Stage Talks with Bellingcat

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.