Semantic MediaWiki

Infobox_Software
name= Semantic MediaWiki
logo=
caption=
developer= [http://svn.wikimedia.org/svnroot/mediawiki/trunk/extensions/SemanticMediaWiki/README various]
latest release version = 1.3
latest release date = September 7, 2008
operating_system= Cross-platform
programming language=PHP
datavase=MySQL
genre=MediaWiki extension
license=GPL
website= [http://www.semantic-mediawiki.org Semantic MediaWiki]

Semantic MediaWiki (SMW) is an extension to MediaWiki (the wiki software implementation that Wikipedia and other sites run), that allows for the encoding of semantic data within wiki pages, thus turning a wiki that includes the extension into a semantic wiki. Data that has been encoded can be used in semantic searches, used for aggregation of pages, and exported to the outside world via RDF.

Every semantic annotation within SMW is a property connecting the page on which it resides to some other piece of data,either another page or a data value of some type using RDF triples of the form "(subject, predicate, object)".

As an example, a page about Berlin could have, encoded within it, the fact it is the capital of Germany. On the page "Berlin", the syntax would be:

... is the capital of ...

which is semantically equivalent to the statement "Berlin" "Is capital of" "Germany". In this example the Berlin page is the "subject", Is capital of is the "predicate", and Germany is the "object" that the symantic link is pointing to.

The population of Berlin could also be encoded; the syntax might look like:

... its population is ...

which is semantically equivalent to the statement "Berlin" "population" = "3993933".

Using SMW's own inline querying tools, a page could then be created that lists all cities with a population greater than 2 million; and Berlin would appear in such a list.

Semantic MediaWiki was initially created by Markus Krötzsch, Denny Vrandečić and Max Völkel, and was first released in 2005. Currently the extension has over 30 developers, and its development is supported by Institute AIFB of Universität Karlsruhe.Several other MediaWiki extensions rely on SMW's representation of semantic information.

References

* [http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn9295 "New Scientist", June 7, 2006]
* Markus Krötzsch, Denny Vrandecic, Max Völkel, Heiko Haller, Rudi Studer: [http://korrekt.org/index.php/Semantic_Wikipedia_%28JWS2007%29 Semantic Wikipedia] . Journal of Web Semantics 5/2007, December 2007.

See also

* Semantic wiki
* OntoWiki
* Freebase

External links

* [http://semantic-mediawiki.org Homepage of Semantic MediaWiki]
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/semediawiki Semantic MediaWiki mail lists and download at sourceforge]
* (includes list of current extensions/add-ons to Semantic MediaWiki)
* Example wikis using Semantic MediaWiki:
** [http://semanticweb.org Semanticweb.org] – the Semantic Web community wiki, runs on Semantic MediaWiki
** [http://discoursedb.org DiscourseDB] – wiki for observing news trends, uses Semantic MediaWiki and many extensions
** JurisPedia – an encyclopaedia of law
** [http://wiki.creativecommons.org Creative Commons wiki] – knowledge base about Creative Commons and licensing in general
** further sites are found at the frequently updated [http://semantic-mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:SMWRegistry SMW registration page]
* Extensions to Semantic MediaWiki:
** greatly simplify the input of structured data
** provides specific browsing features based on the semantic data
** displays semantic data in maps
** The [http://ontoworld.org/wiki/Halo_Extension Halo Extension] facilitates manual annotation in Semantic MediaWiki
* [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Semantic_MediaWiki Semantic wiki Project at Mediawiki]
* [http://www.slideshare.net/ronchet/practical-introduction-to-the-semantic-mediawiki Practical introduction to the Semantic Mediawiki] - presentation that introduces Semantic MediaWiki
* [http://oxford.geeknights.net/2007/april-11th/talks/nick-grandy.mp4 Semantic Mediawiki features] Video explaining Mediawiki features by Oxford Geeks
* [http://korrekt.org/talks/Wikimania2007/SMW.html Semantic MediaWiki: Towards Wikipedia 3.0] Presentation of the benefits Semantic Mediawiki offers to Wikipedia
* http://smwforum.ontoprise.com - SMW enabled forum for users and developers of Semantic MediaWiki+ in a commercial or production environment