Wikidata the Nonintimidating Way
Research funding and tracking scholarship is becoming a priority in many higher education institutions. Some universities are investing significant monies to track output demonstrating their contributions to the research ecosystem, but many cannot afford these costly solutions.
Wikidata, the “free and open knowledge base,” is becoming an important tool in the scholarly communications community. The linked data platform is ideal for institutions working to provide insight into their research output without significant monetary investment. Despite the benefits of Wikidata, the adoption of a library-wide Wikidata project may be daunting for library workers unfamiliar with linked data, SPARQL, and associated tools that aid in adding/updating Wikidata pages. This presentation will discuss the workflow of a low-tech, high-impact project that can be embraced by library workers of all technological backgrounds and knowledge levels.
A discussion of the workflow, based on a practicum experience designed for a library and information science student, will demonstrate how library workers can easily adopt a Wikidata project. Library workers will learn a workflow utilizing tools such as Zotero and OpenRefine, to collect and organize information for Wikidata. The workflow will result in the creation of Scholia profiles and provide deeper analysis of the institution's research output.
