Best Practices for Data Tables: Setup

Data

Download this data file to your computer: https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/2252083

About the data

The data for this lesson is a part of the Data Carpentry Ecology workshop. It is a teaching version of the Portal Database. The data in this lesson is a subset of the teaching version that has been intentionally ‘messed up’ for this lesson.

The data for this lesson and the workshop are in the Portal Project Teaching Database available on FigShare, with a CC-BY license available for reuse.

Ernest, M., Brown, J., Valone, T., and White, E.P. (2017). Portal Project Teaching Database. Version 6. Figshare. DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.1314459.v6

Software

To interact with spreadsheets, we can use LibreOffice, Microsoft Excel, Gnumeric, OpenOffice.org, or other programs. Commands may differ a bit between programs, but the general ideas for thinking about spreadsheets are the same.

For this lesson, if you don’t have a spreadsheet program already, you can use LibreOffice. It’s a free, open source spreadsheet program.

Windows

  • Download the Installer
    • Install LibreOffice by going to the installation page. The version for Windows should automatically be selected. Click Download Version X.X.X (whichever is the most recent version). You will go to a page that asks about a donation, but you don’t need to make one. Your download should begin automatically.
  • Install LibreOffice
  • Once the installer is downloaded, double click on it and LibreOffice should install.

Mac OS X

  • Download the Installer
    • Install LibreOffice by going to the installation page. The version for Mac should automatically be selected. Click Download Version X.X.X (whichever is the most recent version). You will go to a page that asks about a donation, but you don’t need to make one. Your download should begin automatically.
  • Install LibreOffice
  • Once the installer is downloaded, double click on it and LibreOffice should install.

Linux

  • Download the Installer
    • Install LibreOffice by going to the installation page. The version for Linux should automatically be selected. Click Download Version X.X.X (whichever is the most recent version). You will go to a page that asks about a donation, but you don’t need to make one. Your download should begin automatically.
  • Install LibreOffice
  • Once the installer is downloaded, double click on it and LibreOffice should install.