User:Dsp13/Archive1

Biographical coverage in WIkipedia

It would be nice to know more about how many people there are in Wikipedia, and what condition their pages are in. Wikipedia:People_by_year/Reports/Stats has lots of interesting stats.

the total number of people, when estimated in October 2004) by counting year of birth or year of death, is approx. 40,000;
the total number of people, when estimated in May 2005 by counting the number of categories provided for them, is approx. 80,000. The apparent discrepancy is presumably due to Wikipedia's growth: if the number of biographies doubled in this period, they were in fact growing slightly more slowly than Wikipedia as a whole.
Today (July 2006), counting using Category:Births_by_year, a much greater number is visible: over 188,000 whose exact date of birth is provided. There are more whose date of birth is approximately known (to the decade or century), around 4,650 people in Category:Year_of_birth_missing, and around 1,050 people in Category:Year_of_death_missing.Dsp13 11:53, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

number of en:wikipedia biographical articles by year of birth (July 2006)

Dsp13 18:36, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia / LC name authority record linkage by year of birth

I am producing some tables matching people in WIkipedia with the LIbrary of Congress Name Authority file. These tables were generated using OCLC Research's LC Name Authority Service. A match with the LC name authority file was only returned if it was a unique match for the name 'and' birth date (hence the label ExactMatchWithDates). Earlier experimentation suggested that this was 99% accurate.

de:Wikipedia has linked to the name authority file of the Deutsche Bibliothek, Germany's national library, since January 2005: see Jakob Voss 'Metadata with Personendata and beyond', a presentation at Wikimania 2005. The tables show the feasibility of similarly linking large numbers of en:Wikipedia pages dealing with people to the LC Name Authority file. If (as earlier experimentation suggested) around 20-25% of the 188,000 biographical articles with name of birth can be matched, then this would provide about 40,000 Wikipedia records linked to the LC Name authority.

Where available, I feel that links to the LC Name Authority File should be added to en:Wikipedia pages - either as external links or within the Wikipedia:Persondata template (see discussion at Wikipedia talk:Persondata). I hope that the tables produced here can facilitate that.

I'm a Wikipedia newbie, so I'd definitely welcome advice or comments at User talk:Dsp13 on whether the tables are useful - and participation in the discussion at Wikipedia talk:Persondata of how best to proceed with links to the LC Name Authority file.

The tables produce a link to the LC Name Authority file in the form of a link to a html page giving the MARC records for the person involved: for example, matching Lewis Carroll to n79-56546. Note that:

There is another syntax sometimes used for the name identifier, eliminating the '-' and making the reference number at the end a six digit number: n79056546. (The '79', incidentally, indicates the year in which the record was added to the LC file.)
The link in the tables is a different sort of link from that currently provided by de:Wikipedia, who go further by using the identifier to link into the Deutsche Bibliothek and provide a list of titles by, or about, the individual.

Here are lists of the tables produced so far (still under construction):

15th century

1400-1409
1410-1419 (8 people matched out of 75, i.e. 10.7%))
1420-1429 (8 people matched out of 87, i.e. 9.2%)
1430-1439 (14 people matched out of 113, i.e. 12.4%)
1440-1449
1450-1459
1460-1469
1470-1479
1480-1489
1490-1499

16th century

1500-1509 (68 people matched out of 279, i.e. 24.4%)
1510-1519 (61 people matched out of 269, i.e. 22.7%)
1520-1529 (54 people matched out of 290, i.e. 18.6%)
1530-1539 (60 people matched out of 330, i.e. 18.2%)
1540-1549 (82 people matched out of 335, i.e. 24.5%)
1550-1559 (80 people matched out of 328, i.e. 24.4%)
1560-1569 (100 people matched out of 383, i.e. 26.1%)
1570-1579 (93 people matched out of 329, i.e. 28.3%)
1580-1589 (100 people matched out of 368, i.e. 27.2%)
1590-1599 (118 people matched out of 369, i.e. 32.0%)

16th century

1500-1509 (68 people matched out of 279, i.e. 24.4%)
1510-1519 (61 people matched out of 269, i.e. 22.7%)
1520-1529 (54 people matched out of 290, i.e. 18.6%)
1530-1539 (60 people matched out of 330, i.e. 18.2%)
1540-1549 (82 people matched out of 335, i.e. 24.5%)
1550-1559 (80 people matched out of 328, i.e. 24.4%)
1560-1569 (100 people matched out of 383, i.e. 26.1%)
1570-1579 (93 people matched out of 329, i.e. 28.3%)
1580-1589 (100 people matched out of 368, i.e. 27.2%)
1590-1599 (118 people matched out of 369, i.e. 32.0%)

17th century

1600-1609 (136 people matched out of 406, i.e. 33.5%)
1610-1619 (123 people matched out of 374, i.e. 32.9%)
1620-1629 (115 people matched out of 353, i.e. 32.6%)
1630-1639 (121 people matched out of 336, i.e. 36.0%)
1640-1649 (103 people matched out of 335, i.e. 30.7%)
1650-1659 (111 people matched out of 331, i.e. 33.5%)
1660-1669 (119 people matched out of 347, i.e. 34.3%)
1670-1679 (107 people matched out of 335, i.e. 31.9%)
1680-1689 (138 people matched out of 350, i.e. 39.4%)
1690-1699 (146 people matched out of 382, i.e. 38.2%)

18th century

1700-1709 (148 people matched out of 533, i.e. 36.3%)
1710-1719 (215 people matched out of 533, i.e. 40.3%)
1720-1729 (290 people matched out of 696, i.e. 41.7%)
1730-1739 (349 people matched out of 811, i.e. 43.0%)
1740-1749 (424 people matched out of 1035, i.e. 41.0%)
1750-1759 (495 people matched out of 1210, i.e. 40.9%)
1760-1769 (464 people matched out of 1189, i.e. 39.0%)
1770-1779 (534 people matched out of 1290, i.e. 41.4%)
1780-1789 (639 people matched out of 1594, i.e. 40.1%)
1790-1799 (778 people matched out of 1973, i.e. 39.4%)

1800-1809

1800 (83 people matched out of 241, i.e. 34.4%)
1801 (76 people matched out of 198, i.e. 38.4%)
1802 (82 people matched out of 246, i.e. 33.3%)
1803 (79 people matched out of 202, i.e. 39.1%)
1804 (86 people matched out of 230, i.e. 37.4%)
1805 (84 people matched out of 220, i.e. 38.2%)
1806 (90 people matched out of 239, i.e. 37.7%)
1807 (85 people matched out of 211, i.e. 40.3%)
1808 (93 people matched out of 251, i.e. 37.1%)
1809 (96 people matched out of 260, i.e. 36.9%)

1810-1819

1810 (112 people matched out of 306, i.e. 36.6%)
1811 (96 people matched out of 276, i.e. 34.8%)
1812 (88 people matched out of 276, i.e. 31.9%)
1813 (100 people matched out of 274, i.e. 36.5%)
1814 (110 people matched out of 264, i.e. 41.7%)
1815 (85 people matched out of 289, i.e. 29.4%)
1816 (98 people matched out of 275, i.e. 35.6%)
1817 (104 people matched out of 312, i.e. 33.3)
1818 (93 people matched out of 316, i.e. 29.4%)
1819 (107 people matched out of 331, i.e. 32.3%)

Dsp13 14:21, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

1820-1829

1820 (101 people matched out of 323, i.e. 0.0%)
1821 (103 people matched out of 329, i.e. 31.3%)
1822 (91 people matched out of 286, i.e. 31.8%)
1823 (90 people matched out of 324, i.e. 27.8%)
1824 (109 people matched out of 298, i.e. 36.6%)
1825 (83 people matched out of 312, i.e. 26.6%)
1826 (95 people matched out of 295, i.e. 32.2%)
1827 (90 people matched out of 287, i.e. 31.4%)
1828 (88 people matched out of 303, i.e. 29.0%)
1829 (78 people matched out of 284, i.e. 27.5%)

Dsp13 21:25, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

1830-1839

1830 (96 people matched out of 286, i.e. 33.6%)
1831 (113 people matched out of 322, i.e. 35.1%)
1832 (85 people matched out of 307, i.e. 27.7%)
1833 (84 people matched out of 274, i.e. 30.7%)
1834 (93 people matched out of 263, i.e. 35.4%)
1835 (112 people matched out of 299, i.e. 37.5%)
1836 (77 people matched out of 284, i.e. 27.1%)
1837 (91 people matched out of 347, i.e. 26.2%)
1838 (103 people matched out of 319, i.e. 32.3%)
1839 (87 people matched out of 291, i.e. 29.9%)

Dsp13 12:09, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

1840-1849

1840 (95 people matched out of 322, i.e. 29.5%)
1841 (84 people matched out of 292, i.e. 28.8%)
1842 (114 people matched out of 310, i.e. 36.8%)
1843 (90 people matched out of 300, i.e. 30.0%)
1844 (106 people matched out of 337, i.e. 31.5%)
1845 (78 people matched out of 297, i.e. 26.3%)
1846 (86 people matched out of 297, i.e. 29.0%)
1847 (98 people matched out of 293, i.e. 33.4%)
1848 (88 people matched out of 313, i.e. 28.1%)
1849 (86 people matched out of 297, i.e. 30.0%)

Dsp13 13:32, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

1850-1859

1850 (102 people matched out of 342, i.e. 29.8%)
1851 (102 people matched out of 335, i.e. 30.4%)
1852 (111 people matched out of 323, i.e. 34.4%)
1853 (86 people matched out of 293, i.e. 29.4%)
1854 (107 people matched out of 337, i.e. 31.8%)
1855 (91 people matched out of 327, i.e. 27.8%)
1856 (118 people matched out of 368, i.e. 32.1%)
1857 (123 people matched out of 391, i.e. 31.5%)
1858 (136 people matched out of 414, i.e. 32.9%)
1859 (123 people matched out of 413, i.e. 29.8%)

Dsp13 14:15, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

1860-1869

1860 (149 people matched out of 435, i.e. 34.3%)
1861 (139 people matched out of 408, i.e. 34.1%)
1862 (136 people matched out of 432, i.e. 31.5%)
1863 (146 people matched out of 441, i.e. 33.1%)
1864 (121 people matched out of 418, i.e. 28.9%)
1865 (117 people matched out of 399, i.e. 29.3%)
1866 (135 people matched out of 410, i.e. 32.9%)
1867 (146 people matched out of 448, i.e. 32.6%)
1868 (143 people matched out of 428, i.e. 33.4%)
1869 (130 people matched out of 419, i.e. 31.0%)

Dsp13 18:26, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

1870-1879

1870 (113 people matched out of 447, i.e. 25.3%)
1871 (130 people matched out of 410, i.e. 31.7%)
1872 (152 people matched out of 471, i.e. 32.3%)
1873 (160 people matched out of 523, i.e. 30.6%)
1874 (184 people matched out of 525, i.e. 35.0%)
1875 (142 people matched out of 466, i.e. 30.5%)
1876 (149 people matched out of 498, i.e. 29.9%)
1877 (134 people matched out of 478, i.e. 28.0%)
1878 (169 people matched out of 509, i.e. 33.2%)
1879 (188 people matched out of 563, i.e. 33.4%)

Dsp13 22:06, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

1880-1889

1880 (178 people matched out of 533, i.e. 33.4%)
1881 (142 people matched out of 527, i.e. 26.9%)
1882 (180 people matched out of 575, i.e. 31.3%)
1883 (153 people matched out of 541, i.e. 28.3%)
1884 (181 people matched out of 563, i.e. 32.1%)
1885 (187 people matched out of 582, i.e. 32.1%)
1886 (205 people matched out of 600, i.e. 34.2%)
1887 (208 people matched out of 648, i.e. 32.1%)
1888 (197 people matched out of 624, i.e. 31.6%)
1889 (175 people matched out of 650, i.e. 26.9%)

Dsp13 11:00, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

1890-1899

1890 (186 people matched out of 632, i.e. 29.4%)
1891 (174 people matched out of 631, i.e. 27.6%)
1892 (235 people matched out of 706, i.e. 33.3%)
1893 (196 people matched out of 660, i.e. 29.7%)
1894 (209 people matched out of 690, i.e. 30.3%)
1895 (228 people matched out of 715, i.e. 31.9%)
1896 (193 people matched out of 688, i.e. 28.1%)
1897 (200 people matched out of 673, i.e. 29.7%)

Wikipedia / LC name authority record linkage - earlier effort

An earlier effort to match Wikipedia biographical articles with the LC name authority file used the List of people by name on Wikipedia to produce tables. This list was extremely incomplete, though manual checking of results using it suggested that ExactMatchesWithDates were over 99% accurate.

Comparison to other biographical dictionaries

It would be nice to have a better quantitative understanding of how Wikipedia's coverage of people compares to that of major biographical dictionaries, or indeed to that of other general Category:Encyclopedias. 14 are listed there. There could be a table listing biographical dictionaries, their geographical area, total number of entries, estimated number of entries included in Wikipedia.

Size of Wikipedia lists

It would be nice (where lists have become large, and hence split over several pages) if the first page of the list could give the total number of entries in the list. The main page gives the total number of articles in WIkipedia

Intellectual Controversies

Wikipedia:WikiProject History of Science is interesting. Nothing explicitly about controversies.
Category:Controversies

Learning how to edit & write in Wikipedia

Wikipedia:How_to_use_tables. Although long tables are deprecated, I don't see how a list could be used to express the linkages between the Library of Congress name authority and Wikipedia people