Preparing data for analysis is an essential part of the data workflow, and can often involve identifying and correcting errors, ensuring consistency, and reformatting data as needed. OpenRefine (formerly Google Refine) is a free and open-source tool designed for working with messy data. In this workshop, we will use OpenRefine to clean and format data, while automatically tracking the changes we make.  

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to: 

• Create, export and import a project in OpenRefine 

• Use the facet and text filter functions to work on subsets of data 

• Use the clustering, bulk editing, and transformation functions to reduce variations in data 

• Save cleaned data in a widely supported file format 

Participants should have OpenRefine installed on their personal computers before the workshop begins.  

Instructors:

Mary Campany, Authorities Metadata Librarian

Julia Corrice, Metadata Operations Librarian

Helpers:

Lencia McKee, Research Data Librarian, Research Data & Open Scholarship

Gabby Evergreen, Research Data Librarian, Research Data & Open Scholarship