1. Data cleansing for Dummies: Google to the rescue!!
Title Slide - Use only use one of these and delete the rest
Data cleansing for Dummies: Google to the rescue!!
Dave Smith
Petrology Collections Manager

2. The Natural History Museum, London
I work at the Natural History Museum in London – this fantastic building, designed to look like a cathedral . When it was built it was described as the ‘Temple of Nature’.

3. Architectural wonders
Waterhouse building opened in 1881
Steel frame and terracotta
Purpose built for natural history collections
Architectural wonders
Waterhouse building was designed by an english architect called Alfred Waterhouse and it was opened in 1881
It consists of a steel frame covered in terracotta tiles – many of the tiles depicting animals and plants.
It was purpose built for our natural history collections, but as we understand more about how the different materials that make up our collection behave over time we have come to realise that the environment conditions are not always appropriate for some collections – and so we have built a couple of modern extensions (Darwin Centre 1 and 2)

4. The Museum 1000 staff 350 science staff
72 million specimens (estimated)
Life Sciences
Plants, animals, birds, insects
Earth Sciences
Minerals & gems, rocks, fossils, meteorites
The Museum
1000 staff
350 science staff
An estimated 72 million specimens
Life Sciences
Plants, animals, birds, insects
Earth Sciences
Minerals & gems, rocks, fossils, meteorites

5. My role Geologist by training Collections Manager for rock collections
125,000 rocks
10,000 decorative stones
37,000 ocean sediments
16,000 ore specimens
Departmental EMu administrator
Registry management
Report writing
Training & documentation
EMu support & upgrade testing
Communication
My role
Geologist by training
I joined the museum 19 years ago as a curator
Collections Manager for rock collections
125,000 rocks
10,000 decorative stones
37,000 ocean sediments
16,000 Ores
My role is somewhat schizophrenic as I also administer the part of Emu and the data relevant to the Mineralogy section. Emu was implemented department by department, rather than as one across the whole of science. I managed the implementation for Mineralogy and since then have continued to act as a focus dealing with:
Departmental EMu administrator
Registry management
Report writing
Training & documentation
EMu support & upgrade testing
Communication

6. ‘Fingers in lots of pies’
Have been involved in cross-museum initiatives involving EMu.
I have many ‘fingers in lots of pies’ – this is an english phrase essentially meaning that I ‘m involved in many projects….
A combination of being the first to engage with Emu as well as finding myself on many committees has meant that I have been able to see the potential of using Emu’s toolkit to manage information relating to the collections and collections management activities:
I shall introduce you to some of these during my talk:

7. Data cleansing for Dummies: Google to the rescue!!
Title Slide - Use only use one of these and delete the rest
Data cleansing for Dummies: Google to the rescue!!
Dave Smith
Petrology Collections Manager

8. The problem

9. Core Information 89,000 Records (73%) Identification = 52,100
Provenance = 64,215
Acquisition = 38,700
Storage = 14,300

13. Numbers Register volume Acquisition records Specimen records 1-5 634
19,283
1-5 (supplementary)
501 (490)
1965 (1927)
1-5 (merged)
1124
21,210
6-11
1832
30,080
Geological Society
510
9,852
TOTAL
3466
63,107
Table slide – right click to update
Insert a new slide to create a new purple background for charts and tables

14. The Problem Data sits outside Emu – how to get it in?
Not as easy as it sounds – many barriers…
Notes field used for data with uncertain placeholder.
Sites data of variable levels of atomisation depending on experience of digitiser.
Text Slide – for use with other images or text heavy pages
Please note when NHM Ingrid isn’t available Arial should be used

15. Acquisition Lot entry

17. The Problem Data sits outside Emu – how to get it in?
Not as easy as it sounds – many barriers…
Notes field used for data with uncertain placeholder.
Sites data of variable levels of atomisation depending on experience of digitiser.
Approx. 95% of specimens have a record in EMu with a minimum of registration number. Once cleaned - How to update records without overwriting enhanced data
Unfamiliarity with Access
Short time periods for data cleansing.
Text Slide – for use with other images or text heavy pages
Please note when NHM Ingrid isn’t available Arial should be used

18. The Solution Google Refine Open Refine (Github) Personal web service
Runs in your browser
Text Slide with images
Use sparingly. The aim is to use them every so often to break up text. These slides are not to be used when other images appear on the page. Please note when NHM Ingrid isn’t available Arial should be used

19. The demo

20. Benefits Intuitive User Interface
Powerful editing / data manipulation functions
Can’t make mistakes!  Endless undo…..!
Pick up where you left it  Maintains history
Link to open-data sources to validate your data
Augment your data with free open data sources.