Commons:Depicts
Other statements about a file
Also under the
Structured data
tab, you can add other descriptive information about the file. This example describes the file's license, creator and quality assessment.
More information: see
Commons:Statements
What Structured Data on Commons does
Structured data on Commons improves access, searchability, exploration and provides new ways to use the content.
Improving accessibility
Multilingual:
Provides labels in over 300 languages which are added automatically.
Accessibility:
Provides information that makes content more accessible to users with specific needs e.g. blind and partially sighted.
New ways to find content
Searchability:
Allows people to easily find content through better descriptions of what they depict.
New ways to explore and use content
Connect knowledge from different sources:
Allows content from many sources together to provide new ways to explore and visualise a subject.
Explore collections and topics:
Collates content to provide new ways to explore collections and topics.
Usable by other websites and services:
SDC data is free and machine readable meaning and ready to be used in apps and other content.
Improving the quality of information
Data with references:
Data can reference to its sources, allowing you to see the original creator of the information and corroboration by third parties.
Queryable:
Allows queries to check data quality across 1,000s of files at once, allowing people to more easily identify and correct missing, out of date or incorrect information.
A few easy ways to start
Upload
a new, freely licensed file to Wikimedia Commons. You will be prompted to add multilingual file captions
help page
and depicts statements
help page
Add structured data to some high-quality images supported by a Wikimedia chapter
, via the ISA Tool.
(You must log in with a Wikimedia account here.)
Open the ISA Tool on Toolforge
Get in touch
Use the
talk page of Structured Data on Commons
to ask questions.
Report bugs
and
post feature requests
on
Phabricator
Help
).
How you can help
Help
writing documentation
about Structured Data on Commons.
Discuss and decide how files
should be described
, at
Commons:Structured data/Modeling
Tools to add structured data to files
AC/DC
("Add to Commons, Descriptive Claims") is a Wikimedia Commons gadget to help with batch editing. It allows adding statements to a group of files (for example a category).
Cat2Data
is a beginner-friendly user script for adding statements to all files in a category.
Depictor
lets you add depicts statements using a game-like interface. You can customize it using specific categories or SPARQL queries.
Image Annotator
is a tool that runs image annotation campaigns on Wikimedia Commons.
ISA
is a tool to help beginners to add
depicts
statements and multilingual captions to files.
OpenRefine
is a powerful and flexible tool to add structured data to Wikimedia Commons files in batch (from OpenRefine 3.6).
SDC
is a user script similar to
Cat-a-lot
that allows adding limited number of structured data statements to files in a category.
WikiCrowd
lets you add depicts statements by simply clicking on images.
Info for developers
Development of Structured Data on Commons is
tracked on Phabricator
Structured Data on Commons is powered by the
Wikibase
software. Data can be accessed via API; see
mw:Wikibase/API
for documentation.
The extension used for structured data is
WikibaseMediaInfo
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of structured data should I add? How should I describe a certain file in structured data?
For best practices on Depicts statements, see
Commons:Depicts
For inspiration and examples of other statements, please check the
Modeling
pages. Feel free to ask questions there and contribute to the documentation yourself. The data model of Structured Data on Commons is a work in progress and is designed by the Wikimedia Commons community.
How can I find files that already have structured data?
You can use the Wikimedia Commons search function to find files with structured data. A few examples:
All files that depict a bunny (Q9394)
All files with a caption in Italian
All files with the word 'broccoli' in a file caption
All files that have a structured data statement saying that the file's license is CC BY-SA 4.0
All files that do
not
have a Depicts statement
You can also use the site
Commons Walkabout
, which provides a drill-down-style browsing interface for Commons Structured Data.
How can I add structured data to many files at once?
You can use the
tools
mentioned on this page; see above.
Other questions?
Check the
Frequently Asked Questions
page.
Structured Data on Wikimedia Commons
Features
File captions
Statements
Depicts
Properties table
Modeling
Glossary
Tools
Adding data
AC/DC
Cat2Data
Depictor
Image Annotator
ISA
OpenRefine
QuickStatements
SDC tool
WikiCrowd
Querying data
Commons Walkabout
Media search
SPARQL query service
Displaying data
AutoCats
About
Why
Get involved
Structured data on other projects
Press and presentations
Project glossary
GLAM
Value for GLAMs
Commons or Wikidata
How to upload
Tools for GLAMs
Workflow for GLAMs
Examples
Events and workshops
Discussion
General talk page
Talk page about data modeling
Technical aspects
Phabricator board
Stable Interface Policy
Deleted Wikidata entities used in SDC
Historical
Project planning page on Wikidata
Development roadmap
(2014)
Development team
(2014)
Sloan grant
(2017-2019)
Project planning page on Meta-Wiki
Development timeline
(2017-2020)
Development team
(2017-2021)
Computer-aided tagging
(2019-2023)
WMF Structured Content team
(2021-2025)
Archived info about Structured Commons
Related
Structured data across Wikimedia
(SDAW)
International Image Interoperability Framework
(IIIF)
Retrieved from "
Category
Structured Data on Commons
Commons
Structured data
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