Research Tools: Find the Right Open Source Tools With Bellingcat’s New Online Investigations Toolkit

Ed. Note: As someone who has used, shared, taught about a number of the tools listed in the toolkit , I’m very impressed with this effort so far.  I also discovered several tools to add to my personal collection. Overall: Well done and kudos!
–Gary

From Bellingcat:

Have you ever struggled to find a tool that does exactly what you need? Do you know the feeling of spending hours trying to figure out how to use a tool just to realise that the key features you are interested in are not working anymore, or that the previously free product has turned into a paid one that is more expensive than you can afford?

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This is where our new Online Investigations Toolkit comes in: it not only helps you discover tools in categories like satellite imagery and maps, social media, transportation or archiving, but is also designed to help researchers learn how to use each tool by providing in-depth descriptions, common use cases and information on requirements and limitations for each toolkit entry.

Most of the tools included can be used for free.

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The number one reason our interviewees said they did not use toolkits often was that they felt most of these are not kept up to date on a regular basis.

Eight out of our 40 interviewees suggested adopting a collaborative approach to keep toolkits relevant, and therefore useful, for researchers. One open source researcher said that in her view, if any one individual was in charge of keeping a toolkit regularly updated they would “probably go insane” doing it, so “having the courage to let people own different bits of it” would be the only feasible way, she said.

Another popular request by open source researchers was to include or link to guides that explain how to use each tool. “If you are developing a toolkit, then I would personally expect to have some kind of explanation on how to use it,” one of our interviewees said. Many toolkits, however, do not focus on providing or listing guides and are therefore only of limited use for open source researchers.

In addition, some researchers expressed the importance of receiving clear information on the limitations of each tool and the costs, if any. “I prefer accessibility and open source tools, but for sure, if a paid example exists, I like to know that it exists. I just like that to be really clearly marked,” one interviewee explained. Another person considered it as important to see right away whether a tool has “a thousand dollar license that’s unsustainable for small organisations”.

Learn More, Read the Complete Post (about 2030 words)

Direct to New Online Investigations Toolkit

Filed under: Maps, News