German parliamentarians linked to global knowledge base

Researchers created a dataset connecting every speaker in the German Bundestag from 1949 to 2021 with entries in Wikidata, a collaboratively edited knowledge base.

This linkage combines transcripts of parliamentary speeches with detailed biographical information about the speakers. The project assessed the completeness of this combined data, paying close attention to representation of gender, professional experience, and international connections like birthplace, languages spoken, and any awards received from outside Germany.

The analysis revealed both opportunities and challenges in using Wikidata for political research. Combining the German Parliament’s speech records, known as GermaParl, with Wikidata allows researchers to study patterns in parliamentary debate alongside biographical details. However, the study also highlighted inconsistencies in the available data, suggesting that some groups or characteristics may be underrepresented in Wikidata’s records.

This work demonstrates the power of linking political data to open knowledge graphs like Wikidata, but also emphasizes the need for careful evaluation of potential biases within those graphs. The researchers suggest ongoing monitoring and improvement of metadata coverage is crucial for ensuring fair and accurate analysis. Future work could expand this approach to other parliamentary systems and explore how Wikidata can be used to track the evolution of political discourse over time.