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 producer
• Film actor • Award winner
• Body-builder • Celebrity

San Francisco is a...
• City
• Filming location
• Travel destination
• Book subject
• Governmental jurisdiction

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 work
Author = Edgar Allen Poe
Type = film, adaptation
Author 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
Invite friends to join your base
Base newsfeed
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 data
for 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 many
assertions 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
Choose
“Link to
Topic”
Select a type
to connect to

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!
Let us know how your base-
building is going!
• Email: kirrily@metaweb.com
• Twitter: @fbase
• blog.freebase.com