Wikidata as a Backend for Research MediaWikis: A Case Study from the P-CITIZENS Project in documenting Amateur Theatre

Ioanna Papazoglou, Meike Wagner

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Keywords: Wikidata, Amateur Theatre, WikiFAIR, MediaWiki, Structured Data

TL;DR: Using Wikidata as a backend for a Amateur Theatre research Wiki, to reduce the complexities of hosting structured data.

Abstract:

The ERC-funded project P-CITIZENS - Performing Citizenship explores the social and political roles of amateur theatre in Europe between 1780 and 1850. To support this research, the project has developed the Amateur Theatre Wiki, a platform dedicated to documenting historical and contemporary amateur theater groups. By adopting a WikiFAIR approach, the project implements an efficient, low-overhead solution that uses Wikidata as the structured data backend for the Wiki.

The Wiki hosts textual and media content written about and by amateur theatre groups, while Wikidata functions as the repository for structured data, such as geographic locations, timelines, membership details, and affiliations. Leveraging Wikidata’s interconnected nature, the project integrates this data into additional knowledge networks, enriching the broader cultural heritage landscape and enabling extensive data reuse.

A innovative technical feature of the project is the automated rendering of Wikidata information into local MediaWiki pages via Infobox templates. This ensures seamless data presentation for end-users while maintaining a centralized external dataset. The separation of content (text and media hosted in the Wiki) from data (stored in Wikidata) enhances reusability, interoperability, and collaborative potential.
The paper will explore the following themes:

Strategies for Data Management: Techniques for scraping, importing, organizing, and curating amateur theatre groups and actors in Wikidata using tools like OpenRefine and BeautifulSoup.

Copyright and Community engagement: The process of determining the correct hosting location for media files, and notability criteria for Wikidata

Impact and Accessibility: How Wikidata integration enhances reusability, research opportunities, and public engagement with the dataset.

This case study focuses on the potential synergy between Wikidata and digital humanities research, showcasing how open data platforms can support academic and cultural initiatives. It offers a replicable model for leveraging Wikidata to lower the complexities of hosting and maintaining a structured dataset, while promoting the dissemination of cultural knowledge.

Format: Paper (20 minutes presentation)

Submission Number: 30