Will Kent

Will Kent showed us the behind the scenes of Wikidata and how many different ways you can use the data when doing research. One thing I learned from Will Kent is the amount of detail and time that goes into each Wikidata page and the people who contribute are basically volunteering. They upload tons of information for everyone to use without always getting credit for what they did. Will also helped me to understand where to look if I’m looking for specific sources on the Wikidata subject. For example, each piece of information is linked with a reference link. This can help to find sources related to the topic of interest. From there you can find other sources or topics that relate to the original search. The visit showed me how small the world is especially when it comes to digital communications. People from all over the world are essentially working on the same “project,” contributing to Wikidata information. They all work together from different locations to sort and make accessible information for anyone to use. Also the zoom call showed no matter where someone is, you are able to work together and communicate to complete a given task. It relates to the “Digital Tools” article because the article is talking about digital tools that are used to make research easier, and zoom falls under this category. Also mentioned in the text were the terms “data analysis and data management.” The people who work for Wikidata remind me of those terms beucase they have a ton a different information they are sorting through and managing to place in the correct Wikidata page. Not all the information can be sorted through a computer, a lot of it has to be sorted be a person. Overall, I learned a lot about Wikidata from the zoom call with Will Kent.