Projects

The NYC Open Data Lab produces a range of public-facing projects that connect teaching, research, and civic data analysis.

These projects are designed to be reproducible, accessible, and meaningful beyond the classroom—transforming individual work into part of a broader, growing ecosystem.

Student Portfolio Books

As part of the Lab’s reproducible workflow model, students develop personal portfolio books using Quarto. These books compile their work into a single, polished, and shareable artifact—designed to showcase their skills in data analysis, storytelling, and reproducible research.

Each portfolio represents not just completed assignments, but a cohesive narrative of the student’s work.

👉 Explore the full Student Portfolio Volume:
Reproducible Research in Practice: Student Portfolio Volume I

Textbooks

The Lab supports this approach through the development of open educational resources (OER), including textbooks designed around reproducible research workflows.

These resources provide structure, guidance, and accessibility—allowing both students and external learners to engage with the same tools and methods.

Available R Packages

The Lab maintains a growing ecosystem of R packages that provide a consistent, streamlined interface for accessing open data across cities and systems.

Each package follows a unified design, allowing users to:

  • browse available datasets
  • pull data directly into R
  • apply filters and queries with minimal setup

Open Data Tools

  • nycOpenData — Access datasets from the NYC Open Data Portal

  • nysOpenData — Access datasets from New York State Open Data

  • mtaOpenData — Access datasets from Mass Transit Authority (MTA)-related open data sources

  • chiOpenData — Access datasets from the Chicago Open Data Portal

  • laOpenData — Access datasets from Los Angeles open data portals

Reproducible Research Tools

  • reproresearchR — Tools and utilities supporting reproducible research workflows in R and Quarto