Help:Contributing/import
Instead of hand-creating an item per author or source, use the external-authority pages in the semantic tools sidebar.
They fetch metadata from public services (Wikidata, dblp, OpenAlex, Crossref, Open Library, ORCID, YouTube) and let you pick the right record. They create a local stub item with the authority identifiers (ORCID, VIAF, ISNI, DOI, ISBN, YouTube IDs, …) and citation metadata (given/family name, published in, publisher as an entity, pages, volume, issue) — every imported statement carries an imported from <authority> reference. Each created item also gets a classic wiki page (Person:, Source: or Collective:) sitelinked to it, whose infobox renders the item's statements at view time — except book excerpts, which are part of a book and get only an item.
| Page | Creates | Input |
|---|---|---|
| Special:AddPerson | a person item + a Person: page |
name, ORCID iD, VIAF ID, ISNI, or a Wikidata Q id |
| Special:AddSource | a source item + a Source: page — see the class list below |
class first, then the class-specific input |
| Special:AddCollective | a non-person agent item (organization, company, band, agency, institution, team…) + a Collective: page |
a name |
Every import flow offers a manual fallback: "No matching record? Create the item manually instead" — on the search page and on the candidate-selection page. The manual form is prefilled with what you typed in the search boxes (a person name is split into given/family, e.g. "Marie Curie" → given Marie, family Curie), so you correct instead of retyping.
The person review step pre-fills these from the authority when available:
- Given name / Family name — the item's label is the full name, auto-generated from these two fields (there is no separate label field). The
Person:page title follows the same rule; a harvested record that has only a label keeps it. - Date of birth / Date of death — day-precision date fields (
YYYY-MM-DD). - Place of birth / Place of death — entity search boxes: type a name to pick an existing place item (or type a Q-id directly). Create missing places first (see Help:Contributing/entities).
- This person is deceased — toggle, off by default; tick it to reveal the date/place of death fields.
Collectives: common classes
The collective class is inferred from the harvested Wikidata instance-of hints and adjustable on the selection step: private company, public company, non-profit organization, governmental agency, music band, educational institution, research institute, political party, trade union, religious organization, sports team — plus the generic organization / group of humans.
Special:AddSource is class-first
Special:AddSource opens on a class picker (choose the source type first); the page then shows the adapted search fields (if any) and the adapted review fields for that class.
| Class | Kind | Search input |
|---|---|---|
| Book | parent | ISBN-13, title, or author |
| Scholarly article | parent | DOI, title, or author |
| Website | parent, manual entry | — (enter URL + title by hand) |
| Song · Film · Video | parent | title or author (Wikidata) |
| YouTube channel | parent | YouTube name or URL (exact match for a URL) |
| YouTube video | child of YouTube channel | YouTube name or URL |
| Book excerpt | child of book | — (manual: parent book + pages) |
| Web page | child of website | — (manual: parent website + URL) |
- Child classes need a parent: for a book excerpt, YouTube video or web page you first pick the parent item (book, YouTube channel, website) with an entity search box. The line under the box — "Book not yet imported to RonzzWikiBase? import it yourself" — jumps to the parent's import page. On creation the child is linked to the parent with a
part ofstatement. - Book excerpts: after picking the parent book, fill the pages and optionally the volume and chapters. A blank description auto-generates as Pages a-b (Volume c) of {book} from the pages/volume fields and the book's title; blank year and author(s) fall back to the parent book's own values (Leave blank if same as the parent book).
- Website vs web page: add an entire website once, then add specific pages as child items (see the explanation on Special:AddSource/website).
- Duration (film, song, video, YouTube video): type
MM:SSorHH:MM:SS— stored in seconds. - A source needs at least one author — except a book excerpt that inherits its authors from the parent book: the review step requires picking author entities (person, organization or group — type a name to search, or type a Q-id). Create missing people first via Special:AddPerson. This is enforced at creation.
Special:AddSource opens on a class picker (choose the source type first; tick create the item manually instead of searching to skip the search step and go straight to the manual form); the page then shows the adapted search fields (if any) and the adapted review fields for that class.
| Class | Kind | Search input |
|---|---|---|
| Book | parent | ISBN-13, title, or author |
| Scholarly article | parent | DOI, title, or author |
| Website | parent, manual entry | — (enter URL + title by hand) |
| Song · Film · Video | parent | title or author (Wikidata) |
| YouTube channel | parent | YouTube name or URL (exact match for a URL) |
| YouTube video | child of YouTube channel | YouTube name or URL |
| Book excerpt | child of book | — (manual: parent book + pages) |
| Web page | child of website | — (manual: parent website + URL) |
- Publisher is an entity (book, scholarly article): the publisher field is an entity search box — type a name to pick an existing publisher item (or type a Q-id). Create a missing publisher first (e.g. via Special:AddCollective). The item's publisher statement then points at that entity.
- Access (book, scholarly article, song, film, book excerpt): how this source is accessed — a toggle with three modes:
* Access URL (non-direct) — a link to a page where the work can be accessed (a landing page, not the file itself).
* Direct download link — a URL whose file is fetched and saved on this wiki automatically (as File:<title>.<ext>).
* Local file — pick a file on your computer to upload.
The two file modes expand a license field (pick an existing license item — CC0, CC BY, etc.). Uploaded files are named after the item (your original filename is ignored) and you should not upload copyrighted content unless you have the right to distribute it publicly.
- Child classes need a parent: for a book excerpt, YouTube video or web page you first pick the parent item (book, YouTube channel, website) with an entity search box. The line under the box — "Book not yet imported to RonzzWikiBase? import it yourself" — jumps to the parent's import page. On creation the child is linked to the parent with a
part ofstatement. - Book excerpts: after picking the parent book, fill the pages and optionally the volume and chapters. A blank description auto-generates as Pages a-b (Volume c) of {book} from the pages/volume fields and the book's title; blank year and author(s) fall back to the parent book's own values (Leave blank if same as the parent book).
- Website vs web page: add an entire website once, then add specific pages as child items (see the explanation on Special:AddSource/website).
- Duration (film, song, video, YouTube video): type
MM:SSorHH:MM:SS— stored in seconds. - A source needs at least one author — except a book excerpt that inherits its authors from the parent book: the review step requires picking author entities (person, organization or group — type a name to search, or type a Q-id). Create missing people first via Special:AddPerson. This is enforced at creation.
See also
- Help:Contributing — the hub
- Help:Contributing/entities — creating and editing items and properties
- Help:Contributing/semanticDynamicContent — page↔item sitelinks (incl. the Sitelink tab)