Introduction to working with data for Humanities Researchers

General Information

Data Carpentry workshops are for any researcher who has data they want to analyze, and no prior computational experience is required.

This two-day event is aimed at researchers in the social sciences, humanities and other disciplines who want to learn how to use popular tools for data cleaning, management and visualisation in a hands-on, interactive workshop. The workshop assumes no prior experience, but participants will need to bring their own computers with working copies of the relevant software. Everything we are using can be freely downloaded and installed, and instructions will be provided to participants beforehand.

Our facilitators will be available in the venue 15 minutes before the session to help sort out any last-minute problems with software installation or you can contact Laurent Gatto and Brenda Moon for help.

The workshop will introduce researchers to:

Data cleaning with OpenRefine:

A powerful interactive data transformation tool which has a user-friendly interface allowing you to automatically remove duplicate records, separate multiple values contained in the same field, analyse the distribution of values through a dataset and group together different representations of the same reality.

Visualising data with Python:

A popular programming language in scientific computing which is also widely used by humanities scholars and social scientists working with data. By the end of the workshop learners should be able to more effectively manage and analyze data and be able to apply the tools and approaches directly to their ongoing research.

Introduction to SQL (Structured Query Language):

An introduction to relational database management systems using SQLite. SQL is used as the query language for many research data sources.

Participants should bring their laptops and plan to participate actively. By the end of the workshop learners should be able to more effectively manage and analyze data and be able to apply the tools and approaches directly to their ongoing research.

Who: The course is aimed at postgraduate students and other researchers.

Where: Aoi Communications Room, Cambridge University Library. Get directions with OpenStreetMap or Google Maps.

Requirements: Participants must bring a laptop with a Mac, Linux, or Windows operating system (not a tablet, Chromebook, etc.) that you have administrative privileges on. You should have a few specific software packages installed (listed below). They are also required to abide by Data Carpentry's Code of Conduct.

Contact: Please mail lg390@cam.ac.uk for more information.

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Schedule

Day 1: November 17

Time	Content	References	Instructor
0900-0930	Installation help desk (optional)
0930-0945	Welcome and Introduction	Explain content of course Explain Code of Conduct Name labels Explain use of stickies and feedback Etherpad and course page setup	Laurent
0945-1015	Introduction to Data	What tools do you use? Jargon? Set up workshop directory Foundations of Software Skills	Brenda
1015-1100	Introduction to Data Cleaning	Introduction to OpenRefine Importing Data Basic OpenRefine functions	Laurent
1100-1130	Coffee Break
1130-1245	Introduction to programming in Python	What is Python? Starting with Data and Python Data Tables [Allow 15 minutes for introduction. Should be sufficient time to deal with any teething problems with Python & Jupyter]	Brenda
1245-1345	Feedback & Lunch	Stickies for feedback Lunch provided in room
1345-1515	Handling data with Python (1)	Slicing and Subsetting Data Frames More about Data Types	Brenda
1515-1545	Coffee Break
1545-1630	Invited talk	Which [sic] time is it?	Jonathan Sawday
1630	Feedback and wrap-up

Day 2: November 18

Time	Content	References	Instructor
0900-0915	Recap on day 1		Brenda
0915-1000	Handling data with Python (2)	Merging and combining Data Frames	Brenda
1000-1030	Introduction to Databases and SQL	Introduction to SQL Basic Queries	Laurent
1030-1100	Coffee Break
1100-1200	Advanced Python and Visualisation	Plotting with Pandas	Brenda
1200-1300	Feedback and lunch	Stickies for feedback
1300-1430	Bringing it all together	Bringing it all together: Import, Clean, Plot	Brenda
1430-1500	Coffee Break
1500-1600	Bringing it all together (2)	Bringing it all together: SQL, Python and Pandas	Brenda
1630	Feedback and wrap-up

Etherpad: http://pad.software-carpentry.org/2016-11-17-cam.
We will use this Etherpad for chatting, taking notes, and sharing URLs and bits of code.

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Setup

To participate in a Data Carpentry workshop, you will need working copies of the described software. Please make sure to install everything (or at least to download the installers) before the start of your workshop. Participants should bring and use their own laptops to insure the proper setup of tools for an efficient workflow once you leave the workshop.

Please follow these Setup Instructions.

We maintain a list of common issues that occur during installation as a reference for instructors that may be useful on the Configuration Problems and Solutions wiki page.