Wikidata For Wikimedia Projects/Research/Statement Signals

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Statement Signals: Measuring Wikidata Usage on other Wikis

Throughout Q2 and Q3, we worked with a Data Analytics consultant to explore, research and produce a report on potential metrics that can be used for measuring Wikidata usage across other Wikimedia projects.
Wikidata is widely utilized in many ways, though the extent and specific patterns of usage remain unclear.

Initially, the project focused on the use of Wikidata statements on wiki content pages.

The full report is available to read on Commons or available in the thumbnail below.

Goals

1. Investigate how trace data from Wikimedia servers can provide insights into Wikidata usage across other wikis.
   
2. Develop initial definitions of potential metrics for Wikidata usage on wikis.
   
3. Develop the necessary code or notebooks to output, visualise and analyse these metrics.
   

The scope is limited to WD statements on content pages, specifically focusing on WD’s primary products (e.g., knowledge graph data) in main namespace content. Other WD uses (like sitelinks and project page lists) are not included, though potential future work is suggested. Only existing data sources are utilized, with ideas for additional data tools provided for future development.

Background Summary

Despite Wikidata's widespread use in other Wikimedia projects, details and scale of its usage are neither well-documented or thoroughly studied. This is partly due to the technical complexity of Wikidata and the code-integrations needed to make it function in the other projects.
This research is a continuation of the previous research report to better understand editor motivations, workflows, and challenges in using Wikidata producing preliminary qualitative insights.

Our Data analytics consultant has sought to equip us with quantitative data to establish a series of baseline metrics (to evaluate Wikidata usage).
This research is in part exploratory as the few past efforts to measure Wikidata usage have been limited with few reliable metrics.

The attached report includes current findings and in section 12 outlines the recommended steps for improving the ability to measure Wikidata usage.

List of Statement Signals

To see a complete list of statement signals, click the pdf link below:

Main Takeaways

• Widespread but uneven Wikidata usage: Wikidata statements are widely used on content pages across wiki types, though usage distribution is uneven.
  

• Differences by project type: Usage patterns vary by wiki type (e.g., Wikipedia, Wikisource), likely due to differences in purpose and community practices. Further analysis could confirm this variation.
  
• Variation within project types: Significant variation exists in Wikidata usage levels within each project type.
  
• Growth trend: Usage of Wikidata statements is generally increasing, based on recent data (though only covering four months).
  
• Additional notes: The {{#statements}} parser function sees relatively low use compared to {{#property}}, and property labels are rarely used instead of property IDs.
  

An expanded and more comprehensive version of the takeaways is available in the report below:

This exploratory project offers an initial proposal for metrics about Wikidata usage on other wikis, to support WMDE's Wikidata for Wikimedia Projects Team.