Denny Vrandečić
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Short description|Croatian computer scientist (born 1978)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Denny Vrandečić
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| image = Dr. Denny Vrandečić-2 (cropped).jpg
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| caption = Denny Vrandečić in 2015
| birth_name = Zdenko Vrandečić
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1978|02|27|df=y}}
| birth_place = Stuttgart, Germany
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| fields = Wikis
Semantic Web
Semantic wikis
Web-based collaborative systems
| workplaces = Google
Wikimedia Foundation
University of Southern California
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| alma_mater = Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (PhD)
| thesis_title = Ontology evaluation
| thesis_url = https://dx.doi.org/10.5445/IR/1000018419
| thesis_year = 2010
| doctoral_advisor = Rudi Studer
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| known_for = Wikidata
Wikifunctions
Semantic MediaWiki
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| website = {{URL|http://simia.net}}
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Zdenko "Denny" Vrandečić (born 27 February 1978 in Stuttgart, Germany{{Citation needed|date=January 2024|reason=no sources for date and place}}) is a Croatian computer scientist. He was a co-developer of Semantic MediaWiki and Wikidata, the lead developer of the Wikifunctions project, and an employee of the Wikimedia Foundation as a Head of Special Projects, Structured Content.Hilmar Schmundt: A Wikipedia for all. How the online encyclopedia Wikipedia wants to become a universal translation machine. In: Der Spiegel. No. 3, 16 January 2021, pp. 102–103 (about Abstract Wikipedia and Denny Vrandečić) He published modules for the German role-playing game The Dark Eye.
He lived in the San Francisco Bay Area in California, United States,{{Cite book|url=https://wikipedia20.pubpub.org/pub/zsgg6u0o/release/1|title=Contributors|journal=Wikipedia @ 20 |date=15 October 2020|publisher=PubPub|isbn=978-0-262-53817-6|language=en}} until mid 2024, after which he returned to Stuttgart.{{Cite web |title=Heading for Germany - Simia |url=http://simia.net/wiki/Heading_for_Germany |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=simia.net}}
Education
Vrandečić attended the {{Ill|Geschwister-Scholl Gymnasium|de|Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium Stuttgart}} in Stuttgart and from 1997 he studied computer science and philosophy at the University of Stuttgart. He received his doctorate in 2010 at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT),{{cite thesis|first=Denny|last=Vrandečić|year=2010|publisher=Karlsruhe Institute of Technology|url=https://publikationen.bibliothek.kit.edu/1000018419/1355289 |degree=PhD|title= Ontology evaluation|oclc= 1184439877|website=kit.edu|doi=10.5445/IR/1000018419}}{{DBLP}}{{Cite web|title=Institute AIFB - Denny Vrandecic/en|url=https://aifb.kit.edu/web/Denny_Vrandecic/en|access-date=27 February 2021|website=aifb.kit.edu}} where he was a research associate in the Knowledge Management Research Group at the Institute for Applied Computer Science and Formal Description Languages (AFIB), with Rudi Studer, from 2004 to 2012. In 2010, he visited the University of Southern California (ISI).{{fact|date=July 2021}}
Career and research
Vrandečić is involved in knowledge bases, data mining, massive web-based collaboration, and the Semantic Web. In 2012/2013, he was project manager for Wikidata (Wikipedia sister project) at Wikimedia Germany.{{Cite web|date=4 April 2012|title=Das Wikidata-Team|url=https://blog.wikimedia.de/2012/04/04/das-wikidata-team/|access-date=27 February 2021|website=Wikimedia Deutschland Blog|language=de-DE}} Together with Markus Krötzsch (who was also at KIT in the Knowledge Management group), he is co-developer of the Semantic MediaWiki (SMW), which was also the inspiration for Wikidata.{{Cite magazine|title=Inside the Alexa-Friendly World of Wikidata|language=en-us|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.wired.com/story/inside-the-alexa-friendly-world-of-wikidata/|access-date=27 February 2021|issn=1059-1028}}
In 2013 Vrandečić worked as an ontologist at Google on the Knowledge Graph,{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705074636/http://research.google.com/pubs/vrandecic.html|archivedate=5 July 2014|url=http://research.google.com/pubs/vrandecic.html|website=research.google.com|title=Denny Vrandečić at Google}} the knowledge base used by Google to compile its search engine results with semantic information from various sources.{{Cite web|title=Denny Vrandecic|url=https://www.knowledgegraph.tech/speakers/denny-vrandecic/|access-date=27 February 2021|website=The Knowledge Graph Conference|language=en-US}} In September 2019, Vrandečić announced that he was taking on a new role in Google's development department as Wikimedian in Residence, which consisted of explaining Wikimedia projects to other employees.{{Cite web|title=personal announcement|url=https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikidata/2019-September/013466.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190920190115/https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikidata/2019-September/013466.html |archive-date=20 September 2019 }}
In July 2020, he left Google to join the Wikimedia Foundation, where he has since been involved in building Wikifunctions and Abstract Wikipedia. It aims to use structured data from Wikidata to create a multilingual, machine-driven knowledge platform.{{Cite web|title=Abstract Wikipedia/July 2020 announcement – Meta|url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/July_2020_announcement|access-date=27 February 2021|website=meta.wikimedia.org}} In his essay contribution to Wikipedia's 20th anniversary publication, Wikipedia @ 20 - Stories of an Unfinished Revolution, he elaborates both technical and personal reasoning on urgencies for smaller and even for bigger language Wikipedia editions.{{Cite book|last=Vrandečić|first=Denny|url=https://wikipedia20.pubpub.org/pub/svu3uy1z/release/2|title=12 Collaborating on the Sum of All Knowledge Across Languages|date=15 October 2020|publisher=PubPub|isbn=978-0-262-53817-6|language=en}}
Vrandečić is one of the founders and administrators of Croatian Wikipedia. In 2008, he served as head of the scientific program of Wikimania. Vrandečić served on the Board of Trustees from 2015 to 2016.{{Cite web|title=Wikimedia Foundation elections 2015/Results|url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2015/Results|access-date=3 March 2021|website=meta.wikimedia.org|language=en}}
= Publications =
Vrandečić's publications{{Google scholar id}} include:
- {{Cite Q|Q18507561}}
- {{Cite Q|Q27826821}}
- {{Cite Q|Q27634247}}
- {{Cite Q|Q37108228}}
- {{Cite Q|Q56876997}}
- {{Cite Q|Q95946302}}
- {{Cite Q | Q106143058 }}
Personal life
Vrandečić family and his parents are from Pučišća on island of Brač.{{Cite web |title=Pastir Loda - Simia |url=http://simia.net/wiki/Pastir_Loda |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=simia.net}}
Vrandečić holds both Croatian and US citizenship.{{Cite news |date=16 January 2021 |title=Eine Wikipedia für alle |work=Der Spiegel, Nr. 3, S. 102 |url=https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/wie-wikipedia-zu-einer-uebersetzungsmaschine-werden-will-a-00000000-0002-0001-0000-000174874903 }}
He lived with his wife and daughter in the Bay Area, until summer 2024 when they moved to Stuttgart.
References
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Category:Wikimedia Foundation staff members
Category:Karlsruhe Institute of Technology alumni