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Wikipedia category filter with Wikidata integration

Introduction

The aim of the project is a functionality required to improve the usability of categories in large Wikipedia (the need starts from it.wiki, but it can apply also to others) through a deeper integration with Wikidata.

Description of the problem

Wikipedia in Italian reached 1.5 milion articles; such articles have always been organized in a complex category system.

When a category becomes too large (i.e. with too many articles) usually subcategories are created according to some reasonable criteria (e.g. Painters by country).

Never the less is not viable neither healthy creating subcategories for any possible search criteria. This for different reasons: on one hand the maintenance of complex systems becomes heavy, on the other hand the presence of a complex categorization makes the life harder to common readers.

Moreover, nowardays, Wikidata is here and it is smart and efficient to leverage on it, avoiding to create complex categories with titles that would hardly fit encyclopedic style (e.g. "Women politics born in Italy working in France and died in 1988" has no sense for Wikipedia but can be a matter of interest for some reader).

Proposed solution

To support the current categorization system, the concept is to develop a user-set-filter to limit the articles listed in the category.

The filter should be available in the page of a specific category and should limit the listed articles to a subset matching the filter criteria with Wikidata properties of the subject of the article. (e.g. birth place, birth date, death date...).

Current status

Today, it is possible to reach the same result through external tools (such as Petscan) that, for most Wikipedia users, are unknown or anyway complex to be used.

The new tool is not aimed to replace such existing tool but it should support "simple" search based on 3/4 properties. As example:

for biographical articles: gender, birth date, death date
for articles about movies: length, production year, producer

Requirments

Implementattion of a tool to facilitate the filtering of listed articles in a Wikipedia category in a easy and quick way leveraging on Wikidta properties
The tool should support Wikipedia readers who wish to find within a category a subset matching some criteria

Specifically:

it should be optional and inserted only in the categories where Wikipedia community deems useful to have it:
it should work for both logged and not logged Wikipedia users
it should be easy-to-use also for readers with limited informatics background, allowing them to to formulate search criteria in the most intuitive way (ideally in natural language)
it should foresee that search criteria withe the conceptual pattern:
- property-operation-value [ (AND/OR) property-operation-value [ (AND/OR) property-operation-value [ ... ]]]
it should produce the outcome in the fast and easy format (either in the same or in a new page) (ideally the list should look like a normal category pages just with less articles)
it should be multilanguage, selfadapting to the linguistic version of the Wikipedia where it is used
the maintenace of the messages used by the tool should be designed to be autonomously executed by each wikipedia community
the tool should be provided with (at least) the full glossary in Italian and English
the English language should be the default when glossary is missing in a given language
it should use a modern graphical framework such as OOUI

Wikimedia Italia call

Wikimedia Italia (WMIT) has opened a call to support candidates that are able and willing such a tool.

For accounting reasin, the call is open to any subject (individual or company) that can produce a valid invoice under Italian regulations. This a must-have prerequisite.

Submission of proposal from candidates

If you are interested in the call, you need to:

produce evidence of your experience in web development (JavaScript e jQuery)
propose a high-level description of the foreseen solution covering the following points:
- mock-up of the GUI (how the filters are designed, hoew they are integrated with Wikidata) - mock-up can already be loaded here: phabricator:pholio/
- interaction with the user (how result are shown)
produce an estimation of elapsed time once the assignment should be confirmed
confirm willing to distribute code as free software (it's suggested a license GNU GPL v2+, that is compliant with MediaWiki)
declare the expected amount (VAT included) as reward for the execution of developmente, testing and release of the solution.
comunicate within 23:59:59 CEST of ~~3rd October~~10th October 2021, your intention to candidate for the call sending a mail to segreteria@wikimedia.it, with all above listed information, with title "Bando Filtro Wiki Categorie - proposta di <YOUR NAME>"

Selection criteria

Easy-to-use design of the solution: 40%
Matching with the expected proposal: 40%
Financial economics: 20%

Wikimedia Italia will evaluate the received proposal, reserving the right to contact candidates to deep investigate the proposal, and will comunicate the outcome within ~~15th October~~22nd October 2021.

Contatcts

For any question please contact Wikimedia Italia at segreteria@wikimedia.it with a mail titled "Bando Filtro Wiki Categorie - domanda di chiarimento". Answer of general interest will be published also on this site.

Thank you for your help!

Progetti e iniziative/Filtro categorie di Wikipedia con integrazione Wikidata/en