Metadata
Metadata 
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| Summary | |
| Description: | Semantic MediaWiki is a large extension of the MediaWiki ecosystem. In wikis where it is deployed such as this one, you can have semantics (meaning) attached to your words and data so that the words and data are meaningful to the system. Your content becomes a database. |
| More | |
| Notes: | Just like the spreadsheet allows knowledge workers to practically generate software applications, Semantic MediaWiki is no less revolutionary. Non-technical staff can create powerful databases with form-entry, reports, validations, etc. |
| Test: | See the Metadata page and it's "info box" |
| Example: | This page (Features) uses Semantic MediaWiki to provide a report on all the pages in the Feature Category |
With SMW, using simple markup, called annotations, you create the database. This page is an example of making the annotation. And the Features page shows how those annotations become a usable database.
What's It Good For?
By using semantic data (facilitated by forms and/or templates), you can turn your wiki into a database of events, hikes, multi-faceted employee directory, product or service catalog and virtually any other "database" that you can dream up. The schema of the database is more organic, and doesn't require as much technical know-how to create or modify.
Instructions
Mark up your page content with inline annotations. Then use the Browse and Ask pages to come up with queries that you can embed into "report" pages.
Example Annotations
- [[explainsFeature::SemanticMediaWiki]]
- The regular inline syntax is very similar to Category syntax except the normal 'Category' keyword is instead the property
- [[explainsFeature::SemanticMediaWiki| ]]
- If you add a pipe and space character, the annotation will not display a link, so use this form to "hide" the annotation from
- {{#set: explainsFeature=SemanticMediaWiki }}
- Using the #set parser tag can help with complicated property names or values.
What's In The Box
Browse
Pages like Special:Browse/Features-23_QUERY504415247238cca9574ac4fa4bf3fb91 reveal information about the semantic data.
Ask
The Special:Ask page lets you run queries through a form-based wizard making it much easier to get the right query, and the right display
Case Study / Guide
Dr. Cindy Cicalese and the team at MITRE have put together a website showcasing the features of Semantic MediaWiki and how it's used at https://collaborate.mitre.org/gestalt/index.php/Main_Page.