Summary and Schedule

OpenRefine is a powerful free, open source tool for working with messy data: cleaning it; transforming it from one format into another; and extending it with web services and external data. This lesson was especially developed for researchers in the humanities who want to learn how to improve the quality of their research data. It is designed for participants with no pevious experience.

Learning objectives

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

• start a new OpenRefine project and import data
• work with a subset of your data with the help of facets and filters
• correct errors and reduce variations in your data through facets and clustering
• transform your data for future analysis
• use undo and redo actions of your cleaning steps
• enrich your data with the help of reconciliation service
• save and export cleaned data as well as data cleaning steps

	Setup Instructions	Download files required for the lesson
Duration: 00h 00m	1. Introduction to OpenRefine	How do you write a lesson using R Markdown and sandpaper?
Duration: 00h 00m	2. Importing Data and Getting to Know the OpenRefine User Interface	TODO
Duration: 00h 00m	3. Exploring Data	TODO
Duration: 00h 00m	4. Transforming Data	TODO
Duration: 00h 00m	5. Filtering and Sorting Data	TODO
Duration: 00h 00m	6. Reconciling Data with External Data Sources	TODO
Duration: 00h 00m	7. Exporting and Saving Data and Cleaning Steps	TODO
Duration: 00h 00m	8. Resources for Future Self-study	TODO
Duration: 00h 00m	Finish

The actual schedule may vary slightly depending on the topics and exercises chosen by the instructor.

Getting started

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To follow this lesson, you must have OpenRefine installed on your computer and download a data file.

Dataset

The dataset used in this lesson is a subset of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Open Access Initiative dataset with information about the objects in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (e.g. title, culture, artist biography). It has been reduced in the number of columns and intentionally ‘messed up’ a little bit.

Download the csv data file to your Computer.

Software Setup

For this lesson you will need OpenRefine and a web browser. Note: OpenRefine is a Java program that runs on your machine (not in the cloud). It runs inside your browser, but no web connection is needed.

1. Check that you have Firefox, Edge, Opera or Chrome, Chromium, Safari browsers installed and set as your default browser. OpenRefine runs in your default browser. It will not run correctly in Internet Explorer. Sometimes it even has some issues with Firefox.
2. Download the software from openrefine.org/download and check below for further instructions depending on your operating system

Windows

MacOS

Linux

1. Unzip the downloaded file into a directory by right-clicking and selecting “Extract…”. Name that directory something like OpenRefine.
2. Go to your newly created OpenRefine directory.
3. Launch OpenRefine by double clicking on openrefine.exe (this will launch a black command prompt window first; ignore this window, and wait for OpenRefine to launch in the web browser, which is where you will interact with the program).

• If Windows displays a blue notification titled Microsoft Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting, click on More info and then click on Run anyway.

4. If you are using a different browser, or OpenRefine does not automatically open for you, point your browser at http://127.0.0.1:3333/ or http://localhost:3333 to launch the program.

1. Unzip the downloaded file into a directory by double-clicking it. Name that directory something like OpenRefine.
2. Go to your newly created OpenRefine directory.
3. Drag the OpenRefine icon into Applications folder, and Ctrl-click/Open… it.

• If Mac shows a notification when you try to run the program that it cannot verify the developer, click Cancel. Then, Right-click or Ctrl-click the icon and select Open. The notification will now have an Open button. If it does not allow to open the program, repeat the process and there will be an Open button the second time. For additional details, consult the OpenRefine installation guide.

4. If you are using a different browser, or OpenRefine does not automatically open for you, point your browser at http://127.0.0.1:3333/ or http://localhost:3333 to launch the program

1. Unzip the downloaded file into a directory. Name that directory something like OpenRefine.
2. Navigate to your newly created OpenRefine directory using the command line.
3. Type ./refine into the terminal within the OpenRefine directory
4. If you are using a different browser, or OpenRefine does not automatically open for you, point your browser at http://127.0.0.1:3333/ or http://localhost:3333 to launch the program.

Getting help

If you encounter problems installing or running OpenRefine, a good source of support is the OpenRefine mailing list and user forum. Include your operating system when searching to find the most relevant answers for your issue, such as threads related to Windows, macOS, or Linux.

You may also want to check the Stack Overflow OpenRefine tag.

If you want to know more details about installation, upgrades and configuration the installing manual of OpenRefine is a good resource.

Exiting OpenRefine

To exit OpenRefine, close all the browser tabs or windows, then navigate to the command line window. To close this window and ensure OpenRefine exits properly, hold down [control] and press [c] on your keyboard. This will save all changes to your projects.