This text reports on the impact of a training course offered by a multiplier trainer from the School of Data network.
In July, a workshop on the Open Data Editor (ODE) software was held. This software was developed by the Open Knowledge Foundation with the support of the McGovern Foundation. Entitled ‘From chaos to order: uncomplicating data with ODE’, the activity was led by Anicely Santos, a pedagogical advisor at Escola de Dados — the educational arm of Open Knowledge Brasil (OKBR) — and was attended by 66 participants from across the country.
The three-hour online session focused on teaching the fundamentals of data usage and quality. Attendees, who were professionals from various fields with different levels of familiarity with the subject, were able to delve into the FAIR principles, which guide data to be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable.
The first part of the activity aimed to define the types, quality and organisation of data. The second part focused on putting the concepts into practice using ODE. During the workshop, participants were also able to evaluate open data portals to see if they complied with the presented quality requirements.
Designed to be accessible to a wide audience, ODE focuses on validating and documenting open data. It is ideal for both technical and non-technical professionals, including beginners taking their first steps into the world of data.
The tool has a simple, user-friendly interface that allows users to contribute to improving the quality of data, ensuring that it remains accurate, accessible and reusable for everyone. Users can explore tables and detect errors, as well as publish data on GitHub, Zenodo and CKAN portals.
Participants represented a variety of sectors and levels of experience. The majority (81.8%) were already dealing with data, but were not familiar with the FAIR principles or basic data concepts. They wanted to take part in the workshop to broaden their knowledge of the tool and theory, and to improve the quality and documentation of data sets. Students and researchers from a variety of fields made up the largest group (32.08%), followed by administration and management professionals (20.75%), and journalists and communicators (18.87%), among others.
During the practical session, participants took a guided tour of the tool’s interface, gaining an understanding of its main features. Then, using a database as an example, they explored key functionalities such as importing data, correcting errors, and documenting metadata. The highlight was the simplicity of the interface, which allowed for a very low learning curve.
The participants’ reaction was very positive. Many emphasised the ease of use and collaborative capacity offered by ODE. A total of 86.67% of participants signalled their intention to apply the concepts and techniques learned in future work, and expressed their satisfaction with both the content presented and the way the activity was conducted.
This was the first edition of the workshop, which proved to be an enriching experience, highlighting the importance of making high-quality data available. Further training is available in the form of the course ‘Quality and Consistent Data with ODE’, which is a comprehensive training programme on the tool that is free to take and offers certification upon completion. Although the training is in English, the content is subtitled and translated into Portuguese.
If you work with data or are simply interested in the subject, Open Data Editor is worth getting to know. Access the documentation for more information and start contributing to a more transparent world.
About the Open Data Editor
The Open Data Editor (ODE) is Open Knowledge’s new open source desktop application for nonprofits, data journalists, activists, and public servants, aiming at helping them detect errors in their datasets. It’s a free, open-source tool designed for people working with tabular data (Excel, Google Sheets, CSV) who don’t know how to code or don’t have the programming skills to automatise the data exploration process.
Simple, lightweight, privacy-friendly, and built for real-world challenges like offline work and low-resource settings, ODE is part of Open Knowledge’s initiative The Tech We Want — our ambitious effort to reimagine how technology is built and used.
And there’s more! ODE comes with a free online course that can help you improve the quality of your datasets, therefore making your life/work easier.
↪ Take the course: Learn how to use ODE
All of Open Knowledge’s work with the Open Data Editor is made possible thanks to a charitable grant from the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. Learn more about its funding programmes here.
