Project:Analytics/WCD: Difference between revisions

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(Removing notes from abandoned build attempts)
(New WCD)
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* WCD Generation 1: Wikibase instance on Wikibase Cloud. Importing data was painfully slow, and it was decided Wikibase was not a good format for the data we were trying to store. The dataset produced is lost and was not very interesting or useful.
* WCD Generation 1: Wikibase instance on Wikibase Cloud. Importing data was painfully slow, and it was decided Wikibase was not a good format for the data we were trying to store. The dataset produced is lost and was not very interesting or useful.
* WCD Generation 2: [https://github.com/internetarchive/iari IARI]; Postgres-based, but was extremely difficult to work with. Parts of it are used to support the Internet Archive Reference Explorer.
* WCD Generation 2: [https://github.com/internetarchive/iari IARI]; Postgres-based, but was extremely difficult to work with. Parts of it are used to support the Internet Archive Reference Explorer.
* WCD Generation 3: The latest attempt, using [https://github.com/internetarchive/wiki-references-extractor wiki-references-extractor] and [https://github.com/internetarchive/wiki-references-db wiki-references-db] (WRDB). WRDB is a core component of the broader WCD project.
* WCD Generation 3: The latest attempt, using [https://github.com/internetarchive/wiki-references-extractor wiki-references-extractor] and [https://github.com/internetarchive/wiki-references-db wiki-references-db] (WRDB). WRDB is a core component of the broader WCD project. Version 2 adds [https://github.com/internetarchive/RevisionChest RevisionChest] as a pre-processing step.
** Version 1: https://wikipediacitations.scatter.red
** Version 1: <s><nowiki>https://wikipediacitations.scatter.red</nowiki></s>
*** Partial build of English Wikipedia
*** Partial build of English Wikipedia
*** Has issues dealing with broken wikitext
*** Has issues dealing with broken wikitext
** Version 2:  
** Version 2: '''https://citations.scatteranalytics.com'''
*** Rather than build an entire database upfront, have it be possible to analyze a '''page URL''' at a '''point in time'''. This will allow us to prove the extraction mechanisms are working without resorting to building an entire database first
*WCD Generation 4 (pending): To be built off of a combination of Generation 3 and [https://github.com/scatter-llc/UVAWikipediaCitationsDatabase UVAWikipediaCitationsDatabase] which adds mapping between extracted citations and underlying sources
**** Available as [https://wikipediacitations-now.scatter.red Wikipedia Citations Now]
 
*** Be able to tell what part of the article a reference is from (in-line vs. endnote, etc.)
== Interesting findings ==
*** JSON representation of template parameters so you don't have to parse them out of the template
All are English Wikipedia articles
*** Use LLM to parse the article in general. Maybe have an option to select between classical parsing and LLM-based extraction.
 
**** Use basic mwparserfromhell extraction as first step. If a user comes across an entry and it looks broken, offer option to re-generate report with AI. User can then accept alternative.
* [https://citations.scatteranalytics.com/explorer/citation/51c35f5a082e88d867dfb0872e4ab6ac7311a9e9/other-articles?page_id=12292404 Non-templated citation used on three different articles]
*** In data model, associate references with revision id; then, associate revision IDs with timestamps in another table
* [https://citations.scatteranalytics.com/explorer/template/6385/report?parameter_key=isbn&parameter_value=978-0-226-77142-7 Same ISBN in "Cite book" template used across 22 articles with varying citations]
* [https://citations.scatteranalytics.com/explorer/citation/bdbb085b4fb9a609b67d8732f076eab3d8d6a536/other-articles?page_id=3410 Two citations to the same book, but without ISBN]
 
Potential bugs:
 
* Discrepancy between same-citation report and matching template parameter (if two citations are an exact match then they should appear in the same template parameter use report)
** [https://citations.scatteranalytics.com/explorer/citation/1ab8b8026639f6959f94736a4ec83e777e63ef14/other-articles?page_id=3410 other articles] and [https://citations.scatteranalytics.com/explorer/template/1374/report?parameter_key=doi&parameter_value=10.1016/0006-3207%2891%2990031-4%20 doi parameter value]
** [https://citations.scatteranalytics.com/explorer/citation/da6f699ca0a7f4d229011919ae1bd0b3c2b6f5e9/other-articles?page_id=1553396 other articles] and [https://citations.scatteranalytics.com/explorer/template/6385/report?parameter_key=isbn&parameter_value=978-0-19-958740-7 isbn parameter value]


== Longer term challenges ==
== Longer term challenges ==

Revision as of 21:31, 26 June 2026

Introduction

Wikipedia Citations Database is an effort supported by Internet Archive to build a comprehensive, historical database of each citation to appear on Wikipedia.

While methodologies of similar projects have focused on extracting standardized identifiers or easy-to-extract references, this project instead seeks to build a complete database, based on analyzing the structure.

Generations

  • WCD Generation 1: Wikibase instance on Wikibase Cloud. Importing data was painfully slow, and it was decided Wikibase was not a good format for the data we were trying to store. The dataset produced is lost and was not very interesting or useful.
  • WCD Generation 2: IARI; Postgres-based, but was extremely difficult to work with. Parts of it are used to support the Internet Archive Reference Explorer.
  • WCD Generation 3: The latest attempt, using wiki-references-extractor and wiki-references-db (WRDB). WRDB is a core component of the broader WCD project. Version 2 adds RevisionChest as a pre-processing step.
  • WCD Generation 4 (pending): To be built off of a combination of Generation 3 and UVAWikipediaCitationsDatabase which adds mapping between extracted citations and underlying sources

Interesting findings

All are English Wikipedia articles

Potential bugs:

Longer term challenges

  • Sometimes, Wikipedia includes statements from Wikidata, and those statements from Wikidata have citations, but they would not show up in revision text.
    • Would this require cross-referencing with rendered HTML output?
    • Or a "citations database plus" that includes the Wikidata item? (Wikipedia editors would probably like this for quickly comparing citations between Wikipedia article and Wikidata item.)