In an ideal world, any data you collect or obtain would be clean and formatted perfectly for analysis and visualization. But the reality is that data can be really messy! Cleaning and reformatting your data can be a time-consuming and tedious task, but there are ways to speed things up and automate repetitive tasks. OpenRefine can help!

This workshop will provide an introduction to OpenRefine, a powerful open source tool for exploring, cleaning and manipulating “messy” data. Through hands-on activities, using a variety of datasets, participants will learn how to:

Explore and identify patterns in data Normalize data using facets and clusters Manipulate and generate new textual and numeric data Transform and reshape datasets Use the General Regular Expression Language (GREL) to undertake advanced manipulations Use APIs to augment existing datasets

Location: Robarts Library, 5th Floor. Map & Data Library Computer Lab

Data visualization is an important tool in keeping your startup competitive and relevant. It allows you to quickly examine large amounts of data, and identify trends and issues. It also lets you effectively communicate your value to potential customers, stakeholders, and investors.

Through a combination of lecture and activities, this three-hour workshop will use a data visualization workflow model to introduce you to best practices and guidelines for designing effective visualizations and evaluating visualizations.

For the final part of the workshop, you will get a chance to work with a common data visualization tool, Tableau Desktop, creating visualizations such as a line graph of average temperature by month, a treemap of population by world regions, and a stacked bar graph of word frequencies in Romeo and Juliet.

For more information on Data Visualization, including topics covered in the workshop, and services offered by Map and Data Library, see the Data Visualization Guide.

Next session: Thursday Feb 21, 2019, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Location: Robarts Library, 4th Floor Electronic Classroom, Room 4033. Directions
Instructor: Kelly Schultz, Data Visualization Librarian, Map and Data Library  |  kelly.schultz@utoronto.ca

Note: This workshop is free and registration is required. However, we have a minimum attendance threshold for this course to run. If you cannot attend this workshop, and fail to withdraw 48+ hours in advance, thereby preventing others on the waitlist from filling in your spot, your library account will be charged $10. Please note, it is your responsibility to sign-in next to your name on the attendance sheet for this workshop. A blank signature spot will result in a penalty charge.