Semantic MediaWiki
| Semantic MediaWiki | |
|---|---|
| Developer | Wikimedia Community / Professional Wiki |
| Type | MediaWiki Extension |
| Initial release | 2005 |
| Operating system | Web (SaaS), Linux, Windows, macOS |
| Written in | PHP, JavaScript |
| License | GPL 2.0+ |
| Website | semantic-mediawiki.org |
| Contents | |
Semantic MediaWiki (SMW) is an open-source extension for MediaWiki that turns a wiki into a structured knowledge base. It allows editors to annotate wiki pages with typed properties and values, which can then be queried, filtered, and displayed in customisable formats across the wiki.
Key Features
- Property annotations — pages can be tagged with typed data such as dates, numbers, page references, URLs, geographic coordinates, and more
- Inline queries — structured data stored anywhere in the wiki can be retrieved and displayed in tables, lists, calendars, maps, and other formats using a built-in query language
- SPARQL endpoint — the structured data is exposed as linked data, making it queryable from external systems
- Ask query language — a straightforward syntax for retrieving and filtering annotated data without requiring SPARQL knowledge
- Result formats — query results can be rendered as tables, timelines, bar charts, maps, and many other visualisations via additional extensions
- Semantic Forms / Page Forms — structured data entry forms for non-technical editors
How It Works
Editors annotate page content using a double-bracket property syntax, for example marking a software page with its release date or developer. These annotations are stored in a relational database alongside the wiki content. Any page can then query that database using SMW's Ask query language and render the results inline — for instance, displaying a table of all software pages with a specific property value.
This approach keeps knowledge structured and queryable while retaining the openness and editability of a wiki.
Enterprise Use
Semantic MediaWiki is used in organisations that need to combine wiki-style collaborative documentation with structured, queryable data. Common use cases include:
- Software and IT asset catalogues
- Research and scientific data documentation
- Regulatory and compliance documentation requiring typed metadata
- Knowledge graphs for domain-specific ontologies
Professional Wiki has deep expertise in Semantic MediaWiki deployments and has contributed to its development and ecosystem since 2009.
Limitations
Semantic MediaWiki is powerful but complex. The query syntax and annotation model have a steep learning curve for non-technical editors, and large deployments can face performance challenges. These limitations motivated the development of NeoWiki, a successor project by Professional Wiki that aims to deliver the core value of structured wiki data with significantly better usability.
