Help:Reference and provenance data

File:SMW statement.png

Semantic MediaWiki statement with untested claim or fact

File:SMW statement (factual claim).png

Semantic MediaWiki statement containing a factual claim

File:Example referenced statement.gif

Example implementation

Statements recorded with Semantic MediaWiki mostly contain untested claims which in general is interpret as an "incomplete claim for which evidence is yet unavailable"1.

In some instances it is helpful to record provenance2 metadata as reference to improve an understanding and context of a claim.

For example, the statement "Berlin has a population of 3 500 000" is untested in context of a missing reference or axiomatic declaration, yet in spite of lacking evidence the claim is expected to be "true"3 under the open-world assumption.

Some users (see SMW issue 985).4 and in some situations, relying on untested claims maybe challenging therefore Semantic MediaWiki 2.5.0Released on an unknown date unknown versions of MediaWiki introduced the new datatype "Reference"Holds a value that associates it to individual defined provenance metadata record5 with which an untested claim can be transformed into a factual claim by recording provenance metadata678 (as to when, how, by whom a claim was made) and hereby allows to state tangible or convergent evidence1.

For an exhaustive description on how to use the data type for provenance recording, please see the (see SMW issue 1808).6 as well as the Semantic MediaWiki Sandbox example page on the corresponding pull request #1812.9

Semantic Cite extension vs. Reference datatype

In extension "Semantic Cite"No description was provided. where a statement is known as citation resource, a reference represents a "loose" attachment to any text or link without correlation to a specific claim or annotation. On the other hand a typed reference (and hereby its provenance data) is individually linked to its statement and inherently bound to a specific value assignment and only exists in context of that statement and ceases to exist when the statement is removed.

See also

• Page on Semantic MediaWiki issue #1808
• Video on how to use the reference type to record some provenance metadata
• Example on Semantic MediaWiki Sandbox for pull request #1812
• Help page on datatype "Reference"Holds a value that associates it to individual defined provenance metadata record
• Help page on special property "Has fields"Defines a short list of fields with a fixed type and order for datatype Record

#scite could not render a citation text for reference "gh:smw:985" because type "issue" was not assigned to a template.

#scite could not render a citation text for reference "gh:smw:1808" because type "issue" was not assigned to a template.

#scite could not render a citation text for reference "gh:smw:1812" because type "pullrequest" was not assigned to a template.

#scite could not render a citation text for reference "sb:smw:1812" because type "example" was not assigned to a template.

#scite could not render a citation text for reference "paper:ram:2009:NPS:2889875.2889882" because type "inproceedings" was not assigned to a template.

#scite could not render a citation text for reference "paper:simmhan:2005:SDP:1084805.1084812" because type "article" was not assigned to a template.