Field journal · Dustin Lifford / Analyst + builder
Litigation research, practical AI, and thirteen years keeping Northeast Tennessee's newspaper sites online.
01 / Selected work
Case study 03 · Systems
Research file · Records
02 / Services
01 / Investigate
You bring a corporate structure, an asset trail, or a claim that needs checking. You leave with a sourced report that holds up.
OSINT & Research02 / Build
You bring a workflow that eats your week. You leave with a human-reviewed system built around how you work.
AI Consulting, on Tri-Cities AI Lab03 / Operate
You bring a site that is slow, invisible, or tracking the wrong things. You leave with one that loads, measures, and gets found.
Websites, SEO & AEOHow I work
Technical support, newsroom infrastructure, intelligence analysis. Different titles, same job. Find what actually broke, separate fact from assumption, and leave something the next person can use.
Written down before any searching starts.
Registries, filings, archives, the original post.
Two records that should agree, compared.
What is confirmed, and what is not found.
Sources kept, so you can check my work.
03 / Field Notes
Web & Technology,
A small business brochure site came to me working fine and nearly unusable on a phone. I replaced everything underneath it and changed nothing anyone could see.
Most read
OSINT & Research,
Field Notes,
AI & Automation,
Tri-Cities Tech History, Part 1, Updated
OSINT & Research,
Intelligence Analyst at Barrister Intelligence. Founder of Tri-Cities AI Lab. Before that, the web behind Northeast Tennessee's newspapers from 2012 to 2025.
Off the clock it is the Appalachian trails, smoked meat, the Blackstone, family, and the same nerd habits that started with a hand-me-down 286.
Describe the problem on the contact form. I read every message myself and tell you where I would start.
