Asaf Bartov • Senior Program Officer, Emerging Wikimedia Communities, Wikimedia Foundation

Wikidata is the Wikimedia movement's structured and linked data repository, a sister project to Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Commons. It is based on standard linked data technologies (RDF, SPARQL, etc.), with all the advanced collaboration and accountability features of wikis. In just six years it has amassed structured data about more than 51 million items, with billions of individual data statements. It is increasingly a collaboration venue and a discovery and interoperability nexus between disparate repositories. Asaf Bartov is visiting New Zealand to present at the National Digital Forum, and has kindly agreed to run a Wikidata masterclass for information professionals and researchers.

This is not Wikidata 101: complete beginners should at least watch Asaf's 2017 presentation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVrAx3AmUvA) to familiarise themselves with the basics. Asaf will be showcasing some impressive queries, charts, and applications of Wikidata like WikiGenome, Crotos, and Scholia, and will explain how institutions and scholars can get involved using tools like Mix ’n’ Match. Take advantage of this rare opportunity to learn from a Wikidata expert.