Hi Spencer, Important distinction --> Mediawiki is "software", Wikipedia is a "Project".
I assure you I am NOT proposing automatically updated plots in Wikipedia without an intermediate human check. Quite the opposite. For context, the Wikimedia Foundation (aka the WMF, the owner/developer of MediaWiki and owner/operator of Wikipedia) had until recently an extension called "Graph" that they developed for the exact purpose of generating charts within Wikipedia pages from data in those same pages.. The extension has been hugely popular among the many 3rd-party users of Mediawiki like myself. Earlier this year the WMF discontinued the Graph extension and is in the process of transitioning to a new conceived replacement extension called "Charts" that aims at doing the same thing as "Graph", but with greater granular control over the of the data and plot configurations of plots used in WMF projects like Wikipedia. My current interest in the old "R" extension for MediaWiki is now motivated by the fact that - the WMF developing a "chart rendering microservice" as a prerequisite to using the Charts extension that must be installed on every wiki seeking to use "Charts" in order for the charts extension to pass data to it and get back the chart generated by the chart generator service (sound familiar? *cough* "R"). In my opinion, the WMF and the mediawiki community are re-inventing the wheel for lack of awareness that the wheel already exists in the form of the "R" project. I think the data visualization capability of the Charts extension could be vastly increased and availability accelerated if the community would simply utilize "R" as a chart generating service, rather than build one from scratch that will take years to do what R does today. All that said. If I can get a working example of what the "R" extension provided as recently as 5 years ago, I think I can "show them" what is possible in R today. Final context - In the same way that it is already a normal practice to use "ImageMagick" as a microservice for generating thumbnails and other size variations of images, I think "R" would be the perfect microservice for charts. This is an opportunity I don't want the MediaWIki community to miss out on. If we miss this opportunity, the entire community of 3rd party users of Mediawiki that have *nothing* to do with Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Foundation will be forced to use the WMF developed and maintained "chart generator" microservice that will likely never do anything that the 3rd-party community needs. Sorry for the long reply. I did not have time to write a shorter one. Cheers! /Rich -----Original Message----- From: Spencer Graves <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2025 1:22 PM To: Evans, Richard K. (GRC-H000) <[email protected]>; [email protected] Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] [BULK] Re: [R] R integration for MediaWiki CAUTION: This email originated from outside of NASA. Please take care when clicking links or opening attachments. Use the "Report Message" button to report suspicious messages to the NASA SOC. Hi, Rich: I would not recommend automatically updated plots in Wikipedia without an intermediate human check, though you might do it for, e.g., a corporate Wiki that uses the MediaWiki software. However, you should be able to git clone https://github.com/sigbertklinke/R Then create your own version to do what you want and offer it as a replacement for "https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Extension:R&oldid=4384988";. Of course, if you are the only user, you may not want to invest the time required to do that. sg On 12/30/25 12:11, Evans, Richard K. (GRC-H000) wrote: > Hi Spencer, > > Thanks for the quick reply. Iiuc, what you are describing is the ability to > document R code in MediaWiki pages with R specific syntax highlighting. This > is provided by MediWiki's "SyntaxHighlight" extension, which provides that > language specific syntax highlighting for many different programing > languages, including R. > > What I'm looking for, and info on anything people might still be using to do > what the MediaWiki R Extension did way back when it was available. > Specifically, it actually processed R code when the page is saved and > delivered a limited type of output (presumably a single plot output) back to > the wiki for viewing. > > /Rich > > -----Original Message----- > From: Spencer Graves <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2025 9:09 AM > To: Evans, Richard K. (GRC-H000) <[email protected]>; > [email protected] > Subject: [EXTERNAL] [BULK] Re: [R] R integration for MediaWiki > > CAUTION: This email originated from outside of NASA. Please take care when > clicking links or opening attachments. Use the "Report Message" button to > report suspicious messages to the NASA SOC. > > > > > Hi, Rich: > > > I have NOT used that, but I have R Markdown code in appendices to article on > Wikiversity under "Category:R Markdown vignettes".[1] In addition to ending > with "[[Category:R Markdown vignettes]]", I set all code from vignettes > between "<syntaxhighlight lang="text">" and "</syntaxhighlight>". > > > I do not know if this is of interest to you or anyone else. > > > Best Wishes, Spencer Graves > > > p.s. I am actively developing "MaddisonData" and "WID" packages on GitHub,[2] > which facilitate analysis of data from the Maddison Data Project and the > World Inequality Database. I am NOT and economist and could use collaborators > who could help get articles using these packages published in appropriate > refereed academic journals, in exchange for joint authorship, of course. > > > [1] Wikiversity, "Category:R Markdown vignettes": > > > https://en.w/ > ikiversity.org%2Fwiki%2FCategory%3AR_Markdown_vignettes&data=05%7C02%7 > Crichard.k.evans%40nasa.gov%7C73944dcc1b0b485af28508de47d05f35%7C7005d > 45845be48ae8140d43da96dd17b%7C0%7C0%7C639027157440213623%7CUnknown%7CT > WFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiI > sIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=ou6MFbWGX%2BoJvKJ > 9vHi6ockbywGygFEuUT0L5ROWNMw%3D&reserved=0 > > > [2] I'm "sbgraves237" on GitHub: > > > https://gith/ > ub.com%2Fsbgraves237&data=05%7C02%7Crichard.k.evans%40nasa.gov%7C73944 > dcc1b0b485af28508de47d05f35%7C7005d45845be48ae8140d43da96dd17b%7C0%7C0 > %7C639027157440230389%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUs > IlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7 > C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=5qkfRSb6mQr4xrgDaNtTB%2BL8RvJHa8ZmJTR11o%2FxMaY%3D&r > eserved=0 > > > I'm especially interested in collaborators for "MaddisonData": > > > https://gith/ > ub.com%2Fsbgraves237%2FMaddisonData&data=05%7C02%7Crichard.k.evans%40n > asa.gov%7C73944dcc1b0b485af28508de47d05f35%7C7005d45845be48ae8140d43da > 96dd17b%7C0%7C0%7C639027157440247039%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0e > U1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIld > UIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=xyb3%2BlpV2mnfWksAycjazpIXZIN2O1DN4z8 > hRMWGwhw%3D&reserved=0 > > > and "WID": > > > https://gith/ > ub.com%2Fsbgraves237%2FWID&data=05%7C02%7Crichard.k.evans%40nasa.gov%7 > C73944dcc1b0b485af28508de47d05f35%7C7005d45845be48ae8140d43da96dd17b%7 > C0%7C0%7C639027157440263546%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOn > RydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3 > D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=qLVv5oD9lh4wpKQSPQ1oFc9G6m%2FChFKQLLTC1CWZFJQ% > 3D&reserved=0 > > > On 12/30/25 07:13, Evans, Richard K. (GRC-H000) via R-help wrote: >> Hello, >> I am interested in finding out if there re any active projects that provide >> R integration to MediaWiki. From 2006 to 2016 there was an extension for >> MediaWiki called "R". >> >> Ref: >> https://www/. >> mediawiki.org%2Fw%2Findex.php%3Ftitle%3DExtension%3AR%26oldid%3D43849 >> 8 >> 8&data=05%7C02%7Crichard.k.evans%40nasa.gov%7Cf1b1a608cffd436563ff08d >> e >> 47acfc67%7C7005d45845be48ae8140d43da96dd17b%7C0%7C0%7C639027005472755 >> 7 >> 89%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMC >> I >> sIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata= >> % >> 2BMJLPhrGBqIRO4OBQcBNTQEaTL1mdS4ouEuuGvOPAmM%3D&reserved=0 >> >> If anyone is still using this extension or knows of something similar. >> Please let me know. >> >> Thank you, >> /Rich >> >> ______________________________________________ >> [email protected] mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see >> https://stat/ >> .ethz.ch%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fr-help&data=05%7C02%7Crichard.k.evans >> % >> 40nasa.gov%7Cf1b1a608cffd436563ff08de47acfc67%7C7005d45845be48ae8140d >> 4 >> 3da96dd17b%7C0%7C0%7C639027005472775419%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFb >> X >> B0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCI >> s >> IldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=1aX58RPhCikYMIAoQwnIFgH3wtLvuZxKV >> s >> %2FOwLlreH4%3D&reserved=0 PLEASE do read the posting guide >> https://www/. >> r-project.org%2Fposting-guide.html&data=05%7C02%7Crichard.k.evans%40n >> a >> sa.gov%7Cf1b1a608cffd436563ff08de47acfc67%7C7005d45845be48ae8140d43da >> 9 >> 6dd17b%7C0%7C0%7C639027005472793342%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0e >> U >> 1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIld >> U >> IjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=4Kyv8a4a%2BFUod4738p6OBHZ3zhnMADONQHH >> e >> 0xxHYxo%3D&reserved=0 and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, >> reproducible code. > ______________________________________________ [email protected] mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide https://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
