DataWeave: Deploying Human-LLM Analytics for Exploratory Structured Data Analysis

Raquib Bin Yousuf, Harith Laxman, Vitaliy Shkremetko, Eunice Son, Shambhavi Verma +8

Data journalism, the practice of using data analysis to surface newsworthy stories, depends increasingly on the ability of reporters and investigative journalists to uncover trends, disparities, and accountability narratives. In practice, exploring large structured datasets remains slow and brittle: journalists must navigate hundreds of variables across many datasets over years, understand data coding conventions, and write non-trivial analysis code while hypotheses evolve. Although LLMs are often touted as "ask in English, get SQL/answers," real newsroom workflows expose recurring failures, e.g., schema mismatches and drift, misread domain semantics and units, and silent assumptions. We present DataWeave, a system that addresses these needs by combining conversational interaction, schema grounding, analytical planning, and executable query generation to support exploratory analysis over structured data. Rather than treating LLMs as autonomous answer engines, DataWeave frames them as interactive partners whose outputs can be inspected, corrected, and steered as hypotheses shift. We present a case study with professional journalists using our system to analyze the U.S. Department…