Stage Talks with Bellingcat

In this week's Stage Talk we were joined by fact checkers, Alice Milliken and Hannah Ajakaiye. In the talk we discussed the role of a fact checker in this digital age and how these skillsets are vital for journalists, researchers and the wider public. We also spoke about how AI has had an impact on verification techniques. Hannah's profileA link to one of the social videos produced with Hannah for the combatting health misinformation campaignAlice's profile Bellingcat training sign upsBellingcat YouTube *Please note that during the course of this live talk we faced technical issues in the Discord Server. These issues are reflected in the recording.This talk was recorded on March 15th 2024 in the Bellingcat Discord Server. To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat . Music courtesy of Artlist.

In this week's Stage Talk we were joined by Bellingcat reseracher, Logan Williams and some Discord community members who have recently become Bellingcat contributors. They were there to speak on a series of investigations into an environmental disaster which had been evolving since February 7th in Trinidad and Tobago. Bellingcat and these discord members used open sources to reveal details about the vessel leaking oil and who was likely responsible. Find all three investigations here: https://www.bellingcat.com/?s=tobagoAnd find our partners the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian's version of the third investigation here: https://guardian.co.tt/news/oil-spill-secrets-panamanian-firm-at-centre-of-tobago-oil-spillcargo-valued-at-us2m-6.2.1940419.ae386d7e8e In the talk we also referenced our work on the Russian grain smuggling operations, you can find that research here: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2023/08/21/russias-ghost-ships-and-the-evolution-of-a-grain-smuggling-operation/ This talk was recorded on March 7th 2024 in the Bellingcat Discord Server. To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat . Music courtesy of Artlist.

In this week's Stage Talk we were joined by Bellingcat' Director of Research and Training, Giancarlo Fiorella. Giancarlo detailed Bellingcat's efforts in the education space and how training high school students in media literacy may be one solution to the issue of disinformation. You can find a link to the Student View project here: https://thestudentview.org/resources-hub/ And our available workshops here: www.bellingcat.com/workshops/ This talk was recorded on February 15th 2024 in the Bellingcat Discord Server. To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat . Music courtesy of Artlist.

Warning: This episode discusses explicit adult content and child sexual abuse material (CSAM).This week we were joined by Bellingcat Researcher Kolina Koltai, discussing her latest research focus into nonconsensual sexual AI generated imagery and the communities and companies set up to create and distribute AI porn. Her research so far has led to restrictions on one company's payment providers and the closure of the discord server set up for their creator community. You can read her research into the company AnyDream here: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2023/11/27/anydream-secretive-ai-platform-broke-stripe-rules-to-rake-in-money-from-nonconsensual-pornographic-deepfakes/ This talk was recorded on February 1st 2024 in the Bellingcat Discord Server. To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat . Music courtesy of Artlist.

For the first stage talk of 2024 we were joined by Bellingcat Technical Fellow George Dyer. George is a developer and an entrepreneur, he is the cofounder of Informatism, an AI and data research firm that is currently building a financial news and data platform. During his time at Bellingcat George built a useful toolkit for financial researchers and journalists. The toolkit allows users to navigate the US company regulatory database EDGAR with ease. EDGAR is free-to-access unlike many other regulatory databases in the US but is underused. Find the toolkit here And the written guide to the tools hereThis talk was recorded on the January 18th 2024 in the Bellingcat Discord Server. To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat . Music courtesy of Artlist.

For our final Stage Talk of 2023, Ollie Ballinger joined us on stage. Ollie is a lecturer in Geocomputing at University College London and a regular Bellingcat contributor. He is known for his development of useful tools for open-source research. In this session, he shares the details behind his latest tool, a map that allows you to estimate probable damage in a given area based upon Sentinel-1 satellite imagery and established geolocations. Researchers and organisations around the world have been using the tool adaptations Ollie has created to assess likely damage in Gaza, Ukraine and beyond. You can find a guide to what he was discussing in the talk here: https://oballinger.github.io/PWTT/paper.html and find the guide and the tool itself here: https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2023/11/15/a-new-tool-allows-researchers-to-track-damage-in-gaza/ . The talk was hosted on Thursday the 14th of December in the Bellingcat discord server. To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat . Music courtesy of Artlist.

This week journalist and mental health first aider Hannah Storm joined us on stage. Hannah co-authored the first study into moral injury and the media for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. She also launched the Headlines Network, an organisation set up to create connections and drive conversations towards improving mental health in the media and communications industries. During the talk she discusses her research and provides personal guidance on how to protect yourself from harm when researching traumatic events. Hannah is not a mental health clinician, but someone with lived experience and a research background in the topic. The talk was hosted on Thursday the 30th of November in the Bellingcat discord server. To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat . Music courtesy of Artlist.

This week new Bellingcat researcher Pooja Chaudhuri joined us on stage. Pooja is experienced in following the movements of far-right groups in India. For her first article for Bellingcat, Pooja investigated the phenomena of auto-generated music videos on YouTube and how some of these lyric videos were based upon songs that encourage the expulsion of muslims from India. During the talk she unpacks her research and explains why these songs could be considered dangerous. The talk was hosted on Thursday the 2nd of November in the Bellingcat discord server. To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat . Music courtesy of Artlist.Link to articles:https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2023/10/16/youtube-is-autogenerating-videos-for-songs-advocating-the-expulsion-of-muslims-from-india/Link mentioned in the talk:https://mattw.io/youtube-metadata/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6007071?hl

This week Bellingcat researchers Annique Mossou and Foeke Postma joined the Bellingcat Stage Talk stage. Both researchers have a passion for unravelling historical secrets and have recently published articles relating to old mysteries. During the talk they discussed these pieces of research (linked in this description), expressed their reasoning as to why investigating old photographs should be seen as important and revealed some of the tools and methods they used for their research. The talk was hosted in the Bellingcat discord server on Thursday 19th November 2023. To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat . Music courtesy of Artlist. Links to articles:Annique's WW2 photo album investigation: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2023/08/04/solving-world-war-ii-photo-mysteries-with-open-source-techniques/ Foeke's solar panel investigation: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2023/08/16/untangling-the-mystery-of-the-worlds-first-rooftop-solar-panel/

This week we spoke to Christopher Miller from the Financial Times. Chris wrote a book titled "The War Came To Us: Life and Death In Ukraine' , the book is the Bellingcat' Discord Book Club's Book of the Month for September. During the talk Chris answered the audience's questions on life and war in Ukraine and his own experiences of reporting. You can find how to purchase the book via this link: https://linktr.ee/thewarcametous The talk was hosted in the Bellingcat discord server on Thursday 21st September 2023. To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat . Music courtesy of Artlist.

Listen in as Bellingcat tech fellow Sophie Tedling breaks down how to use a tool, built for mountaineers, for geolocations and other open-source research purposes. She also shares her personal experience as an open-source researcher with Bellingcat's Global Authentication Project. If you have a suggestion for the developers of PeakVisor after listening to this episode you can reach out to them at https://twitter.com/PVforOSINV . This is an audio recording of a live video presentation. You can find the article Sophie continues to reference here on the Bellingcat website: https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2023/07/13/more-than-mountaineering-using-peakvisor-for-geolocation/ You can also find out more about Bellingcat's Global Authentication Project here: https://twitter.com/bellingcatgap

This week's Stage Talk is with Aram Shabanian. Aram works at the Newlines Institute for Strategic and Policy as the Open-Source Information Gathering Manager for the Strategy and Innovation Department. In the talk he shares details on how to monitor traffic cameras, news channels and live webcams using free to access tools. This is an audio recording of a live video presentation.The tools discussed are the following:https://vidgrid.tk.gg/ https://github.com/streamwall/streamwallhttps://www.lyngsat.com/stream/ https://world-cam.ru/ https://www.pulsepoint.org/ https://www.alertwildfire.org/https://balticlivecam.com/The talk was hosted in the Bellingcat discord server on Thursday 25th August 2023.To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat . Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

We speak to Bellingcat researcher Youri van der weide about his latest article looking into incidents from the IDF raid of Jenin, West Bank produced alongside Bellingcat discord members. Youri discusses how the discord community members got involved in the research and how Bellingcat hope to work with our wider community in the future. The talk was hosted in the Bellingcat discord server on Thursday 10th August 2023.Please note this stage recording had a technical error causing feedback from Youri's mic in the recording.

In this Stage Talk episode, Narine Khachatryan, a Bellingcat researcher and trainer, spoke honestly to the Bellingcat discord audience about her recent experience of burnout and follow up therapy. During the talk, audience members also shared their own experiences and concerns. This talk was not intended to provide medical advice to anyone currently suffering from mental health issues but to raise awareness of the impact trauma can have on your work/life balance and to start a conversation on how we can look out for one another in the open-source research space.This is a recording of a Discord Server Stage Talk that took place in the Bellingcat Discord Server on July 27, 2023. To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat .Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

Bellingcat researcher and trainer Tristan Lee joined an audience in the Discord server to discuss his latest investigation, "The Mainstream Publishers, Distributors and Bookshops Selling Satanist Neo-Nazi Books ". Tristan unpacked what the group 'The Order Of Nine Angles (O9A)' represents and how he discovered that material affiliated to them were on sale in major bookstores. He also discussed methods of covering far-right groups as an open source researcher and how to protect yourself from harm. You can find Tristan's investigation on the Bellingcat website here: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2023/06/30/the-mainstream-publishers-distributors-and-bookshops-selling-satanist-neo-nazi-books/?utm_source=soundcloud This is a recording of a Discord Server Stage Talk that took place in the Bellingcat Discord Server on July 13 2023. To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat.Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

Aiganysh Aidarbekova, an investigator and researcher at Bellingcat returns to the Bellingcat discord server to unpack her recent investigation into the destruction of civilian homes and buildings along the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, following clashes between the two countries in September 2022.

Bellingcat researchers Charlotte Godart, Logan Williams, Aiganysh Aidarbekova and Tristan Lee came to the discord server to discuss their experiences of Rights Con, a large human rights conference that took place in Costa Rica at the start of June. The conference features an array of different speakers, from tech companies to government representatives to human rights defenders , with a focus particularly on human rights in a digital age.

Dr. Jason Stanley came by the Discord server to talk to us about his book, "How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them". During the talk, Dr. Stanley provided an overview of the main ideas in his book, and began his conversation by arguing that fascism and fascist politics are experiencing an "acceleration" at the international level. Dr. Stanley is the Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University, This is a recording of a Discord Server Stage Talk that took place in the Bellingcat Discord Server on May 25 2023. To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat. Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

Bellingcat's Aric Toler came by the Discord server to talk about how to teach open source research methods. As Bellingcat's Director of Research and Training, Aric is responsible for overseeing the development of Bellingcat's teaching materials, which have reached thousands of people across the world since 2015. During his talk, Aric gave advice on how to structure lessons and activities, and answered questions from the audience. This is a recording of a Discord Server Stage Talk that took place in the Bellingcat Discord Server on May 11, 2023. To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat.Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

Our guest this week was Bellingcat Founder and Creative Director Eliot Higgins. Eliot came by our Discord server to talk to us about his book, "We Are Bellingcat", and to answer questions from our community about the current state of open source digital investigations. Eliot also spoke about where he thinks the field is headed in the future. This is a recording of a Discord Server Stage Talk that took place in the Bellingcat Discord Server on April 17, 2023. To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat.Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

Michael Colborne, the lead of Bellingcat's Monitoring Project, dropped by the Discord server to talk to us about a recent article in which he explained how to make sense of far-right symbols online. During the talk, Michael provided practical advice to researchers who might come across these symbols, and answered questions from the community on how to carry out this type of work. This is a recording of a Discord Server Stage Talk that took place in the Bellingcat Discord Server on April 13, 2023. To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat.Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

Alex Ștefănescu spoke to us about internet censorship in the European union within the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. During her talk, Alex discussed EU Commission mandates to block Russian media outlets, which she says have had "mixed" results at best. Alex also spoke about how to monitor internet censorship.Alex is a Bellingcat Tech Fellow for 2022, and is currently a Python Developer for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. She is also an activist and advocate for human rights and digital rights in Romania.This is a recording of a Discord Server Stage Talk that took place in the Bellingcat Discord Server on March 23, 2023. To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat.Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

Ollie Ballinger spoke to us about tracking ghost ships using synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and about a tool that he's built to do just that. By helping to detect ships that have turned off their Automatic Identification Transponders (AIS), the tool can help to track down illegal activities at sea, including fishing in Marine Protected Areas, smuggling, and even sanctions-evasion. Ollie Ballinger has a PhD in International Development from the University of Oxford. He is a lecturer in Geocomputation at the Centre for Advanced and Spatial Analysis at University College London, and a Tech Fellow and contributor to Bellingcat.This is a recording of a Discord Server Stage Talk that took place in the Bellingcat Discord Server on March 9, 2023. To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat.Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

Norm, the Project Owl Discord server owner, dropped by to tell us about the history of the Project Owl Community. Norm spoke to us about some of the highlights and challenges of the community over the years, and shared tips on how to become an active member of online communities like the one at the Project Owl server. Norm's talk also included practical tips for Discord server owners on how to foster healthy, welcoming communities. You can find Project Owl on Discord by visiting www.discord.gg/projectowl.This is a recording of a Discord Server Stage Talk that took place in the Bellingcat Discord Server on February 23, 2023. To join the server, download discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat.Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

Judy Mionki, an international criminal and human rights lawyer, spoke to us about the use of open source evidence in international criminal tribunals, from the Nuremberg Trials in 1945 to today. She also shared her experiences as a Defence Counsel at the International Criminal Court, and spoke about the fair trial implications of open source evidence. This is a recording of a Discord Server Stage Talk that took place in the Bellingcat Discord server on February 8, 2023. To join the server, download Discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcatMusic courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

During this Stage Talk, Bellingcat researcher Giancarlo Fiorella gave an overview of the history of the Bellingcat Discord server. Giancarlo spoke about how much the server has grown in 2022, what its biggest challenges were, and what he hopes 2023 has in store for the server. He was joined by server moderators Sarah and Subtle Knife, who spoke about what it's like to moderate the community. This is a recording of a Discord Server Stage Talk that took place in the Bellingcat Discord server on December 29, 2022. To join the server, download Discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcatMusic courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

Bellingcat Lead Investigator Hannah Bagdasar dropped by the Discord server to give us an overview of the projects that Global Authentication Project (GAP) members have contributed to this year.Launched in early 2022, the GAP is Bellingcat's formal volunteer community. It is made up of ordinary people from around the world who dedicate their free time and skills to help out with Bellingcat projects. This is a recording of a Discord Server Stage Talk that took place in the Bellingcat Discord server on December 22, 2022. To join the server, download Discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcatMusic courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

This talk delves into the consequences of automation and Open-Source Intelligence on investigative journalism, using a political economy lens. It explores the impact of OSINT implementation in investigative newsrooms, such as changing modes of work, stress, overwork, vicarious trauma and PTSD. It also focuses on alienation, how structural imbalances of race, class and gender are replicated in the OSINT space which is a majority white middle-class male-dominated profession from the Global North, often investigating the Global South, replicating colonial power dynamics.Dr. Manisha Ganguly is Investigations Correspondent at the Guardian, focusing on OSINT and human rights. Her international investigations for the BBC have won numerous awards and been broadcast to over 300 million worldwide. Manisha is a Forbes Under 30 media honouree, and was named Journalist of the Year 2022 by One Young World. She holds a PhD in the future of investigative journalism from the University of Westminster.This is a recording of a Discord Server Stage Talk that took place in the Bellingcat Discord server on November 28, 2022. To join the server, download Discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcatMusic courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

In this panel talk, researchers from Bellingcat (Johanna Wild, Aiganysh Aidarbekova, and Tristan Lee) and from Lightouse Reports (Justin Casimir Braun and Riccardo Coluccini) discuss their research into the spread of the QAnon conspiracy theory in Europe. The panel spoke about the role that language plays in the phenomenon's spread throughout Europe, as well as of the effects that it's had in different communities throughout the continent. This is a recording of a Discord Server Stage Talk that took place in the Bellingcat Discord server on November 17, 2022. To join the server, download Discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcatMusic courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

Open source reporter and producer Jake Godin (@JakeGodin) spoke to us about his experiences conducting research into conflicts and high profile events around the world, and about his work at the award-winning Newsy + Bellingcat video series. This is a recording of a Discord Server Stage Talk that took place in the Bellingcat Discord server on November 10, 2022. To join the server, download Discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat

Line of Actual Control (RC) dropped by the Bellingcat Discord Server to share some tips on how to get started doing open source research. RC gave practical tips for researchers on choosing topics, navigating ethical questions in research, and applying programming skills to open source tasks. RC is active on Twitter (@LOActualControl), and runs a free Substack where he writes about his open source research projects, which you can find here: https://actualcontrol.substack.com/This is a recording of a Discord Server Stage Talk that took place in the Bellingcat Discord server on October 20th, 2022. To join the server, download Discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat

Brenna Smith spoke to the Bellingcat Discord server community about her career trajectory, from university student at the UC Berkeley's Human Rights Centre to open source research enthusiast, to award-winning journalist. Brenna has done freelance work for Bellingcat, and has held positions at US Today, the New York Times Visual Investigations Team, and most recently, the Baltimore Banner. In 2022, Brenna was part of a team at the New York Times that was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for their work on fatal traffic stops in the United States.This is a recording of a Discord Stage Talk that took place in the Bellingcat Discord Server on September 9, 2022. To join the server, download Discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat.

Dr. Shelby Grossman dropped by the Bellingcat Discord Server to talk about ethical challenges that she has faced in her career. Dr. Grossman also answered questions from community members about navigating ethical dilemmas, and checking personal bias when conducting an investigation.Dr. Grossman is a Research Scholar at the Stanford Internet Observatory, and is the co-editor of the Journal of Online Trust and Safety. She studies topics related to online trust and safety, including foreign influence operations and self-harm. She teaches two courses: one on open source investigation, and the other on the politics of online trust and safety. She has a PhD in government.This Stage Talk made reference to the Workbook for Applied Ethics in OSINT, written by Melissa Hanham and published by the Stanley Centre for Peace and Security. You can find the Workbook here: https://stanleycenter.org/publications/osint-applied-ethics-workbook/This is a recording of a Discord Stage Talk that took place in the Bellingcat Discord Server on September 9, 2022. To join the server, download Discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat.

Tristan Lee, Aiganysh Aidarbekova, and Johanna Wild share their experience with programming as open source researchers, and share tips on how to get started down this path. Together, Tristan, Aiganysh, and Johanna make up part of the Bellingcat Tech Team, which is dedicated to creating tools for open source researchers.

In this recording of a Discord Stage Talk, Aram Shabanian of the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy speaks about the changing landscape in the open source monitoring of the war in Ukraine. From satellite image providers to military flight tracking, Aram's tips are invaluable for anyone looking to monitor developments in Ukraine using open sources. Aram also answered questions from the audience who came to this talk in the Bellingcat Discord server on August 10, 2022.

This is a Discord Stage Talk that happened on the Bellingcat server on May 23, 2022.The talk included advice on how to get a job as an open source researcher from Bellingcat staff members Tristan Lee, Aric Toler, Hannah Bagdasar, and Giancarlo Fiorella. They were joined by Jake Godin, from Newsy.

Bellingcat investigator Michael Colborne shares tips and suggestions for investigating far right groups using open source digital tools.This is a Discord Stage Talk that happened in the Bellingcat Server on June 29, 2022.

In this stage talk, Bellingcat researchers Annique Mossou and Giancarlo Fiorella talk about strategies for resilience when working with traumatic imagery. You can access many of the resources cited in this stage talk courtesy of the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma: https://dartcenter.org/ This is a Discord Stage Talk that happened in the Bellingcat server in July 2022.