CDH Basics – Cleaning up Your Messy Data: An Introduction to OpenRefine

Description

CDH Lent Term Learning programme

Cleaning up your messy data: an introduction to OpenRefine

 

CDH Basics are open to staff and graduate students who want to learn and apply digital methods and use digital tools in their research. They involve direct instruction, demonstrations, combined with small group work and whole class discussion depending on the topic. The emphasis is on developing skills which participants can apply immediately and directly in their own research. 

This CDH Basics session explores how data which you have captured rather than created yourself, is likely to need cleaning up before you can use it effectively. This short session will introduce you to the basic principles of creating structured datasets and walk through some case studies in data cleaning with OpenRefine, a powerful open source tool for working with messy data.

 

The goals of this series are to: 

Introduce key DH methods, tools and concepts and develop participants’ awareness of how different disciplines approach the challenges of research in the digital age
Introduce approaches to digital project design which embed the methods and tools into the wider research lifecycle 
Introduce a robust ethics framework for digital research and signpost participants to further help and advice within the university in dealing with the ethical challenges of research in the digital age
Equip participants with a working knowledge of key digital infrastructures and services within the university and beyond which may have an impact on their practice as researchers 

 

Format

For in-person teaching: 2 hours classroom-based session plus access to presenters’ slides and course materials via Moodle 
For remote teaching: 1 hour live-streamed video, plus interactive chat forum for Q and A and access to course materials via Moodle 
Maximum number of participants per session: 15 
Number of sessions per year: 10 (4 in Michaelmas, 3 in Lent and 3 in Easter)