15 - 17 January, 2019
9:00 - 16:30
Instructors: Caroll Hermann, Katrin Tirok, Mojalefa Malahlela, Ziphozakhe Mashologu
Helpers: TBC
Data Carpentry develops and teaches workshops on the fundamental data skills needed to conduct research. Its target audience is researchers who have little to no prior computational experience, and its lessons are domain specific, building on learners' existing knowledge to enable them to quickly apply skills learned to their own research. Participants will be encouraged to help one another and to apply what they have learned to their own research problems.
For more information on what we teach and why, please see our paper "Good Enough Practices for Scientific Computing".
The workshop is part of a series of Digital Literacy workshops funded through the
Who: The course is aimed at graduate students and other researchers. You don't need to have any previous knowledge of the tools that will be presented at the workshop.
Where: Arts Auditorium in the Arts Building, KwaDlangezwa Campus. Get directions with OpenStreetMap or Google Maps.
When: 15 - 17 January, 2019. Add to your Google Calendar.
Requirements: Participants must bring a laptop with a Mac, Linux, or Windows operating system (not a tablet, Chromebook, etc.) that they have administrative privileges on. They should have a few specific software packages installed (listed below). They are also required to abide by Data Carpentry's Code of Conduct.
Accessibility: We are committed to making this workshop accessible to everybody. The workshop organizers have checked that:
Materials will be provided in advance of the workshop and large-print handouts are available if needed by notifying the organizers in advance. If we can help making learning easier for you (e.g. sign-language interpreters, lactation facilities) please get in touch (using contact details below) and we will attempt to provide them.
Contact: Please email katrintirok@gmail.com , hermannc@unizulu.ac.za or anelda.vdwalt@gmail.com for more information.
Registration: Please complete the online registration form at https://goo.gl/forms/j83NhgN7HBGFk3At1. Limited space is available. The workshop is free to attend but a R500 no-show fee will be payable by a registered participant who does not show up to the workshop without giving the workshop organisers at least 1 week notice.
Please be sure to complete these surveys before and after the workshop.
| Before starting | Pre-workshop survey |
| 09:00 | Introductions / Software installations |
| 10:00 | Data organization in spreadsheets |
| 10:30 | Refreshment break |
| 11:00 | Data organization in spreadsheets (continued) |
| 12:30 | Lunch |
| 13:30 | OpenRefine for data cleaning |
| 15:00 | Refreshment Break |
| 15:20 | OpenRefine for data cleaning (continued) |
| 16:30 | END |
| 09:00 | Introduction to Python |
| 10:30 | Refreshment Break |
| 11:00 | Continuation of Python: data analysis & visualization |
| 12:30 | Lunch |
| 13:30 | Continuation of Python: data analysis & visualization |
| 15:00 | Refreshment Break |
| 15:20 | Continuation of Python: data analysis & visualization |
| 16:30 | END |
| 09:00 | Continuation of Python: data analysis & visualization |
| 10:30 | Refreshment Break |
| 11:00 | Building community of practice for continuous learning |
| Online resources for further learning | |
| Post-workshop survey | |
| 12:30 | END |
We will use this collaborative document for chatting, taking notes, and sharing URLs and bits of code.
To participate in a Data Carpentry workshop, you will need access to the software described below. In addition, you will need an up-to-date web browser.
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.
For this workshop you will need a spreadsheet program. Many people already have Microsoft Excel installed, and if you do, you're set! If you need a spreadsheet program, there are a few other options, like OpenOffice and LibreOffice. Install instructions for LibreOffice, which is free and open source, are here.
For this lesson you will need OpenRefine and a web browser. Note: this is a Java program that runs on your machine (not in the cloud). It runs inside a web browser, but no web connection is needed.
Check that you have either the Firefox or the Chrome browser installed and set as your default browser. OpenRefine runs in your default browser. It will not run correctly in Internet Explorer.
Download software from http://openrefine.org/
Create a new directory called OpenRefine.
Unzip the downloaded file into the OpenRefine directory by right-clicking and selecting "Extract ...".
Go to your newly created OpenRefine directory.
Launch OpenRefine by clicking google-refine.exe (this will launch a command prompt window, but you can ignore that - just wait for OpenRefine to open in the browser).
If you are using a different browser, or if OpenRefine does not automatically open for you, point your browser at http://127.0.0.1:3333/ or http://localhost:3333 to use the program.
Check that you have either the Firefox or the Chrome browser installed and set as your default browser. OpenRefine runs in your default browser. It may not run correctly in Safari.
Download software from http://openrefine.org/.
Create a new directory called OpenRefine.
Unzip the downloaded file into the OpenRefine directory by double-clicking it.
Go to your newly created OpenRefine directory.
Launch OpenRefine by dragging the icon into the Applications folder.
Use Ctrl-click/Open ... to launch it.
If you are using a different browser, or if OpenRefine does not automatically open for you, point your browser at http://127.0.0.1:3333/ or http://localhost:3333 to use the program.
Check that you have either the Firefox or the Chrome browser installed and set as your default browser. OpenRefine runs in your default browser.
Download software from http://openrefine.org/.
Make a directory called OpenRefine.
Unzip the downloaded file into the OpenRefine directory.
Go to your newly created OpenRefine directory.
Launch OpenRefine by entering ./refine into the terminal within the OpenRefine directory.
If you are using a different browser, or if OpenRefine does not automatically open for you, point your browser at http://127.0.0.1:3333/ or http://localhost:3333 to use the program.
Python is a popular language for research computing, and great for general-purpose programming as well. Installing all of its research packages individually can be a bit difficult, so we recommend Anaconda, an all-in-one installer.
Regardless of how you choose to install it, please make sure you install Python version 3.x (e.g., 3.6 is fine).
We will teach Python using the Jupyter notebook, a programming environment that runs in a web browser. For this to work you will need a reasonably up-to-date browser. The current versions of the Chrome, Safari and Firefox browsers are all supported (some older browsers, including Internet Explorer version 9 and below, are not).
bash Anaconda3-and then press tab. The name of the file you just downloaded should appear. If it does not, navigate to the folder where you downloaded the file, for example with:
cd DownloadsThen, try again.
yes and
press enter to approve the license. Press enter to approve the
default location for the files. Type yes and
press enter to prepend Anaconda to your PATH
(this makes the Anaconda distribution the default Python).