We’ve created some SPARQL queries recently which demonstrate the information Wikidata possesses about alumni from the University of Edinburgh.

Map of University of Edinburgh alumni by place of birth.

Timeline of University of Edinburgh alumni by date of birth.

Timeline of works by Robert Louis Stevenson.

It is very easy to amend these queries to display different results by virtue of changing one aspect; the institution.

1. You will each be allocated a university from the list below. Look up the unique Q number for the institution you have been allocated on Wikidata. Copy the Q number.
2. Then click on the map link above to swap out the University of Edinburgh’s unique Q number (Q160302) with the new Q number. Hit run.
3. Copy the link to export the result onto the Etherpad sheet. Give it a name e.g University of York – map of alumni.

 

1. University of York (Q967165) – Petscan. https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3301937
2. University of Bristol – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3301940
3. University of Oxford – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3301942
4. University of Cambridge – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3301946
5. University of Glasgow – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3301953
6. University of St. Andrews – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3301954
7. University of Teesside – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3301958
8. University of Trinity College, Dublin – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3301961
9. University of Dundee – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3301994
10. University of Heriot-Watt – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3301996
11. University of Edinburgh Napier – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3301999
12. Queen’s University Belfast – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3302001
13. University of Strathclyde – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3302003
14. Glasgow Caledonian University – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3302004
15. University of Stirling – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3302006
16. University of Manchester – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3302007
17. University of Plymouth – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3302008
18. University of Northampton – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3302009
19. London Metropolitan University – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3302010
20. University of Liverpool – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3302012
21. University of Leeds – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3302014
22. University of East Anglia – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3302017
23. University of Exeter – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3302018
24. University of Sheffield – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3302020
25. Cardiff University – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3302021
26. Aberystwyth University – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3302022
27. Bath Spa University – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3302024
28. Swansea University – Petscan https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?psid=3302040

 

Mass editing Wikidata.

Petscan is a very useful tool. In the above links, I have asked Petscan to show me Wikipedia articles on that exist in a Wikipedia category of ‘Alumni of xxxxxxx’. I have then filtered the result to show me only those Wikipedia pages from that category where there is a Wikidata item for that person BUT no Place of Education (P69) statement.

 

Using this information, I can copy the resulting information into a Google spreadsheet and arrange it in a format that Wikidata can import via the QuickStatements tool. So that’s exactly what we’re going to do.

It’s graduation day all over again for the alumni above!

(Video tutorial 1) (Video tutorial 2). (Exemplar sheet).

The syntax you need is explained in QuickStatements v.1 and you can use the Wikidata plug-in for Google Sheets to make wrangling the data in Google Sheets easier.