Commons:Structured data

About Structured Data on Commons

Structured data on Commons is multilingual information about a media file that can be understood by humans, with enough consistency that it can also be uniformly processed by machines.

The basics

Each media file page on Wikimedia Commons has a 'File information' and 'Structured data' tab.

We look at a simple example of a featured image on Wikimedia Commons: Würfelzucker (2018).

Under the File information tab, you can add file captions in many languages: short, factual descriptions about the file, without hyperlinks or wikitext. These file captions make the file easier to find in search.

Under the Structured data tab, you can indicate what is portrayed ("depicted") in the file. In this case: twelve white sugar cubes. The screenshot below is animated, demonstrating how the descriptive elements are multilingual. You can see structured data in a different language by switching your interface language setting.
More information: see Commons:Depicts.

Also under the Structured data tab, you can add other descriptive information about the file. This example describes the file's license, creator and quality assessment.
More information: see Commons:Statements.

What Structured Data on Commons does

Structured data on Commons improves access, searchability, exploration and provides new ways to use the content.

• Multilingual: Provides labels in over 300 languages which are added automatically.
• Accessibility: Provides information that makes content more accessible to users with specific needs e.g. blind and partially sighted.

• Searchability: Allows people to easily find content through better descriptions of what they depict.

• Connect knowledge from different sources: Allows content from many sources together to provide new ways to explore and visualise a subject.
• Explore collections and topics: Collates content to provide new ways to explore collections and topics.
• Usable by other websites and services: SDC data is free and machine readable meaning and ready to be used in apps and other content.

• Data with references: Data can reference to its sources, allowing you to see the original creator of the information and corroboration by third parties.
• Queryable: Allows queries to check data quality across 1,000s of files at once, allowing people to more easily identify and correct missing, out of date or incorrect information.