Editing Mika/Temp/WikiFCD (section)

==Project idea==
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===What is the problem you're trying to solve?===
''What problem are you trying to solve by doing this project? This problem should be small enough that you expect it to be completely or mostly resolved by the end of this project.'' 
''Remember to [[Grants:Project/Tutorial#problem|review the tutorial]] for tips on how to answer this question.''<br/><br/>

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[[File:Marketvegetables.jpg|thumb|200px]]

Food, nutrition, and health are some of the most highly engaged topics in the Wikimedia ecosystem, and around the world.  [[Food_composition_data| Food Composition Data (FCD)]] is a key piece connecting those three topics, providing nutrient data for each food item. There is a need for an open and structured database for a global FCD and Wikimedia - especially Wikidata - is a perfect place to accommodate some of these data. Due to the diversity and complexity of the existing FCDs, it would be helpful to have a placeholder that can accommodate all the details from the existing FCDs, from which Wikidata project editors can pull information deemed appropriate for Wikimedia. Accommodating all the details are important as the needs within Wikimedia projects can change over time. 

We believe that Wikimedia is an appropriate venue to pursue for this project. Many FCDs - which currently come in various different formats (e.g. PDF, CSV) - include varying degrees of details. Nutrient content of unprocessed food items (e.g. apples) can also vary for the same item from different areas and times because of changing characteristics such as climate and terroir. However, the current FCDs are not well-suited for reflecting these changes. In fact, research institutes and intergovernmental agencies have attempted to create a global FCD in the past and none has succeeded to this date. Development and maintenance of such database are difficult if the contributors are limited to small/closed groups of researchers and employees in this field. Importantly, even though there are also wide regional variations in foods that are commonly consumed, some places lack access to regionally appropriate FCD, up-to-date FCD, or FCD in their own languages, leading to disparities in data availability and accessibility and ultimately, in scientific evidence in health research. We need a more open and collaborative system.

===What is your solution to this problem?===
''For the problem you identified in the previous section, briefly describe your how you would like to address this problem.'' 
''We recognize that there are many ways to solve a problem. We’d like to understand why you chose this particular solution, and why you think it is worth pursuing.'' 
''Remember to [[Grants:Project/Tutorial#solution|review the tutorial]] for tips on how to answer this question.''<br/><br/>

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'''1. What is the solution to this problem?'''

'''We propose a Wikibase instance, WikiFCD, to create a global nutrient FCD. This wiki-based system will engage participants from diverse wiki communities to make this database universally accessible, up-to-date, and comprehensive.''' 

Through this pilot project, we will write schemas to describe our data model based on five large food composition datasets that are already available online and develop good documentation for both project development and use. '''The equity and global nature of the project requires diverse participants''', which is very much in line with the missions of projects supported by Wikimedia Foundation. Through this pilot project, we hope to show how peer production can contribute to the improvement in data/knowledge disparities in global nutrition.
 
We will test several automated and manual methods to populate the wikibase with nutrient data from 5 food composition databases from around the world (see [[Mika/Temp/WikiFCD#Project_plan|Project Plan]] section for details). We will write schemas to describe our data model. We will map our properties to Wikidata properties.

'''2. Why is this a good idea?'''

* First, this Wikibase instance will '''significantly improve the usability of FCD from different sources for diverse users''' - from WikiProjects and Wikipedia editors and viewers to academic researchers to public health workers. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Food_and_drink WikiProject food and Drink] on English Wikipedia and [https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8485990#sitelinks-wikipedia its equivalents in other languages] are universally popular WikiProjects among editors and likewise, many articles on food and drink are within the top 10% of any Wikipedia's articles by pageviews. This new project can contribute to a topic that is of high interest to many people.

: Building a structured dataset is also a key step in identifying most appropriate data to borrow in resource-poor settings where up-to-date, detailed, and regionally appropriate FCD are not readily available. This new database will also open up ways to explore new research questions to explore more nuanced nutrition data (e.g. changes in nutrient content of the same product, depending on the climate conditions of the year), which can potentially make substantial advances in nutrition and health research.

* Secondly, by creating an instance of Wikibase for this project, we will be able to design our own data models, with input from Wikidata, to '''incorporate data from heterogeneous data sources'''. If subsets of the data are appropriate for Wikidata, we will be able to provide machine-actionable ShEx schemas that will help us prepare data for other systems. In this way the data will be readily-available for incorporation into Wikidata if desired.

* Finally, we will '''complete this project with diverse communities from around the world''' as these FCD can be translated into/from many languages. The design of Wikibase will allow us to more easily support additional languages in the data itself, as well as in user interfaces.