Wikipedia (CDSW)

In this project, we will explore a few ways to gather data using the Wikipedia API. Once we've done that, we will extend this to code to create our own datasets of Wikipedia edits or other data that we might be able to use to ask and answer questions in the final session.

Goals

Get set up to build datasets with the Wikipedia API
Have fun collecting different types of data from Wikipedia
Practice reading and extending other people's code
Create a few collections of different types of data from Wikipedia that you can do research with in the final section

Download and test the Wikipedia API project

If you are confused by these steps, go back and refresh your memory with the Day 0 setup and tutorial and Day 0 tutorial

(Estimated time: 10 minutes)

Download the Wikipedia API project

Right click the following file, click "Save Target as..." or "Save link as...", and save it to your Desktop directory:

https://communitydata.cc/~groceryheist/wikipedia-cdsw.zip

The ".zip" extension on the above file indicates that it is a compressed Zip archive. We need to "extract" its contents. To do this, click on "Start", then "Computer" on Windows or open Finder and navigate to your Desktop directory if you are a Mac. Find wikipedia-cdsw.zip on your Desktop and double-click on it to "unzip" it. That will create a folder called wikipedia-cdsw containing several files.

Test the Wikipedia API code

On Windows

Start up PowerShell and navigate to the Desktop\wikipedia-cdsw directory where the Wikipedia API code lives. For example, if the Wikipedia API project is at C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\Desktop\wikipedia-cdsw,

cd C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\Desktop\wikipedia-cdsw

On Mac

Start a command prompt and navigate to the Desktop/wikipedia-data-examples directory where the Wikipedia API code lives. For example, if the Wikipedia API project is at ~/Desktop/wikipedia-cdsw,

cd ~/Desktop/wikipedia-data-examples

This will change you into the Wikipedia example code directory. Running ls will show you the source code files in that directory. One of the files is "wikipedia-1.py", which has a ".py" extension indicating that it is a Python script. Type:

python wikipedia-1.py

at the command prompt to execute the wikipedia-1.py Python script. Wait a little while while your computer connects to Wikipedia. You should see the result of a query from Wikipedia API on your screen. If you don't, let a staff member know.

Example topics we might cover in the session

Main Wikipedia API

explain MediaWiki, exists on other wikis
navigate to api page and show the documentation, point out examples
introduce the API sandbox as a tool for building queries
looking at the images within a page http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&titles=Seattle&prop=images&imlimit=20&format=jsonfm
change the city with a custom URL
edit count http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&list=users&ususers=Benjamin_Mako_Hill%7CJtmorgan%7CSj%7CKoavf&usprop=editcount&format=jsonfm
get the content of the main page http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?format=json&action=query&titles=Main%20Page&prop=revisions&rvprop=content

Page View API

Use the experimental API
Explain that this API is a little different because it uses relative paths instead of parameters.
Also note that this API is case-sensitive.
Request for Panama Papers: https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/metrics/pageviews/per-article/en.wikipedia/all-access/user/Panama_Papers/daily/20160401/20160420

Questions to answer

Warm up questions:

When was the article about the Panama Papers created?
When was the most recent edit to the Panama Papers article?
Think of one or two articles that interest you. Which ones were created first?
Which have been edited most recently?

How many views did Panama_Papers have…

the day it was created?
the first week?
How does this compare to the articles that interest you?

How many edits did it get in…

the first 24 hours?
the first week?
How many edits did the articles that interest you get?

Resources