User:Jason.nlw/National Wikimedian at the National Library of Wales/Wikidata Visiting Scholar

Wikidata Visiting Scholar

In April 2016 the National Library of Wales became the first institution in the world to take on a Wikidata Visiting Scholar. The Wiki Education Foundation had been coordinating Wikipedia Visiting Scholar programs for some time, mainly in the United States. The Wikidata Visiting Scholar scheme is being trialed as an extension of the existing program and is being supported by the Wikipedia Library. Rather then focusing on providing visiting scholars with access to Library collections and services, the focus with this project is to give Wikidata volunteers access to Metadata collections which are not otherwise available to the public, and to offer them technical support and direction in manipulating and transferring this data to Wikidata. It is hoped that the project will lead the development of new and innovative ways of exploring, viewing and analyzing Library/archive data.

The first Wikidata Visiting Scholar

Simon Cobb first approached the National Library in May 2015 and initially volunteered as a Wikipedia editor, but soon developed an interest in working with Wikidata. He has created detailed Wikidata items for more than 2,500 NLW photographs using publicly available data and has added data for several other smaller collections. Simon has also used third party software to demonstrate potential applications for the data. He has experience in making Wikidata API queries in autolist and in using Quick Statements to create multiple Wikidata items.

Linking Landscapes

Background

In 2015 more than 3000 Welsh Landscape paintings and engravings were uploaded to Wiki Commons by the National Library of Wales. The NlW's Wikidata Visiting Scholar has requested access to the metadata for this collection in order to create detailed Wikidata items for each image.

Scope of the project

The aim will be to create the best Wikidata possible for the entire collection using metadata provided by the National Library of Wales and with the support of the Wikipedian in Residence. Wikidata should be created for artists, engravers and publishers where possible. A Wikipedia page should be created for the collection, which should be developed to a high standard and should incorporate Wikidata generated content, such as lists of artists and examples of images. Also within scope is investigating the potential for developing new ways of visualizing/exploring this collection using open software and/or collaborating with developers. The National Library's Wikipedian Residence will support the project and report on it's impact.

Tasks

Create Wikidata for artists Y
Create Wikidata for each image Y
Add images from commons Y
Develop Wikipedia page
Investigate ways of exploring and visualizing the collection (geographic, Place name, subject..ect) Y
Report on progress in this page, and by publishing blog posts about the work. Y

Data visualisations

The collection plotted on a map based on 'Depicts'
Histropedia Wikidata timeline of NLW content
A list of the prints has been created which includes a tabbed index of place names.
Bubble Chart showing depicted things in the Welsh Landscape Collection
Bubble chart showing creators of the works of Art in Welsh Landscape Collection
Chart of publishers by location
Dynamic list of artists and engravers
Images organised by publication
Publishers, engravers and artists of the Welsh Landscape Collection
Links between John Boydell and other artists/printers/publishers in the collection.

Map with lines linking each print's main subject location and place of publication.

Media

National Library of Wales Blog - Our Wikidata Visiting Scholar, a World First April 14 2016
The life and times of Mr Herbert Ellerby: Linking Llandudno, Lancashire, and Moggill, Australia - A guest post by the National Library's Wikidata visiting scholar. Simon Cobb June 23 2016
The project featured in a Wikidata Showcase presentation (see slides 27 & 28) at the Repository Fringe 2016 conference in Edinburgh. 2 August 2016
Wikimedia Blog - Worlds first Visiting Scholar. Nov 5th 2016.
'John Boydell and the depiction of Welsh scenery in reproductive prints, 1750-1850' - Article tracing the career of John Boydell using Wikidata. Simon Cobb, Wikidata Visiting Scholar, in the National Libary of Wales Journal

Progress diary

Primary Metadata has been assigned Wikidata identifiers. Jason.nlw (talk) 09:50, 5 April 2016 (UTC)
Spreadsheet with handles and titles of all uploads in the landscapes category on Commons produced by Magnus. This will help us attach correct images from commons with the Wikidata items Jason.nlw (talk) 08:49, 12 April 2016 (UTC)
Missing images (1500) being prepared for upload to Commons, using GLAM Wiki toolset Jason.nlw (talk) 11:55, 15 April 2016 (UTC)
Over 2,300 items from the collection are now on Wikidata. More items are being added regularly when their metadata has been converted into Wikidata properties and qualities. Sic19 (talk) 18:11, 15 April 2016 (UTC)
Images have been attached to 1,600 of the Wikidata items. This was done by matching the handles in Magnus' spreadsheet (see above) with a list of handles for the existing Wikidata items from the collection that was produced using the TABernacle tool. Sic19 (talk) 15:24, 17 April 2016 (UTC)
1500 missing images added to Commons. so images for entire dataset (give or take a few) are now available. Jason.nlw (talk) 13:25, 20 April 2016 (UTC)
A list has been created of the 275 subjects (i.e. names, places and topics) that are in the metadata but currently do not have a equivalent Wikidata item. The ongoing task of producing similar (albeit much longer) lists of artists and publishers should be completed before the end of April 2016. Sic19 (talk) 20:09, 20 April 2016 (UTC)
The lists of artists and publishers that are yet to be converted into Wikidata are complete. Research is now under way in order to discover enough information about these people so that the names in the metadata can be accurately matched with existing Wikidata items. Where appropriate and necessary new Wikidata is also being created as part of this process.Sic19 (talk) 21:07, 27 April 2016 (UTC)
3,000 items from the Welsh Landscape Collection are now in the Wikidata database. Sic19 (talk) 18:16, 3 May 2016 (UTC)
Welsh Landscape Collection on Commons - lots of bad categories removed and many images cropped/rotated Jason.nlw (talk) 14:34, 7 May 2016 (UTC)
There are now 999 items from the collection that are still to added to Wikidata. Sic19 (talk) 20:08, 5 June 2016 (UTC)
Sic19 plotted collection on to map using (main subject) as point or ref.
Improved interface with image previews Sic19
Only ten more publishers to identify. Nearly 4,000 prints from the collection are in Wikidata.Sic19 (talk) 20:51, 23 June 2016 (UTC)
British Book Trade Index ID (P2945) is now a Wikidata property and is being used for authority control when creating new items. It will be retrospectively added to publishers and artists that have already been created during this project. Sic19 (talk) 10:47, 4 July 2016 (UTC)
Every print from the Welsh Landscape Collection is now on Wikidata! There is still work to be done though as some of the prints still need one or two statements adding with details of the creator and/or main subject. Sic19 (talk) 17:52, 17 July 2016 (UTC)
A list of the prints has been created which includes a tabbed index of place names . Sic19 (talk) 17:52, 17 July 2016 (UTC)
The Wikidata items from this project are now included in the National Library of Wales Collections showcase queries on Histropedia. Sic19 (talk) 14:12, 13 August 2016 (UTC)
Title (P1476) has been added to each item so that the original title is captured while allowing the label to be edited to correct spellings, remove unnecessary information etc. Sic19 (talk) 14:12, 13 August 2016 (UTC)
A new timeline of NLW works in Wikidata, including the Welsh landscapes has been created using the new Histropedia Wikidata viewer Jason.nlw (talk) 08:16, 17 August 2016 (UTC)
Above timeline adapted to show just The Welsh Landscape Collection Jason.nlw (talk) 11:10, 5 September 2016 (UTC)
The main task of adding the Welsh Landscape Collection metadata into Wikidata is now very nearly complete. In addition to creating a Wikidata item for each print, approximately 500 items have been created for associated subjects (places, buildings, geographical features etc), publishers and artists that were missing from Wikidata. Sic19 (talk) 20:44, 6 September 2016 (UTC)
Bubble Chart showing depicted things in the Welsh Landscape Collection Jason.nlw (talk) 09:39, 8 September 2016 (UTC)
Bubble chart showing creators of the works of Art in Welsh Landscape Collection Jason.nlw (talk) 09:59, 8 September 2016 (UTC)
Over 500 prints are now assigned to the book or magazine in which they were published. Sic19 (talk) 19:55, 25 October 2016 (UTC)
The Wikidata items for publishers, engravers and artists associated with the Welsh Landscape Collection have been improved to add value to the dataset. Sic19 (talk) 20:22, 18 January 2017 (UTC)
Sic19 Converted all images to linked data on Commons. Jason.nlw (talk) 06:09, 10 April 2019 (UTC)

Welsh Book Trade Project

Building on the success of the Linking Landscapes project the National Library of Wales' Visiting Scholar will create and enrich Wikidata historical companies and individuals involved in the Welsh Book Trade. The databass will include booksellers, printers and publishers and will further enrich data for the Welsh Landscape collection, Dictionary of Welsh Biography entries other data about National Library of Wales collections.

Tasks

Create Wikidata for the people and businesses listed in the British Book Trade Index (BBTI) entries for Welsh counties. BBTI aggregates the information from trade directories and research on the book trade up to 1850 that has been published in books and journals. As the sources include such seminal works as A nation and its books: A history of the book in Wales and Libri Walliae, creating this Wikidata will provide a solid foundation to build upon.
- Improve and expand these Wikidata items with the information available in other sources, like Welsh Newspapers Online. Y
Identify and, if necessary, improve the existing Wikidata for the entries in the Dictionary of Welsh Biography relevant to the book trade.
Add the missing titles from Welsh Newspapers Online to Wikidata and improve the existing items. Where possible, the succession of editors, publishers and proprietors will be captured. Mergers and changes in title will be recorded as separate items. OCLC and other identifiers will be added to these Wikidata items. Y
Obtain images for the purposes of illustrating each title. Y
Editors and publishers to be added to Wikidata items for Welsh Journals Online titles. Y
Joining the above together and visualise. Y

Data visualisations

Progress diary

BBTI entries for the counties of Anglesey, Brecknockshire and Radnorshire have been added to Wikidata Sic19 (talk) 19:45, 9 April 2017 (UTC)
All of the titles in the Welsh Journals digital collection now have a Wikidata item. Sic19 (talk) 21:22, 1 November 2017 (UTC)
Blog post published, highlighting recent work. Jason.nlw (talk) 11:01, 24 April 2018 (UTC)