Track 4 of 4
Directory Data: the unglamorous work that makes a directory trustworthy.
A directory site is only as good as its worst entry. The hours that don't match Google. The phone number that's been dead for a year. The photo that points to a 404. Your job in this track is to take one slice of an Irish directory and make every entry in it verifiably correct — with the sources to prove it.
What you'll learn
Directory data work is the least glamorous skill on the internet and one of the most under-rated. The people who do it well are the reason a few directory sites win and most fail. By the end of four weeks, you will have:
- Picked a county or vertical of a real Irish directory and audited every entry in it — phone numbers dialled (or verified by other means), addresses cross-checked, websites tested, hours confirmed.
- Structured the verified data in a tidy CSV/JSON schema the directory site can ingest.
- Documented the source for each fact — this is the discipline that separates a real directory from a scraped one.
- Flagged entries that should be removed, merged, or deferred with a reasoned note.
- Learned to triangulate Irish facts across CRO records, Google Maps, official local-authority pages, and physical signage where needed.
Cadence
Four weeks. One county slice, verified end-to-end.
Week 1
Audit the existing data. Pull the current entries for your slice. Score each one: confidently correct / probably correct / unverified / suspect. Brief reviewed.
Week 2
Verify the easy half. Phone numbers that work, websites that load, addresses on official sources. Source noted for each fact.
Week 3
Verify the hard half. The suspect entries: dial them, write to them, check companies registration office, ask the cohort for second opinions. Some will end up flagged for removal.
Week 4
Hand off. Final CSV/JSON. Removal recommendations. New entries discovered along the way. Source documentation. Reference paperwork signed.
What you'll ship in Cohort 1
Cohort 1 (Carlow on localnews.ie) is light on directory-data work specifically — localnews is editorial, not a directory. If you're drawn to this track, you'd be a better fit for Cohort 3 (pubhub.ie) or a future cohort on ourhouse.ie or tantra.ie.
That said, the Carlow cohort does have one directory-ish slot: the entity researcher role (towns, villages, aliases, electoral areas). It's directory-data work in spirit even if the output is an entity registry rather than a pubs list. If that catches you, apply now and mention it.
Example of what shipped directory work looks likeThe providers CSV behind
ourhouse.ie's prefab-cabin directory is exactly this shape — every row sourced, every field justified. The Cohort 3 work on pubhub.ie will look similar.
Who this track is for
You'd suit this track if:
- You notice when something is slightly off — an inconsistent address, a phone number that doesn't match the area code, a website that hasn't been updated since 2019.
- You'd rather verify ten facts properly than write one paragraph creatively.
- You're patient. Directory work is sometimes a lot of phone calls.
- You enjoy the satisfaction of taking a messy spreadsheet and leaving it clean.
Most of the world finds this work boring. The minority who don't are gold.
Reference criteria
To graduate with a public reference at builtinireland.ie/references/<you>:
- One county slice or equivalent shipped, with full source documentation
- 4 weekly check-ins attended
- Mentor sign-off
- 2-paragraph self-reflection (becomes the letter text)
The reference will name the slice, name the directory, and link to the live pages so anyone can see your verification work pays off in production. See a sample →
Hold for Cohort 3 (or take Carlow entity researcher)
Directory data work is the main course of Cohort 3 (pubhub.ie). If you want to ship before then, the entity researcher slot in Cohort 1 is the closest fit in the current cohort.
Apply now →