[Installation done] Wiki Extension: Semantic MediaWiki

[maik]

Update 28.5.2012: I incorporated most of the plumbing in the Infobox template for Oolite ships which makes maintenance easier. The text below is updated accordingly.

In my sandbox http://sandbox.maikschulz.de (which is an old copy of the Elite Wiki) I installed the Semantic MediaWiki (SMW) extension. This allows to explain to the wiki e.g. what the ship properties mean. This in turn allows to create queries such as "show me all player flyable ships with more than 200 TC cargo".

Where I think it could be useful is in replacing the various manually curated ship lists (fastest, biggest, etc.) with a dynamically created list based on the properties in the individual ship pages. So far, I only created a dynamically generated table: http://sandbox.maikschulz.de/index.php/ ... t_(Oolite). The only ship where I changed data int the Infobox is the Adder. Specifically, I gave width, height, and length separately instead of in one string so that the volume can be calculated.

Take a look at the source of these pages and if you like apply these properties to other ships in the sandbox to see how they appear in the dynamic page afterwards. The template I use for the table rows also uses the parser functions extension for MediaWiki which allows to do calculations such as for the volume of the (cube that encompasses the) ship. Note that it might take some time for the SMW extension to parse the edits.

When you are on the Adder page, click on the "Browse properties" link in the toolbox. It lists the properties of the Adder and allows you to find other ships that have the same property set. Also, in the Special Pages there is a "Semantic search" link where you can create queries like I mentioned above. It is not exactly friendly to beginners, you have to know which properties exist (see Special pages again for a list of properties), but once you get the hang of it you can do quite powerful searches.

What do you think about continuing with it? For authors, it means that their ship will automatically appear in the list if they use the Infobox template for Oolite ships. Instead of one property for dimension there are now three. If they don't use the Infobox template (or don't create a wiki page for their ships) it will not appear in the dynamic list. Those that added their ships to the various manually maintained lists before will have an easier life now.

For "normal" users there is hardly a change. They can get acquainted with the new possibilities to find ships and eventually turn into "power" who have a whole new world of search.

Play around with it and think about whether it should be migrated to the Elite Wiki. I set the poll to 30 days and see what you think about it by then.

Of course, the whole thing only works if the existing ship pages get a little make-over with regards to new properties. Quite boring work, but manageable.

[JensAyton]

The obvious question to me is why the property markup can’t be handled by the infobox template. You’d probably want a new template or a new set of parameters where each quantity is split out, for example dimensions is replaced with length, width (or beam to use the fancy term) and height. Hiding boilerplate is what templates are for, after all.

[maik]

Yep, good point to consider. The current form is a first proof of concept without bells and whistles. But everyone is welcome to hack on it there. I won't have time before Monday, am just arriving in London now to spend the weekend.

[maik]

I picked up Ahruman's suggestion now and included the semantic markup in the Infobox Shipstats Oolite template. As a result, the dynamically generated ship list shows all ships now that are categorized as "Oolite ships".

Deviations from the manual ship lists in the Elite Wiki:

• I do not use the dimension attribute anymore, but separate width/height/length attributes so that the volume can be calculated. I only added those for the Adder so far.
• The OXP or Standard column is now based on the category "Oolite expansion pack", so shows quite nicely which ships have not been categorized properly
• The whole list is based on pages that are in the category "Oolite ships" and uses data from the template "Infobox Shipstats Oolite". Sometimes, authors used one Infobox for more than one ship. This results in entries that do not sort well and those should be split. Also, ships that do not have a wiki page or are on a wiki page that is not categorized as "Oolite ships" do not appear.

Edited to make the statement "shows all ships" true

[Smivs]

[*]The OXP or Standard column is now based on the category "Oolite expansion pack", so shows quite nicely which ships have not been categorized properly

Looks like most of them!

[Svengali]

Good job, maik!

[maik]

Another potential use that comes to mind is generating the OXP List from entries in the Quick Facts section of OXPs' wiki pages. That would mean splitting the OXP List into a generated part for OXPs that have a wiki page, and a manually maintained part for OXPs that don't.

Today, only few OXP pages have this Quick Facts section but it can certainly be expanded.

It seems less straight forward than generating a ship list but I'd give it a try. What are your thoughts on that? Or what other uses do you see for this extension?

[maik]

*bump*

If there are no objections I will install the Semantic MediaWiki extension tomorrow after the poll runs out. This includes the changes to the ShipStats template as well as the new dynamically generated ship list.

Then we (i.e. me and anyone who would like to help out) can work on setting missing attributes for the ships so that they appear correctly. Once the list looks alright and usable we can retire the existing hand-crafted ship lists (fastest, biggest, alphabetically, etc.) and replace them with the dynamic one.

Next thing I want to try out in the sandbox is partial generation of the OXP List based on the QuickFacts box.

[Svengali]

Sounds good, maik .-)

[maik]

If there are no objections I will install the Semantic MediaWiki extension tomorrow after the poll runs out.

I'll actually wait with this until the server behaves itself again. Too much hassle when you get disconnected from the server regularly.

[maik]

Now that we're in the middle of moving the wiki the extension will have to wait until this is finished.

[Diziet Sma]

A question.. is there any way to use the Semantic MediaWiki extension to create a query such as "show me all OXP's that have had version updates since <date>"?

[maik]

A question.. is there any way to use the Semantic MediaWiki extension to create a query such as "show me all OXP's that have had version updates since <date>"?

That should be possible. Today you can already achieve that by sorting the [wiki]OXP List[/wiki] via its "Updated" column.

[Diziet Sma]

Thanks! <mental gears start spinning>

[maik]

Thanks! <mental gears start spinning>

Looking forward to seeing where your mental gears stop