Hello all!
We have been hard at work on our Graph Split experiment [1], and we now
have a working graph split that is loaded onto 3 test servers. We are
running tests on a selection of queries from our logs to help understand
the impact of the split. We need your help to validate the impact of
various use cases and workflows around Wikidata Query Service.
**What is the WDQS Graph Split experiment?**
We want to address the growing size of the Wikidata graph by splitting it
into 2 subgraphs of roughly half the size of the full graph, which should
support the growth of Wikidata for the next 5 years. This experiment is
about splitting the full Wikidata graph into a scholarly articles subgraph
and a “main” graph that contains everything else.
See our previous update for more details [2].
**Who should care?**
Anyone who uses WDQS through the UI or programmatically should check the
impact on their use cases, scripts, bots, code, etc.
**What are those test endpoints?**
We expose 3 test endpoints, for the full, main and scholarly articles
graphs. Those graphs are all created from the same dump and are not live
updated. This allows us to compare queries between the different endpoints,
with stable / non changing data (the data are from the middle of October
2023).
The endpoints are:
* https://query-full-experimental.wikidata.org/
* https://query-main-experimental.wikidata.org/
* https://query-scholarly-experimental.wikidata.org/
Each of the endpoints is backed by a single dedicated server of performance
similar to the production WDQS servers. We don’t expect performance to be
representative of production due to the different load and to the lack of
updates on the test servers.
**What kind of feedback is useful?**
We expect queries that don’t require scholarly articles to work
transparently on the “main” subgraph. We expect queries that require
scholarly articles to need to be rewritten with SPARQL federation between
the “main” and scholarly subgraphs (federation is supported for some
external SPARQL servers already [3], this just happens to be for internal
server-to-server communication). We are doing tests and analysis based on a
sample of query logs.
**We want to hear about:**
General use cases or classes of queries which break under federation
Bots or applications that need significant rewrite of queries to work with
federation
And also about use cases that work just fine!
Examples of queries and pointers to code will be helpful in your feedback.
**Where should feedback be sent?**
You can reach out to us using the project’s talk page [1], the Phabricator
ticket for community feedback [4] or by pinging directly Sannita (WMF) [5].
**Will feedback be taken into account?**
Yes! We will review feedback and it will influence our path forward. That
being said, there are limits to what is possible. The size of the Wikidata
graph is a threat to the stability of WDQS and thus a threat to the whole
Wikidata project. Scholarly articles is the only split we know of that
would reduce the graph size sufficiently. We can work together on providing
support for a migration, on reviewing the rules used for the graph split,
but we can’t just ignore the problem and continue with a WDQS that provides
transparent access to the full Wikidata graph.
Have fun!
Guillaume
[1]
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:SPARQL_query_service/WDQS_graph_split
[2]
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:SPARQL_query_service/WDQS_backend_up…
[3]
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikidata_Query_Service/User_Manual#Federation
[4] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T356773
[5] https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/User:Sannita_(WMF)
--
Guillaume Lederrey (he/him)
Engineering Manager
Wikimedia Foundation
Dear Wikimedia Community,
Apologies for cross-posting this but I hope this email finds you well. We
are excited to officially announce the kick-starting of Wiki Loves Folklore
(WLF) and Feminism and Folklore! As active members of the Wikimedia
community, we invite you to join us in celebrating and documenting the folk
culture from around the world.
Wiki Loves Folklore (WLF):
Wiki Loves Folklore is an annual international photography competition that
runs throughout February, organized by Wikimedia community members and
local affiliates. The competition's mission is to preserve and promote
intangible cultural heritage through the lens of photography. We encourage
photographers to contribute media showcasing their local folk culture to
Wikimedia Commons under free licenses. The resulting media can then be
utilized on Wikipedia and various platforms with proper attribution.
Feminism and Folklore:
In addition to WLF, we are thrilled to present Feminism and Folklore, an
international writing contest held on Wikipedia annually during February
and March. This contest aims to document folk cultures and the role of
women in folklore across different regions of the world. Feminism and
Folklore is the written counterpart of the photography campaign Wiki Loves
Folklore (WLF) organized on Wikimedia Commons to capture and document
folklore traditions globally.
Key Dates:
- Start Date: February 1, 2024
- Deadline: March 31, 2024
How You Can Participate:
We encourage our local organizers to please start putting your houses in
order for this event. Whether you're a seasoned contributor or a newcomer,
your involvement is crucial in making these projects a success. Here's how
you can participate:
1. Organize Events: Plan meet-ups, edit-a-thons, or workshops to engage
your local community in contributing to Wiki Loves Folklore and Feminism
and Folklore. Share your event details on relevant platforms to attract
participants.
2. Spread the Word: Use your social media channels, mailing lists, and
community forums to spread awareness about these projects. Encourage others
to join and contribute their unique perspectives.
3. Document and Contribute: Be an active participant by documenting and
contributing content related to folk culture and feminism in folklore. Your
contributions will help enrich the global understanding of these important
cultural aspects and at the end of the day you win some fanatic prizes.
4. Support New Contributors: please let us Welcome the newcomers and guide
them through the process. Encourage them to share their images taken by
themselves and not download images off the internet.
Together, let's celebrate and preserve the diverse cultural heritage that
defines us.
For more details and to participate, visit the official Wiki Loves Folklore
and Feminism and Folklore pages on Facebook, Instagram, X, Telegram,
Youtube and on our Wikimedia talk pages on Commons
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Folklore> or just
email support(a)wikilovesfolklore.org. For any tools related
inquiries/suggestion/complaints write us on tools(a)wikilovesfolklore.org
Thank you for your dedication to the Wikimedia community. We look forward
to seeing your contributions and the vibrant documentation of folk culture
and feminism in folklore.
Best regards,
Isaac Chabota Kanguya
Communication Officer on behalf the
Wiki Loves Folklore International Team
Dear Community,
Just a friendly reminder about the second Campaign Office Hour for Wiki
Loves Folklore's 2024 edition happening today.
Join us for engaging discussions, guidelines, and collective contributions
to shape the exciting five-year journey ahead. Your active participation is
highly valued, so feel free to share anything related to Folklore within
your community.
Meeting Details:
Date: Saturday, 20th January 2024
Time: 14:00hrs UTC
Venue: Online (Zoom) [1]
Please confirm your participation by sign up on meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Folklore_2024_Office_Hour#Partic…>
[2].
Looking forward to your valuable contributions and enriching discussions
that will shape the success of Wiki Loves Folklore 2024.
Best regards,
Isaac Kanguya
Communication Officer WLF 2024
[1] Zoom
<https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87530839056?pwd=EdyZ99R2NpPb5KvZFqTfucbj7zmbar.1>
[2] Sign-up link
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Folklore_2024_Office_Hour#Partic…>
Hi all,
Hope you have been well! We have just released v4.2 of the Commons
Android app to production. The update is now available on Play store [1]
and F-droid [2]. You could also build the app directly from our GitHub
repository [3].
An important thing we wanted to communicate. We've changed the Mapbox
API key used by the app in this release (v4.2.1) due to some unforeseen
circumstances. We also had to revoke the old API key that is being used
by the older version of the app (< v4.2.1).
You might face issues with accessing maps in those versions of the app
such as the Nearby screen appearing blank etc. We request your to kindly
upgrade to v4.2.1 in order to continue using the features for which
rendering a map is necessary. Other features should work fine. We regret
the inconvenience that this may cause. Feel free to open an issue in our
issue tracker [4] for any assistance. We'll be glad to help.
This release also includes the done by Ritika Pahwa during GSoC 2023.
This includes changes done to improve the reliability of the failed,
stuck uploads and changes to prevent location metadata loss for uploads
done via in the app.
In case you've been facing issues with the uploads, do give the latest
version a try. It should be better than before. Feel free to reach out
to us with any feedback you may have. It would be very helpful.
Other significant changes:
- Dark mode colour improvements
- Uploading via the in-app camera has been fixed and should work
normally.
- Provide the ability to edit an image to losslessly rotate it while
uploading.
- Category search now shows exact matches without any discrepancies
- We've switched to using MapLibre instead of Mapbox and thereby
disabled telemetry sent to Mapbox. We're also actively exploring
alternatives to Mapbox so that we could completely move away from it.
Check out the related issue [5] for information regarding the same.
- Fix some redundant crash issues
Checkout our changelog [6] for a more detailed set of changes since the
last announcement.
[[ References ]]
[1]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.free.nrw.commons
[2]: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/fr.free.nrw.commons
[3]: https://github.com/commons-app/apps-android-commons/releases/tag/v4.2.1
[4]: https://github.com/commons-app/apps-android-commons/issues
[5]: https://github.com/commons-app/apps-android-commons/issues/5352
[6]:
https://github.com/commons-app/apps-android-commons/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md
Best regards,
Sivaraam (User:Kaartic)
Dear esteemed WLM participants and organizers,
We're happy to announce that the WLM 2023 landing page is ready:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2023/Organi…
We anticipate the amazing impressions captured with your camera and
invite you to visit the WLM 2023 pages at
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2023 for
further information on how to participate in and/or organize the WLM
Campaign in your region.
Looking forward to your submissions from 1st September - 31st October
2023 to expand the collection of more than 3,000,000 pictures
documenting monuments and heritage from all over the world in the last
twelve iterations of Wiki Loves Monuments.
Kind regards,
Manfred / the team of Wiki Loves Monuments international
Dear Commons List,
On the theme of Medieval manuscripts written by women, a new book is
available that translates a fascinating and harrowing account of the
victims of a volcanic eruption in the Mediterranean Sea in 1444, who
were saved by the nuns of Ischia. The book is titled *The Medieval Map and
the Mercy Mission. A Complete Translation of the Voynich Manuscript Map*
. ISBN:9781399954990
It is available as a print-on-demand book at *The Great British Bookshop*:
https://www.thegreatbritishbookshop.co.uk/products/the-medieval-map-and-the…
Alternatively available as an ebook at *Google Books*:
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=YaG9EAAAQBAJ&rdid=book-YaG9E…
Kindest regards,
Dr. Gerard Cheshire.
Research Associate.
University of Bristol.
