An Introduction to (Ethical) Open Source Research Skills - Online

Ethical Open Source Investigation: A Deep Dive into Key Skills is a two-part methodology course which teaches open source skills whilst foregrounding a critical and reflexive approach to open source investigations. You will learn practical skills to evaluate social media content, online databases and satellite images, whilst integrating considerations of ethics, care and power.

This material is developed from the University of Cambridge’s Open Source Investigation for Academics course (which was co-designed by Dr Ella McPherson, Ray Adams Row Farr, Nik Yasikov and Laetitia Maurat) and inspired by the university’s collaboration with Amnesty International as part of their Digital Verification Corps - an international network of universities where students trained in open source investigation contribute to Amnesty’s human rights fact-finding. It brings together long-standing academic considerations of positionality, reflexivity and ethics with a practical introduction to the methodologies of open source investigation. 

This exciting opportunity to engage with Open Source Investigation is open to anyone interested in using OSI in any part of their work, whether a PhD student, Early Career Researcher, researcher in the field or academic. This is an intensive course and there is preparation and follow-up work expected from you. If you are unable to commit to the course in its entirely (2 days over 2 weeks) then you are unable to apply.

Course Description

Part 1: Sessions 1  & 2

On day one, drawing from relevant case studies, you’ll be introduced to open source research, its potential applications and how to engage with your own wellbeing as a researcher. On day two, we’ll build on this ground work by diving into the stages of an open source investigation, split into discovering and verifying content.

Objectives

• Understand what an open source investigation is and how it can be used
• Have a working understanding of the risks of conducting an open source investigation, and how to mitigate them
• Identify and engage with the ethical challenges of open source investigation
• Understand the key stages and methods of open source investigation, from discovery to verification. Including:
• be able to conduct effective searches across a variety of social media platforms and search engines, and
• understand what is meant by verification and have working knowledge of some verification techniques (reverse image search, metadata collection, an introduction to geolocation)

Topics covered:

• What is Open Source Research
• Vicarious Trauma
• Discovery
• Verification (chronolocation, reverse image search)

Part 2: Sessions 3 & 4 

On Day 1 you’ll build on your practical skills verifying content by diving into chronolocation and geolocation, before moving on to consider how to structure and archive content in an open source investigation. On Day 2, we’ll broaden the discussion and bring together all methodological components discussed so far, to think about ethics in the context of open source investigations.

Topics covered:

• Geolocation
• Satellite imagery
• Data Curation
• Archiving
• Digital Footprint
• Ethics

Applying for a place

Applications should be made by email to Dr Billie-Gina Thomason at [email protected] by noon on Monday 1st April 2024. On receipt of your application you will get a confirmation email and some information on the next steps. Applicants will be informed of the outcome of the application and provided with information about how to pay by Friday 5th April 2024. Any questions should be sent to [email protected]

Please use the following headings in your application:

Personal details

• Full name
• Email address
• Current Job Title/Role, Department/School/Faculty/Institution
• Discipline

If applicable: PhD Information (please note a PhD is not a requirement) 

• Year your PhD was awarded or PhD year (if currently doing a PhD)
• Title of your PhD
• Department/School/Faculty/Institution your PhD was based in
• Was your PhD ESRC funded?

Why are you interested?

• Please provide details of your research history, including current position and research (200 word limit)
• What is your prior experience / knowledge of / engagement with open source investigation? Please note that no prior experience is required. 
• Please explain how this course will be of value in your current or future research or practice (200 word limit)
• Publications (Please note that this will have no bearing on the outcome of your application)