Build a Base

What is a base?

• Structured data

• Constrained subject

• Attractive presentation

• Community

Structured data

• 5 million topics

• topics have types

• types provide properties

Topics

Single entities

Concrete or abstract

Non-transitory

Types: Arnie is a...

• Politician

• Film actor

• Body-builder

• Film producer

• Award winner

• Celebrity

• City

• Filming location

• Travel destination

• Book subject

• Governmental jurisdiction

San Francisco is a...

Types have properties

• Properties of Person

• date of birth, place of birth, profession...

• Properties of Country

• capital, form of government, currency...

• Properties of Film

• release date, director, performances...

Common Types

• Freebase Commons

• Commonly-used types

• Broad areas of interest

• Too big to handle!

• 900k People, 60k Companies...

Bases are constrained

• Constrained subject of interest

• Small enough to collect everything

• Something you love!

Structured data about something you love

Type = written workAuthor = Edgar Allen Poe

Type = film, adaptationAuthor of adapted work = Poe

Making a base

Name your base

Your new base

Customize appearance

Add data

Add data

Related topics

Data added!

Also on your homepage

Base newsfeed

Invite friends to join your base

Web links and help topics

Community discussion board

Featured views

Add more views

Rename views

Customize your views

Edit view

Edit view

• Add/remove columns

• Sort by any column

• Choose table, gallery, timeline, or map

Gallery view

Map view

Timeline view

Incomplete data

Incomplete data

Incomplete data

Click edit to add datafor any property

Missing topics

Importing a list

Reconciling your list

When you add topics...

• Match with existing Freebase topic

• or create new Freebase topic

• make assertions

• type = Film

• subject = Vietnam War

• Data becomes part of Freebase Commons

New views from scratch

• Start on Explore page

• Find relevant types in Freebase

• Edit view

• Save it to your base

Start exploring

Freebase Commons

Start with a type

Edit view

• Add column: Participated in conflicts

• Limit to: Vietnam War

• Remove extraneous columns

• Display as: Gallery

Save the view to your base

Advanced filtering

• Combine multiple filters

• Drill down deep

• Connect across types

Non-US People

Characters from Vietnam War movies

Recipients of the Medal of Honor

Adding more

Look how manyassertions we get when someone adds a topic to

this view!

Making your own types• When there is no

Commons type

• When you need extra properties

• When you are building something that’s never been done before

Name your type• Singular noun

• “X is a Y”

Edit your schema

Include Commons types

Add properties

Expected types

Select a type to connect to

Choose“Link toTopic”

Your new type

Fill in more data

Linked topics are auto-typed

Other things to do

• Add images and descriptions

• Create “data mob” views

• Invite your friends

• Share your views

Adding images

Data mobs

Data mobs

Invite friends

Share your views

Share via social bookmarking

Now, build your base

• Choose a subject

• Click “Make a base” on Freebase.com

• Add data, create views, customize...

Stay in touch!

• Email: kirrily@metaweb.com

• Twitter: @fbase

• blog.freebase.com

Let us know how your base-building is going!