The NYC Open Data Lab is a public-facing initiative that equips students to access, analyze, and publish civic data through reproducible workflows and open-source tools.

The NYC Open Data Lab began in 2025 at Brooklyn College as part of a broader effort to rethink how data science is taught—moving from isolated assignments to fully reproducible, public-facing research. The lab is designed for students, educators, and the broader public, with a focus on lowering the barrier to working with civic data through open-source R packages, structured workflows, and published student projects.

Its impact includes the development of tools like nycOpenData (and related packages), a publicly available student research gallery presented at NYC Open Data Week, and a growing ecosystem where students produce real analyses that contribute to public understanding of the city. The lab has also supported collaborations, teaching resources (OER textbooks), and media engagement around civic data.

People can help by contributing to the open-source tools, using the resources in their own classrooms, collaborating on projects, or helping expand the lab’s reach through partnerships, research, and storytelling.