# Quality and usability

To determine which open datasets (i.e. licensed) are suitable for use in education, you can use various assessment criteria.
Look especially for downloadable datasets and not for real-time data that is continuously updated via an API ("application programming interface"). The latter applies to stock market data, for example. It is difficult for a group of students to have access to the same data.

## Metadata

Is metadata present, so you can see how this data has been/is being collected?

## Source

Who (person or body) is the creator of the dataset and to what extent does it inspire trust?
Can you be confident that it will be stable for the duration of the teaching block?

## Size

Is the dataset not too large?
Keep in mind that students do not all have very modern computers. If a computer's working memory (RAM) is 4GB, it can handle a dataset of up to 4GB, but then other programmes cannot be used at the same time.

## File format

Is the file format suitable for processing by students?
The formats .csv, .tsv and .txt can be read by any computer without any problems.
The formats .zip, and .gz mean that these are folders of "packed" files; what the actual format is becomes clear only after unpacking.