On 23 July 2025, I (Omar Luna), the communications leader at Escuela de Datos LATAM, ran a workshop entitled ‘Detect errors in your tables in seconds with Open Data Editor!’ for Latin American officials, journalists, and activists at the Abrelatam/Condatos Bolivia 2025 conference. This event is one of the main community spaces for reflecting on the state of open data in the region.
The Open Data Editor (ODE) is a tool developed by the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN) to enable professionals, enthusiasts, and individuals with no technical background to easily explore, validate, and publish data free of charge.
From this perspective, the workshop was attended by 30 participants who were introduced to the scope and possibilities offered by ODE for detecting common errors that can occur when working with data.
The workshop began with an introduction to the challenges of working with data, addressing common scenarios such as the fear of working with data and the difficulty of navigating databases without adequate knowledge. It also covered how to handle the conversion of PDFs to open formats (.csv, among others), once a basic level of understanding has been achieved.
ODE was presented as a solution designed with the community, not outside of it. Taking into account the diversity of profiles that comprise the Latin American data community, the tool was presented as follows:
- It makes data more interoperable, easier to understand, and faster to use.
- It allows files to be browsed locally. They are not uploaded to the cloud.
- It strengthens ongoing collaborative data work, solving problems through learning from mistakes and identifying best practices.
A demonstration session of the tool was held using data from the Institute of Transparency, Access to Public Information, Protection of Personal Data and Accountability of Mexico City (Info CDMX), focusing on access to public information regarding gender issues. This allowed the workshop participants to see how ODE solves data-related issues:
- Missing fields
- Blank cells
- Wrong data filling
This part of the workshop allowed to ‘educate the gaze’ with ODE. Thanks to this, participants were able to identify limitations in their work environment. This was either because they had received information in this way, or because they had sent similar documentation without prioritising how it would be shared with journalists, activists or the public.
During this session, participants could ask questions, make comments and share their impressions of ODE. Curiosity was aroused about the capacity of the tool to read data, how data can be socialised once the interface has been worked on, and other considerations related to the use of artificial intelligence that the platform could facilitate.
Finally, there was an opportunity to share conclusions. A comparison was made between the scope and possibilities of ODE and other tools such as Excel and OpenRefine. Information was also shared about the upcoming launch of the Spanish version of the course ‘Quality and Consistent Data with ODE’, which will further strengthen the learning and good practices of the data community for the data community… from LATAM for the whole world.
