Proposal: Infobox pilot

Builds on: Wikidata ID on articles

What changes

A small trial of infoboxes: the box of key facts at the top right of an article, as on Wikipedia. The facts come from the article's Wikidata item, so nobody has to type them into Agpedia.

What a box looks like

The layout follows Wikipedia's infoboxes, which readers already know:

• A title band with the article's name at the top, so the box is clearly about the article and not part of the text.
• An image from the Wikidata item (its "image" statement), with a caption, when Wikidata has one. The image comes from Wikimedia Commons and is credited at the bottom of the box.
• Rows of facts with a label on the left and the value on the right, grouped under small headings. Rows Wikidata has nothing for are left out, so a box only shows what is known.
• Long lists are shortened, for example "Guitarist, musician, singer-songwriter and 7 more", with the full list on Wikidata.
• Each value has a small link to its statement on Wikidata, saying how many references Wikidata gives for it, or "no refs".

Three fixed boxes, chosen from Wikidata

The trial has exactly three kinds of box, each with a fixed list of facts. A row only appears when Wikidata has a value for it.

• Person: image; birth name; born (date, age, place); died (date, age, place); nationality; education; occupation; also known as; spouse; awards; website. For musicians, a second group: years active, genres, instruments, record labels, bands they are a member of. For politicians: positions held and party.
• Organisation: logo or image; founded (date and place); founders; headquarters; type; industry; key people; number of employees; parent organisation; website.
• Species and other living things: image; scientific name and who described it; common name; rank; classification (kingdom down to genus); conservation status; range map.

Agpedia does not keep its own list of what kind of thing each article is about. Instead, the box is chosen from what Wikidata already says about the item: if the item says it is a human, the article gets the Person box; if it says it is a company, a non-profit or another kind of organisation, the Organisation box; if it is a species, the Species box. Articles that fit none of the three, or have no Wikidata ID, show no box. If the trial works, more boxes can be added the same way later.

How the facts are shown

• Values come from Wikidata. Each value links to its statement on Wikidata, with the number of references Wikidata gives for it, so readers can check where it comes from. Corrections are made on Wikidata.
• When Wikidata has no value, an editor can add one on Agpedia, with an Agpedia citation. It is shown in the box and marked as added on Agpedia.
• When Wikidata later gets a value for the same fact, the box shows the Wikidata value, but the value added on Agpedia is kept, not deleted. If the two differ, the difference is recorded.
• Old versions of an article show today's Wikidata values, with a note saying so.

Later, not part of this proposal

The values added on Agpedia, with their citations, could later feed a bot that offers them to Wikidata where Wikidata is missing them, or lists the facts where Agpedia and Wikidata disagree so someone can check which is right. Keeping the Agpedia values when Wikidata fills the gap is what makes that possible. Building such a bot would need its own proposal, and Wikidata's approval.

Why

Readers expect key facts at a glance, and Wikidata already has them for most people, organisations and species. Starting with three boxes shows what works before deciding on more.

Technical notes

Wikidata values are cached on Agpedia and refreshed regularly. The box is chosen from the item's "instance of" statement (P31): human (Q5) for Person; organisation and its subclasses for Organisation; taxon (Q16521) for Species. Values added on Agpedia are stored with the page, keyed by Wikidata property (for example P569 for date of birth), with their citation; they are never removed when Wikidata gains a value, and a mismatch with the Wikidata value is flagged in the data so it can be listed later.