📅 2025-10-01 — Session: Developed and Patched Data Normalization Scripts

🕒 17:20–18:00
🏷️ Labels: Whatsapp, Instagram, Data Normalization, Python, CSV
📂 Project: Dev
⭐ Priority: MEDIUM

Session Goal:

The goal of this session was to develop and patch data normalization scripts for WhatsApp and Instagram exports, converting them into structured CSV files.

Key Activities:

  • Developed a self-contained script to normalize WhatsApp exports into four canonical CSV files: threads, messages, handles, and thread participants.
  • Patched the WhatsApp normalizer script to address issues such as column collision, DtypeWarnings, and ensuring numeric parsing for timestamps.
  • Addressed a pandas merge collision issue in the WhatsApp data normalization script, providing a solution to prevent column clashes and improve data type handling.
  • Created a Python script to normalize Instagram message exports into structured CSV files, handling both directory-based JSON files and a single extracted JSON file.

Achievements:

  • Successfully developed and patched scripts for WhatsApp and Instagram data normalization.
  • Ensured proper deduplication, timestamp conversion, and data type handling in the scripts.

Pending Tasks:

  • Integrate additional data channels, such as Email, into the normalization process.
  • Extend functionality to handle more complex data sources and formats.