TBF the alternatives for human data entry are very limited. Even I'll admit Excel is good for that. Important to structure the data first.
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Even if Excel is known to mangle stuff and other less bloated and cheaper software does less of this?
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would love to hear suggestions - I think lots of people don't know about these
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I can't say with certainty what is better as a) I don't enter data manually (I think this is important experience-based knowledge) and b) a lot of the issues highlighted by people are input-specific. So I'd suggest shopping around — Google Sheets? https://support.google.com/docs/answer/6388102?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en …
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Replying to @o_guest @BioMickWatson and
Doesn't GSheets have similar issues to Excel? (reformat by default, little enforcement of data structure) (it's great for collab though!)
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Replying to @froggleston @realMingChia and
So the real solution is to enter data in raw text and delimit manually using tabs or commas, right?
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Replying to @o_guest @realMingChia and
Yes, it makes the most sense to teach that Excel is OK for producing tabular representations, and that there are bad ways of doing this, but if you need to do anything else, export to CSV: https://datacarpentry.org/spreadsheet-ecology-lesson/ …
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Replying to @froggleston @o_guest and
Which is exactly what the paper that started this whole discussion off recommends! I wish people would just read it.
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Replying to @deevybee @froggleston and
I didn't see the freeware software alternatives nor issues with version control mentioned in it last time I read it, when it first came out. Maybe I'm forgetting!
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For example, this: "Keep all versions of the data files, so that if something gets corrupted (e.g., you accidentally type over some of the data and do not notice it until much later), you will be able to go back and fix it. Before you start inserting more data, make a copy of"
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"the file with a new version number: file_v1.xlsx, file_v2.xlsx,..." Is really bad advice.
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Why are binaries being used here?
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End of conversation
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