It is a universal truth that textsmiths work with data formats. Yet formats are attempts to impose structure on messy reality, but no format can decide what the right structure is for you. So in this post, we are going to look at what data cleaning is.

The previous post asked, “Do spreadsheets define data analysis?” This one asks the more fundamental question: “What is data analysis in the first place?”

The spreadsheet is a wonderful interface. But it is not the only way to think about data.

Today we introduce a new series on doing things in plain text. This way, as a textsmith, you do not have to rely on proprietary formats to be productive.