Summary

Independent open-source investigation (“OSINT”) outlet whose free toolkit and how-to guides teach the verification and satellite/imagery-analysis skills a campaign needs to document abuses or fact-check claims made against it — not a campaigning org itself, but a skills source.

Body

Bellingcat is an independent investigative journalism organization describing itself as “the home of online investigations,” conducting open-source investigations into conflicts, human rights violations, and other matters of public interest. [source: bellingcat] It maintains a free, centralized “Bellingcat Toolkit” of open-source research resources (at bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit), publishes how-to guides on techniques like satellite-imagery analysis and tracking methods, runs a “bite-sized” technique series called “Open Source in Short,” and offers workshops plus a Discord community for collaborative investigation work. [source: bellingcat] It is affiliated with the Global Investigative Journalism Network. [source: bellingcat]

No Creative Commons license was visible on the homepage; treat the main site as link-only, though the separately-hosted GitBook toolkit may carry different terms per page that would need checking before reuse. [source: bellingcat]

Use it for

Learning open-source verification techniques (satellite imagery, geolocation, image/video forensics) to document evidence for a campaign — e.g. verifying a claimed incident before citing it, or building a documented case against an opponent. [source: bellingcat] Training volunteers in basic OSINT skills for a campaign’s research or accountability work, via the free toolkit and workshops. [source: bellingcat]

Related

• civic-tech
• civil-resistance
• digital-security
• distributed-organizing
• framing-and-narrative
• petitions-and-e-campaigning
• power-mapping
• theory-of-change
• three-and-a-half-percent-rule

Open Questions

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