Wikidata:WikiProject Archives Linked Data Interest Group/Describing People
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This recommendation includes required statements for describing humans in wikidata and a set of properties based on the ISAAR(CPF) (Q494240) and Describing Archives: A Content Standard (Q5263780) standards. Wikidata has many other properties which can be used to describe humans which will not be included here. See instead, Wikidata list of properties about people and Wikidata list of authority control properties about people.
Fields
[edit]| property | DACS element | ISAAR-CPF element | expected / required value | description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| label | n/a | n/a | textual string. May not exceed 250 characters. | A person should have a label consisting of a form of their name by which they are known or can be identified. This may or may not be the same as their full name. Must be associated with a language. May repeat for multiple languages. Recommend including given name (P735) and family name (P734) as well. |
| given name (P735), family name (P734), second family name in Spanish name (P1950), name in native language (P1559) | 10.1.1 Authorized Form of the Name (Required) | 5.1.2 Authorized form(s) of name (Required) | given, family, and second family name in Spanish name all require wikidata entities for the name. Name in native language, on the other hand, expects the name as a textual string with a language qualifier. | To record authorized, parallel, and other forms of a person's name, use the properties given name (P735), family name (P734), second family name in Spanish name (P1950) if applies, and name in native language (P1559). Multiple names may be ordered using the qualifier series ordinal series ordinal (P1545). |
| pseudonym (P742) | 10.1.1 Authorized Form of the Name, 10.3.1 Parallel name, 10.3.2 Standardized forms of names according to other rules, 10.3.3 Other forms of name | 5.1.2 Authorized form(s) of name, 5.1.3 Parallel forms of name, 5.1.4 Standardized forms of name according to other rules, 5.1.5 Other forms of name | textual string. | If the person uses an acknowledged pseudonym, include pseudonym (P742). In some cases, the pseudonym may also be the person's label. |
| also known as | 10.3.1 Parallel name, 10.3.2 Standardized forms of names according to other rules, 10.3.3 Other forms of name | 5.1.3 Parallel forms of name, 5.1.4 Standardized forms of name according to other rules, 5.1.5 Other forms of name | a textual string representing another name by which the person is known or form of their name, this may include pseudonyms, initials, etc. | Also known as/skos:altLabel is a built-in Wikidata property used to designate the other names by which an entity is known. Also known as can be used to record differences in a name's spelling or punctuation, abbreviations (such as initials), or older forms of a name (such as a person's name before their marriage). |
| description | n/a | n/a | a short textual string | Provide a brief description of the person. Should be phrased without "a, an, the" etc AND start with lower case letter unless it's a proper noun. Use a form which can be inserted into a sentence. |
| date of birth (P569) and date of death (P570) | 11.1 Dates of Existence (Required if exists) | 5.2.1 Dates of existence (Required if exists) | the most specific date known, Add qualifiers, such as the calendar used or sourcing circumstances, if needed. | Record dates date of birth (P569) and date of death (P570) when known and not likely to harm the person being described. Use caution for living people whose date of birth is not widely known and published elsewhere, even if it can be found in or deduced from an archival collection or other writings (e.g. a social media announcement that it is their 30th birthday). If different dates are stated in different sources, record both dates with references. |
| place of birth (P19) and place of death (P20) | 11.3.1 Places | 5.2.3 Places | a wikidata entity which is an instance of some kind of location | Record places place of birth (P19) and place of death (P20) when known and not likely to harm the person being described. Use caution for living people whose place of birth is not widely known and published elsewhere, even if it can be found in or deduced from an archival collection or other writings. Record the most specific place known, whether country, province, city, or even specific location such as a hospital or named house. If more than one place of birth/death exists, record both with appropriate references. |
| place of burial (P119) and/or residence (P551) | 11.3.1 Places | 5.2.3 Places | a wikidata entity which is an instance of some kind of location | Record significant locations where a person has lived as residence (P551), along with appropriate start and end times. Use caution for living people whose place of residence is not widely known and published elsewhere, even if it can be found in or deduced from an archival collection or other writings. Record the most specific place known, whether country, province, city, or even specific location such as a hospital or named house.
You may also choose to record the place of burial (P119) to record the city, cemetery, or other location where a person is buried. |
| occupation (P106), field of work (P101), position held (P39), and/or employer (P108) | 11.5 Functions, Occupations, Activities | 5.2.5 Functions, occupations and activities | a wikidata entity appropriate to the property used (e.g. an occupation must be an instance of occupation or something appropriately subclassed from occupation). | Document the occupation(s), field(s) of work, or positions held by the person. Use occupation (P106) to designate a specific profession or occupation, e.g. writer, activist, dancer. Use field of work (P101) to indicate the area in which a person worked, e.g. theology. Use position held (P39) to document specific positions which have a wikidata entity. Use employer (P108) with qualifier for position held when possible. Any of these should be qualified with start/end times as known. Note, employer also fulfills "Related Entities." |
| Wikidata contains too many related entity properties to list. Consult this list of properties for familial relationships. | 12.1.1 Names/Identifiers of related corporate bodies, persons, or families, 12.2 Types of Related entity, 12.3 Nature of relationship, 12.4 Dates of the relationship. | 5.3.1 Names/Identifiers of related corporate bodies, persons or families, 5.3.2 Category of relationship, 5.3.3 Description of relationship, 5.3.4 Dates of the relationship | a wikidata entity representing the entity with whom the person described has this relationship along with appropriate qualifiers, such as start/end time | Wikidata has numerous properties to describe relationships between people and other entities. See this list of immediate familial-type relationships: . Consider properties which relate a person to a corporate-type entity, e.g. employer (P108) or member of political party (P102). You may also use properties on other entities from clubs to conglomerates and point back to the person’s entity, e.g. board member (P3320), founded by (P112), and owned by (P127). |
| archives at (P485) | n/a | n/a | the wikidata entity for the institution holding the person's archives. | Use to record the institution or institutions which hold the person's papers or archival collections. |