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Local Data Lab
Your data & tech team for local journalism
Branch Four’s Local Data Lab gives local newsrooms access to a full data and technology team— at a fraction of the cost of hiring in-house. We connect newsrooms with skilled volunteer coders who work on data-driven investigations and build applications that engage readers.
Collaboration is easy - We recruit, screen, and supervise talented volunteers so they can plug directly into newsroom workflows and work alongside staff.
Engage your Audience
Stories that include compelling data visualizations and interactive elements attract and retain more readers, yet most local reporting remains largely text-based.
The Local Data Lab solves this problem by fostering ongoing collaboration between newsrooms and coders to test new ideas, build interactive tools, and publish innovative data-driven stories that spark conversations and grow audience engagement.
Your Own Data Team
For data support, we pair skilled, volunteer data analysts directly with newsrooms to work on complex, data-driven stories. Newsrooms get talented coders who:
- Pull and clean messy data
- Develop data-driven insights for story angles
- Create charts and maps that explain complex issues
- Surface story ideas from new data sources
Your Own Tech Team
We match volunteer developers with newsrooms to build custom tools that inform audiences and keep them engaged on their news sites. Newsrooms get talented developers who build tools like:
- Interactive quizzes
- Issue-focused AI chat bots
- Campaign finance trackers
- Interactive local maps
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WHAT NEWSROOMS GET
- Faster publication of data-driven feature stories
- Faster publication of data-driven investigative stories
- Compelling graphs, maps and visuals explaining complex ideas
- Interactive tools that keep readers on news sites
- New story ideas
- Creative ways to apply AI in newsrooms
Testimonials
"Stella helped Montclair Local sort through months of bill lists to identify patterns or other evidence that may have contributed to Montclair Public Schools’ nearly $20 million deficit. We were told by a big news organization that the bill lists were not machine-readable but with exceptional attention to detail and technical skill, Stella turned the dense PDF files into usable spreadsheets and provided further data analysis, highlighting trends. The article this analysis contributed to showed how the food service vendor was richly rewarded despite questions about the contract. It also detailed a half-million-dollar dispute between the district and the vendor over the contract."
- Matt Kadosh, Reporter, Montclair Local
"As a small nonprofit newsroom, The Waltham Times greatly valued Branch Four’s help in carrying out data analyses to bolster our journalism."
- June Kinoshita, Co-founder and Board President, The Waltham Times
Apply today for a full data and tech team, innovative ideas, and stronger audience engagement— at a fraction of the cost.
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