For CreativeWorks, I continued working on the digital inventory of all the files collected on the hard drive. As I mentioned before, I had done much of the analysis using Excel prior to exploring OpenRefine, and the remainder of the work I was trying required arithmetic best accomplished via Excel, so I haven’t had a chance to work with OpenRefine much more. However, I am still interested in seeing if we can document an ongoing inventory filter with that tool that CW can use to track inventory moving forward.

The analysis I’ve conducted still needs some refinement. The total number of files form each year does not add up to the total number of rows in the inventory document, so I am trying to identify the source of the difference. (The inventory states we have 42,301 rows, but the total from my table indicates 41,566, so the difference is 725 files.) I also want to validate my math for the years we have and try to determine some patterns so we can help CW set expectations for the types and sizes of files they may generate moving forward. Each year is very different from the last, but 2017 and 2018 definitely show huge leaps in both number and size of files. This may be due to previous file loss (i.e., they generated similar files/sizes previously but the files are now gone) or this may be due to changes in the program (i.e., maybe they are using different software or focusing on different project types that mean more files/larger file sizes. Additional cleanup is needed to see if we need to account for the file types “Data” and “Folders” since those seem less useful and are perhaps redundant.

My next steps will be to continue inventory data validation and then add to our team document regarding process and policy recommendations. We have already culled some helpful “one-sheet” information regarding file naming conventions, but I plan to spend more time with suggested curriculum additions/enhancements that can start to make this kind of “digital hygiene” part of the normal routine for students. It seems to fit nicely with professional training such as job hunting and resume writing, so we think this could be a useful way to engage the students with the goals for file maintenance and organization.