By Claudia Von Vacano A close colleague of mine from the School of Education recently said to me, “Let me buy you a drink soon so that you can tell me all about your work at D-Lab. I find myself spending hours figuring out how to get access to qualitative and quantitative software and it’s so expensive. I am also looking for support in terms of how to use various software like ArcGIS and social network stuff. I can’t wait to be part of D-Lab.” This quote is very interesting to me for several reasons. First, I think that we have become accustomed to seeking informal support for our technological and data analysis needs. We expect this kind of support from our colleagues rather than from systemic routes. Second, it speaks to the challenges of using tools that are industry standards for larger business and some government agencies that can afford them. They are expensive and you need access to large databases. Finally, graduate students at Berkeley are ready for D-Lab and D-Lab is in the final stages of creating in-take processes to enable integration and interaction. Some of these processes are already in place, for example this semester there was a course on social network analysis which was not only a shadow course, but also an online resource. There are many knowledgeable people at D-Lab and you can interact with them in this very blog among other places. Please post your questions and we will put D-Lab to the test.