Wikimedia Deutschland/Data Partnerships Model/Background

Main page

Executive Summary

Background

Purpose

Partners

The Phases of Data Partnerships

Data Partnerships Scenarios

Decision-Making

Conclusion

Background The term “data partnerships” refers to partnerships involving Wikidata and Wikibase. Wikidata is a free and openly accessible Wikimedia project that stores structured, machine-readable data about the world. Wikibase is the collaborative open-source software that powers Wikidata. Data partnerships may take multiple forms: data donations, linking to data, enriching data, installing a Wikibase instance or a hybrid scenario involving one or more partnership types. These data partnership scenarios will be covered in the partnership scenario section of this document. Wikimedia Deutschland regards data partnerships as a key component within the larger strategy and vision for Wikidata and Wikibase. For instance, high-quality data donations from partner institutions improve the quality of data on Wikidata and new actors help to enrich and broaden Wikidata and build the Wikibase ecosystem. By providing the software to build a thriving Wikibase ecosystem we hope to increase access to data currently hidden in silos, providing more people with more access to more knowledge. Likewise, we see data partnerships as an important aspect of carrying out the Wikimedia movement’s 2030 strategic direction. The movement strategy states, “Wikimedia will become the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge, and anyone who shares our vision will be able to join us.” In particular, a number of the recommendations and principles that accompany this strategic vision are relevant to data partnership work: Coordinate across stakeholders (recommendation five) Evaluate, iterate and adapt (recommendation ten) Collaboration and cooperation (principle seven) Efficiency (principle nine) Resilience (principle ten) Topics for Impact (recommendation 8) This model is based on the experience and perspective of those involved in data partnerships work at Wikimedia Deutschland. While we have specific staff dedicated to data partnerships, this cross-functional work involves staff members across various teams at Wikimedia Deutschland. This includes engineering managers and software developers, product and program managers, and support from internal experts on partnerships, and monitoring and evaluation.