Frictionless Data Community Call December 2024
On December 6th, we held our final community call of the year. Romina Coleman, product owner of the Open Data Editor (ODE) (opens new window), presented the freshly baked stable release of the application. The ODE, powered by Frictionless Data, is a desktop application designed to make it easier for people with little to no-technical skills to easily spot errors in their datasets. ODE is lightweight, privacy-friendly, and can be used offline too.
# Key Highlights:
- ODE’s Journey: From its early alpha and beta versions to today’s stable release, the tool has evolved significantly. The team refined the app’s features based on user research, simplifying workflows to focus on one main goal: allowing users to upload tables, detect errors, and act on them.
User-Focused Design: The ODE team emphasized iterative development, conducting interviews and incorporating feedback to make the app intuitive and accessible. Red and green indicators now help users quickly identify problematic tables, while error reports provide better explanations. - AI Integration: While still in its early development stage, AI-powered features were added to suggest better column names and descriptions. Privacy concerns raised by users led the team to implement strict transparency measures about how data is shared. The team will be therefore exploring local open LLMs integration next year.
- Next Steps: Future plans include improving error explanations using AI, enhancing metadata usability, and exploring advanced workflows for technical users.
A discussion with the community followed Romina’s presentation, with participants discussing the balance between simplicity and functionality, the challenges of data literacy, and the potential for expanding ODE’s capabilities in 2025 and beyond.
# Closing Thoughts
As Romina said, “To buil a data product one should push away from assumptions — it’s about asking questions, listening, and iterating.”
Thank you to everyone who joined and contributed to the discussion. If you missed the call, you can find the recording of the full call here below. Our next community call is scheduled for February 6th — save the date! You can already sign up for the call here (opens new window).