Documenting Stockton’s Homelessness

The Problem

As the homelessness crisis surged in California, public debate in Stockton was often clouded by misinformation and conflicting accounts. Local authorities frequently issued optimistic assessments that did not align with the reality observed by residents and reporters on the ground, leading to deep public distrust. For local newsrooms like Bay City News, the challenge was not just to report the story, but to provide an irrefutable record that could withstand skepticism in an era of manufactured images and “fake news” rhetoric.

The Solution

Over a six-month investigation, Starling Lab collaborated with Bay City News photojournalists to deploy a “glass-to-glass” authentication workflow. By tethering professional Canon R5 cameras to secure HTC smartphones, the team cryptographically signed images and their technical metadata (including precise GPS and timestamps) at the exact moment of capture. These records were then registered on the Avalanche and LikeCoin blockchains to create an immutable audit trail. The final reporting featured the “Four Corners” interactive display, allowing readers to click on any corner of a photograph to independently verify its backstory, authorship, and cryptographic certificate of authenticity.