Wikidata:Requests for comment/Citations from Wikidata

An editor has requested the community to provide input on "Citations from Wikidata" via the Requests for comment (RFC) process. This is the discussion page regarding the issue.

If you have an opinion regarding this issue, feel free to comment below. Thank you!

Hello! Would it be possible to convert the citations to Wikidata? Local article would just refer to Qxxxx in the "ref" and get a standardized citation tailored to the local Wikipedia/Wikctionary/etc. The Qxxxx entry (about the book/paper/journal issue) would contain which cs.wiki template to use during the citation (or system will maybe recognize it from some inner data entry of the Qxxxx automatically). There would be less work, when each source has to be entered over and over again for each citation separately. And in addition, filling out the citation templates would be more complex. The local template would then only have additional parameters that are not affected by Wikidata, for example "page number". Thank you for your time in thinking :) --Palu (talk) 10:39, 20 August 2024 (UTC)

Could you please provide some examples? If I have understood correctly, there is already a way to import references using Šablona:Wikidat in the Czech Wikipedia.

For example, if you add {{Wikidat|properties|references|P1082}} in the article Athény, you'll get something like this:

643 452 Odkazy

If you, however, suggest that all references be moved to Wikidata, I don't think this is a viable solution because each reference corresponds to a particular statement in the text. Having to edit them all in Wikidata would be bothersome.

Žije zde 643 452 obyvatel.<ref>{{Zdroj wikidat|1}}</ref>

Carbonaro. (talk) 20:50, 24 August 2024 (UTC)

Or maybe you meant creating Wikidata items for various sources which can then be used in the articles. For example, Q4115189 is Historie Řecka: minulost a současnost. You suggest that we cite it in a way similar to this:

Vznik Athén spadá až do 3. tisíciletí před naším letopočtem.<ref>{{Citace monografie|qid=Q4115189|stránky=189}}</ref>

Carbonaro. (talk) 21:06, 24 August 2024 (UTC)

Carbonaro. Sorry for delay. I mean this second case.

For example in w:cs:Romaneto is citation <ref>{{Citace monografie|příjmení = Rejzek|jméno = Jiří|příjmení2 = |jméno2 = |titul = Český etymologický slovník|vydání = 1|vydavatel = Leda|místo = Voznice|rok = 2001|počet stran = |strany = |isbn = }}</ref>.

It is targeting on this source: Q109545581.

My proposal: <ref>{{Citace monografie|wikidata = Q109545581}}</ref> will give exactly the same result on the page: REJZEK, Jiří. Český etymologický slovník. 1. vyd. Voznice: Leda, 2001. All necessary entries will be written from Wikidata automatically, in language you need and projected in local format you need. You will not spend 5 minutes with fulfilling all the entries, every time again and again, but you just find number Qxxxx of this source and thats it.

But when I am thinking about that, I am not sure how much it is task for Wikidata and how much it is task for local projects. But central solution from Wikidata for example in form of some guideline or something would be maybe the changegamer which will cause that such solution and simplification of work will leak into real practise. Or maybe there are also some technicalities to solve before, I dont know (unfortunatelly I am not programmer) - i guess it can be shown during some trial to implement such function to some local project. --Palu (talk) 10:32, 27 August 2024 (UTC)

Palu, I understand now. This is, however, as you pointed out, more like a task for the local projects. We can make a module that extracts the data from the Wikidata item or we can create templates for every source, which is already practised in some Wikipedia projects.

Which of the two is the easier option for a contributor that creates an article?

1. <ref>{{Citace monografie|wikidata = Q109545581}}</ref>. The user has to know which Wikidata item corresponds to Q109545581.
2. <ref>{{Český etymologický slovník|39}}</ref>. This template will display this text: REJZEK, Jiří. Český etymologický slovník. 1. vyd. Voznice: Leda, 2001. S. 39.

I can assist with both. Wikidata is a knowledge base. Each item has statements added to it, in this case author, publisher, date. We can't further modify Wikidata so as to support such a feature. It's up to the local projects to extract the information they need. Carbonaro. (talk) 12:14, 27 August 2024 (UTC)

Carbonaro. Thank you, understood. So I will ask cs.wiki community if they are interrested in such idea. For the completeness of my answer, I mean the best way would be maybe this:

On the local project I write citation in this format: <ref>{{Citace|wikidata = Q109545581|strana=45}}</ref> (strana = site; there can be also for example "date of citation" parameter etc. = what is not present on Wikidata).

Template Citace will read Q109545581 and get know if it is monography or web or periodical or what kind of source -> based on this it will call our local template "Citace periodika" (cite of periodical) or "Citace elektronické monografie" (cite of electronic monography) or ...

Template will hand over parameters read from Wikidata to this chosen template, for example Citace monografie, and this template will show our requested result.

Thank you for provided explanation. --Palu (talk) 14:37, 27 August 2024 (UTC)

You're welcome. Feel free to start a discussion in the Czech Wikipedia. What concerns me is that each contributor will have to know which source corresponds to which Wikidata item. For example, if someone wants to cite Český etymologický slovník, how will they know that it's Q109545581 in Wikidata? Maybe a gadget will come in useful. Carbonaro. (talk) 12:40, 28 August 2024 (UTC)