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An Open Ranking of Wikipedia Pages

Posted by Soulskill on from the citation-needed dept.

vigna writes: The Laboratory for Web Algorithmics of the Università degli studi di Milano did it again: after creating the first open ranking of the World Wide Web they have put together the first entirely open ranking of Wikipedia, using Wikidata to categorize pages. The ranking is based on classic and easily explainable centrality measures or page views, and it is entirely open — all data (Wikipedia and Wikidata dumps) and all software used is publicly available. Just in case you wonder, the most important food is chocolate, the most important band are the Beatles and the most important idea is atheism.

18 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. John was right by oodaloop · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The Beatles really ARE more popular than Jesus.

    --
    Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    1. Re:John was right by amicusNYCL · · Score: 4, Informative

      No they aren't. Among men only, only Obama, Napoleon, G.W. Bush, FDR, Reagan, Shakespeare, Hitler, Washington, Churchill, Lincoln, Aristotle, Columbus, Clinton, Theodore Roosevelt, and Einstein are more popular than Jesus. Bob Dylan (21) would be the most popular musician, beating out both Michael Jackson (27) and Elvis (29). None of the Beatles are individually in the top 100 for men.

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
    2. Re:John was right by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes, but the Beatles, much like Devastator or Voltron, are far greater and more powerful when combined than the sum of their individual parts.

    3. Re:John was right by jrumney · · Score: 2

      Rank by "Page views" rather than "Harmonic centrality" (whatever that means). John Lennon is at number 122 among humans, with Jesus trailing at 123. Biggest musician seems to be Ariana Grande at number 1 (only Robin Williams is bigger than her).

    4. Re:John was right by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      you seem to confuse the members of the band for the band itself.

      nobody gives a shit about what ringo does nowadays, but they'll look up what the beatles did.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  2. Starlight Glimmer 2016 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Vote Starlight Glimmer for President in 2016. As the social justice candidate, Starlight invites all of America to experience true friendship for the first time. Starlight believes in an America where nobody flaunts their special talents because they have no special talents to flaunt. Free yourself and choose equality as your special talent.

  3. hmmm... by antiperimetaparalogo · · Score: 1

    the most important idea is atheism

    And just in case you wonder, the seventh most important idea is (or is it?)... Ice Bucket Challenge!

    1. 1. Atheism
    2. 2. Communism
    3. 3. Agnosticism
    4. 4. Homeland for the Jewish people
    5. 5. Determinism
    6. 6. Apatheism
    7. 7. Carthago delenda est
    8. 8. Ice Bucket Challenge

    Well, maybe it's not importance that we deal with...

    --
    Antisthenes: "Wisdom begins by examining the words/names." - excuse my English, i am (slightly...) better with my Greek!
    1. Re: hmmm... by monkeyzoo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I learned a new word...
      an apatheist is someone who considers the question of the existence of gods as neither meaningful nor relevant to their life.

    2. Re: hmmm... by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 1

      an apatheist is someone who considers the question of the existence of gods as neither meaningful nor relevant to their life.

      Although this neologism is suspect on etymological grounds, one could only hope that this word will become more popular and overtake the various misuses or imprecise uses of "agnosticism" for example.

      For the record, "agnostic" (literally "lacking knowledge") in the traditional sense doesn't mean "I don't know" nor "I don't care," but rather is a positive philosophical belief that it is impossible to know for certain whether god(s) exist, e.g., because of the impossibility of collecting appropriate evidence or the nature of knowledge/deities/the universe/whatever.

      Or, in terms of familiar statements:

      "I believe" = theism
      "I don't believe" = (strong) atheism
      "I don't care" = apatheism
      "I don't know" = weak atheism (aka "negative" or "soft" atheism)
      "I can't know" or "No one knows" = agnosticism
      "I don't know, and I don't care" = apatheistic atheism
      "I don't give a crap, and nobody could ever know anyway" = strong agnostic apatheism

      etc.

    3. Re: hmmm... by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 1

      And of course, let's not forget the Hitchhikerian:

      "Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mindbogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as the final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God.
      "The argument goes something like this: 'I refuse to prove that I exist,' says God, 'for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.'
      "'But,' says Man, 'the Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED.'
      "'Oh dear,' says God, 'I hadn't thought of that,' and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.
      "'Oh, that was easy,' says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.
      "Most leading theologians claim that this argument is a load of dingo's kidneys, but that didn't stop Oolon Colluphid making a small fortune when he used it as the central theme of his bestselling book, Well That about Wraps It Up for God.

    4. Re: hmmm... by james_gnz · · Score: 1

      As a Christian i don't consider anyone as "a-theist" because "Theos" exist with/in everyone - but even as just a Greek, and even accepting the neologism "the-ist", "a-theist" still has a problematic meaning of, not just "not believing" but "without God" (that's what happens when "-religious- atheist" define themselves... they need God even for that!).

      Correct me if I'm wrong (I don't speak Greek), but doesn't "atheist" mean without gods generally, rather than just without Yahweh specifically? You wouldn't say pre-Christian Greeks who believed in the Greek pantheon were atheist?

    5. Re: hmmm... by monkeyzoo · · Score: 1

      Apatheism was the position of the Buddha regarding God:

      The Buddha said: "I do not care to know your various theories about God. What is the use of discussing all the subtle doctrines of the soul? Do good and be good. And this will take you to freedom and whatever truth there is."

      http://www.quora.com/What-is-t...

    6. Re: hmmm... by bryonak · · Score: 1

      You refer to "agnosticism" (as per the Wikipedia article), a very specific philosophical school that derives from, but is not the same as the word "agnostic".

      gnostic: I know for a fact
      agnostic: I don't know

      Example: I am gnostic about my own weight because I just stepped on a scale, but I'm agnostic about the weight of my neighbour, unless he tells me.

      As for beliefs...
      theist: I believe gods exist (specifically: my god) -- active belief
      atheist: I don't believe gods exist -- lack of a belief
      antitheist: I believe gods don't exist -- active belief

      Here's a breakdown in "table" form (sorry for the crappy \w\w -> \w\. formatting):

        . . . . . . . . . . gnostic . . . . . . . . . . . agnostic

      theist . . . I know as an absolute truth . . . . . . I believe in my god(s), but
        . . . . . . . that my god(s) exists . . . . . . . . . . . I don't have proof (knowledge)

      atheist . . I don't believe in any god, and . . . . I don't hold belief in any god, and
        . . . . . . . nobody has, or will in future . . . . . . I can't prove either way
        . . . . . . . have, evidence to make me believe

      antitheist . I know for a fact that . . . . . . . . I believe that no god exists,
        . . . . . . . . no god can exist . . . . . . . . . . . but I don't have proof (knowledge)

      Agnosticism is somewhat similar to gnostic atheism, but makes a much stronger statement (non-subjective). Anyway, I've never met a serious agnosticist.
      I've met plenty of what this new expression "apatheist" describes fittingly, but this is a completely different dimension as it describes intent rather than facts or faith.

  4. Weird. by Rei · · Score: 1

    Some curious results:

    "occupation:omnivore". Apparently Bob Dillan is the best omnivore out there.
    "gender:animal": Obama is #1.
    "citizenship:cops": Alfred Deacon, the second prime minister of Australia
    "genre:set" William Shakespeare, of course.

    --
    "...but Republicans plan to come back with a new plan, where they just slash the tires on all the ambulances."
  5. Yet TV shows ... by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

    ... that more people care about the unreality show crap such as Kartrashians then the spiritually minded Oprah ...

    [Kim Kartrashian] has 25 million Twitter followers, about a million less than Oprah Winfrey and nearly 5 million more than CNN Breaking News.

    NSFW reference

    1. Re:Yet TV shows ... by lister+king+of+smeg · · Score: 3, Funny

      ... that more people care about the unreality show crap such as Kartrashians[sic] then the spiritually minded Oprah ...

      [Kim Kartrashian] has 25 million Twitter followers, about a million less than Oprah Winfrey and nearly 5 million more than CNN Breaking News.

      NSFW reference

      I remember back when I had no clue who she was. I thought people had started watching Star Trek Deep Space 9 because I kept hearing them talk about the Cardassians. Sadly I had misheard. I do have to say I would watch a show about the Cardassians, especially if it featured Garak he was the best of the characters to come out of that show.

      --
      ---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
  6. The word important is being used in a flawed sense by zkiwi34 · · Score: 2

    Do page views really reflect importance? I'd conclude that that proposition is bollocks.

    Classic case in point. No music video even comes close to Psy's "Gangnam Style" in views. But seriously, is it the most important music video? Hint, the answer is not even close.

    I'd even hazard that water is (just probably, slightly) more important than Chocolate, but it wouldn't even register on this measure.

  7. Re:The word important is being used in a flawed se by neo-mkrey · · Score: 1

    Water is wet -- what else is there to know about it?