Bellingcat is a high-tech digital investigation and news team. The group does open-source research by accessing satellite imagery, existing data, and real-time photos and videos.
They depend on citizen journalists and researchers and an internet connection for their investigations. All the information is verified and compiled using geolocation, chronolocation, and analyzing existing data.
The founder, Eliot Higgins began the information gathering service in 2014. And Bellingcat has grown from an online sleuthing project to a global information-gathering effort.
Higgins tells the story of the collaborative project in 2021 We Are Bellingcat: Global Crime, Online Sleuths, and the Bold Future of News. In the book, he describes how the citizen research organization identified the missiles that downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in Ukraine. Uncovered the use of chemical weapons used by Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. And identified the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, and discovered Kremlin hit teams in Europe.
Open-source research shows war in real-time
Higgins insists that all you need to become an open-source research source is an internet connection, a Twitter account, and curiosity.
