[Developers] Updating the API Documentation

Fri May 30 20:49:19 UTC 2008

We've always been able to represent that level of attribution, by creating a bot user account for each high level source (mwcl_musicbrainz,   mwcl_chefmoz, etc.), which we will continue to do (although this data currently gets lost when a topic loses in a merge, and when certain types of schema migrations occur).

Al

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kirrily Robert" <kirrily at metaweb.com>
To: "For discussions about MQL, Freebase API and apps built on Freebase" <developers at freebase.com>
Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 1:02:51 PM (GMT-0800) America/Los_Angeles
Subject: Re: [Developers] Updating the API Documentation

Ah, I thought I'd heard attributions used for things like "This bunch  
of facts came from basketballstats.com" or similar?

K.

On May 30, 2008, at 12:57 PM, Alexander Marks wrote:

> Actually, point 3 (citations) is not really addressed by our recent  
> extension to the attribution system, which is intended to support  
> only high level groupings of freebase writes for administrative  
> reasons. Such attributions are not guaranteed to stay attached to  
> any particular assertion over time, and can only be written once.  
> Supporting fact-level citation is really a different problem  
> entirely that we don't currently have a solution to.
>
> Al
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kirrily Robert" <kirrily at metaweb.com>
> To: "For discussions about MQL, Freebase API and apps built on  
> Freebase" <developers at freebase.com>
> Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 12:38:29 PM (GMT-0800) America/Los_Angeles
> Subject: Re: [Developers] Updating the API Documentation
>
> Interestingly, there is work afoot to permit almost every single thing
> you mention here.
>
> I should upload my talk from the last user group meeting, about the
> "Freebase Commons" and our new user domain features, I guess, as it
> addresses points 1 and 2.  (See also http://www.freebase.com/view/user/robert/default_domain/my_favorite_things
>  for example -- and don't be surprised if you see stuff like that
> becoming more prominent.)
>
> There is work being done with "attributions" which will offer some
> features pertinent to point 3.
>
> As for points 4 and 5 I'm not sure exactly what's planned but I know
> that both these are things that are under consideration.  Just because
> they're not there yet doesn't mean they never will be.
>
> K.
>
> On May 30, 2008, at 12:32 PM, Jeff Thompson wrote:
>
>> Up front in the documentation it is also important to say what
>> Freebase is *not* for.
>> Even on this mailing list, many have come to Freebase thinking they
>> can use it for
>> a general purpose knowledge representation system only to be told to
>> scale back their
>> expectations. Freebase is good for lots of things but it is not
>> built to handle:
>> * Information beyond a certain level of detail.  For example if you
>> are an expert on
>>  Elvis, you still will not be able to braindump everything you know
>> into Freebase
>>  (such as Elivs's pets, cars, etc.)
>> * Personal information that attracts people to Facebook, etc. such
>> as my
>>  favorite music or friends, my goals, any changing data that would
>> make
>>  me want to visit my Freebase page every day.
>> * Citations - who said that a piece of controversial data is true
>> such that a Freebase
>>  topic can serve as an encyclopedic entry.
>> * No property inference.  You cannot specify a property as
>> transitive so that a page
>>  will automatically generate, e.g., all of a person's ancestors.
>> Hence Freebase
>>  is "flat": you must enter all data about a topic directly on the
>> topic.
>> * No inference rules and no plans for them.  You cannot specify the
>> "uncle" relation
>>  as inferred from the "parent" and "brother" relations.
>>
>> Phil Gochenour wrote:
>>> Hey everybody,
>>>
>>> If you read the Freebase blog you've probably already seen my
>>> little intro,
>>> but in case you haven't, I'm Phil, the new documentation manager,
>>> aka Doctor
>>> of the Docs, here at Metaweb. Over the next several weeks I'm going
>>> to be
>>> doing a little clean-up on the API documentation, and wanted to see
>>> if you
>>> all had any comments, suggestions,  etc,. on anything from the
>>> document
>>> content to the way it's organized. My main concern is making sure
>>> that it's
>>> all consistent and accurate, and I'm guessing that you all have far
>>> more
>>> experience in working with it than I do. Also, if you've got any
>>> other ideas
>>> or feedback for other developer documentation, I'd be happy to hear
>>> from
>>> you.
>>>
>>> Looking forward to working with you all in the future,
>>>
>>> Phil
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> http://lists.freebase.com/mailman/listinfo/developers
>
> -- 
> Kirrily Robert
> Freebase Community Director
> kirrily at metaweb.com
> http://freebase.com/
>
>
>
>
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> http://lists.freebase.com/mailman/listinfo/developers
>
> _______________________________________________
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-- 
Kirrily Robert
Freebase Community Director
kirrily at metaweb.com
http://freebase.com/

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