History, Present & Future of�WBStack & WBaas
Adam Shorland�@addshore
Who am I?
I have been involved in Wikipedia in some way since 2005.
I joined the Wikidata team back in 2013.
I’m currently the Wikidata & Wikibase Tech Lead.
I am on the board of the MediaWiki Stakeholders group.
I created WBStack.
WBStack at a glance
Open-source & free WBaaS platform launched by me (as a volunteer)
Combines MediaWiki, Wikibase, Blazegraph Query Service, SPARQL UI, Elasticsearch and more within a single platform
Designed for quick start up rather than lots of customisation
Shared infrastructure → Very substantial infrastructure cost savings
How did we get here?
Wikidata (2012+)
The early days (2015-2019)
MWaaS
MWaaS notes started appearing on a train in 2015.
I believed that MediaWiki had great potential for people and organizations.
Between 2013 and 2015 I mainly experienced a collection of people and organizations that would struggle at the early stages of software setup & maintenance, instead of really getting to use the software.
I was dreaming of possible future solutions.
WikiHub
I continued to develop the idea in 2016
Started modeling a Github like structure, for personal and organizational use.
A connection to Wikibase still hadn’t been made, instead focusing on MediaWiki
Prototype thoughts
In 2017 I started thinking about how to implement something for people to see.
This would ultimately aim to be Wikimedia services and ecosystem, but for non Wikimedia specific use cases.
Wikibase first appeared in the notes.
I created the first git repo / code.
Federated Workshops
In 2018 we had a round of Wikibase workshops supported by the ERC (European Research Council)
I started focusing on the idea of WBaaS as a focus, rather than MediaWiki
More impactful for Wikibase, as the setup and maintenance is even harder.
Code switched from mwaas -> wbaas & prototyping began.
Proof of concept (WikWiki)
The end of 2018 saw an initial working proof of concept.
Shown to a small audience the interest continued to grow.
Similar architecture to what currently exists today.
WikWiki -> OpenCura
In 2019 I took a sabbatical & created most of what can be seen on WBStack today.
This sabbatical ended just before Wikidatacon 2019, so that was the next step!
WBStack onwards (2019+)
Wikidatacon 2019
Shown at Wikidatacon 2019 in its first version.
Demoed as 0 to Wikibase in under a minute.
Invitation codes started being given out.
Maintained solely by me in my spare time.
Infrastructure costs covered by Rhizome from the start.
2019 continued
Service modifications
Discussions around the future with WMDE
2020
Service modifications by me
Open Source all code & Infrastructure including docs
“MVP for Wikibase as a service platform” landed on the WMDE development plan
“OpenCura has proven to make it easier for people to spin up a working Wikibase instance in minutes. We need to continue working on it, clarify its direction and build it out.”
2021
Service modifications by WMDE
Fresh documentation of the infrastructure
“Wikibase evaluation service (Wikibase as a Service MVP): Development” landed on the WMDE development plan
�We will build the Wikibase evaluation service, a way to instantly create a temporary Wikibase sandbox that will enable users to more quickly and easily evaluate if the software is a fit for their project. This is the MVP version of "Wikibase as a Service". The goal of this MVP is to learn about the technical requirements and challenges of hosted Wikibases so that we can make decisions around a long-term strategy.
2021 continued
WMDE has taken over the running costs of the WBStack infrastructure from Rhizome
WMDE has performed a deep dive into the future of WBaaS over the past 3 months (March - May)
WMDE is working on releasing an updated strategy for Wikibase around WBaaS.
WMDE has worked on WBStack code in a few different settings in 2021, and more resources are allocated for further work this year.
Usage
WBStack users
WBStack has ~100 unique users
15+ unique institutions has WBStack accounts (including 8 libraries)
12+ research teams are represented
13+ other organizations including small companies and non profit orgs
Differentiated by ease of use
WBstack makes Wikibase more accessible to those who will care for the data
Non-technical specialists can focus on getting the Wikibase going and worrying about the data, instead of worrying about running the software and keeping it going through time.
Example Sites
Sandboxes
Pilots/Proofs of Concept
“Permanent” Instances
The Future
Vision
WBaaS empowers research teams and institutions to co-create the world’s largest, publicly available knowledge graph.
Demolishing data silos, making it easier than ever to create, connect, and grow your own linked data
Invitations
I’ll be handing out another round of invitation codes today.
If you would like one please message me after this presentation.
Email or Twitter preferred.
Reading & Links
Blog posts:
2019 - An introduction to WBStack
2019 - November review
2020 - Infrastructure
2020 - Update 1
2020 - Update 2
2020 - Open Sourcing
2021 - Infrastructure update
Questions?