SMW tutorial

AIRWiki includes semantic elements based on the Semantic MediaWiki (SMW) extension to MediaWiki. The use of SMW enables the user with the possibility of using queries to extract specific content from the wiki. This webpage gives a short introduction to what SMW is and why it is useful.

AIRWiki also uses the Semantic Forms extension to make semantic-level editing of pages easier through the use of customized forms.

This tutorial is a repository of all the resources of AIRWiki dedicated to Semantic MediaWiki users.

Working with SMW

• Download a presentation about what SMW is and how it is used in the context of AIRWiki.
• Take a look to the structure of the ontology behind the semantic elements of AIRWiki.
• Queries are the key tool provided by SMW. Follow the directions to use semantic queries to enrich your pages with automatically generated lists and tables.
• Do you know how to find out what are the actual names of the semantic properties to be used in queries?
• If you're setting up or coordinating a project, you will find very useful the description of the complete lifecycle of a project in AIRWiki, from proposal to closure.
• Sometimes, you need to add a field to the semantic description of a category (and do everything that follows from that).

AIRWiki special pages dedicated to semantic content

The Special:SpecialPages page includes many interesting tools for the management of the semantic elements of AIRWiki. Below is a list of those, among these tools, which are most useful to non-expert users.

Browsing existing elements

• Special:Categories list of categories
• Special:Properties list of properties
• Special:Templates list of templates (the interesting ones are those which define a category)
• Special:Browse browse the semantic content of pages
• Special:SearchByProperty search for pages having a specific value for a property
• Special:Ask use your own semantic query to search through AIRWiki

Creating new elements

• Special:AddPage create a new page with (also) semantic content, using one of the available forms

Refer to Special:SpecialPages for a complete list of the available tools.

Bugs!

Of course, as any other software system, SMW has its bugs and problems. If you feel that something is not going as it should, take a look to the Known SMW bugs page.

External resources

• SMW help: help on the semantic tools provided by the Semantic MediaWiki (SMW) extension used by AIRWiki.
• SMW extension: official page of the SMW extension for MediaWiki. It provides a list of the features of SMW.
• Semantic Forms extension for SMW: official page of the extension providing SMW with semantic forms functionality, listing its features.