The @journalismfestival.com is right around the corner. As always, the 2026 programme includes a range of sessions that are particularly relevant for (aspiring) open source researchers. Here is an overview of sessions you shouldn’t miss: t1p.de/mod4u. Most sessions are also live-streamed.

Grep allows users to search the contents of public GitHub repositories. Sometimes, you may find e-mail addresses or other interesting snippets of information hidden within code. Learn more in @bellingcat.com's Online Investigation Toolkit: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more...

Urlscan lets you analyse suspicious websites without directly interacting with them. You can also use the tool to look into signals that potentially connect individual sites to coordinated networks. Learn more in @bellingcat.com's Online Investigation Toolkit: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more...

Ollie Ballinger (not on Bluesky) has created a method to detect building damage in Iran using open source radar imagery, in light of satellite image companies restricting access to images from the country. The method is described in this peer-reviewed paper: t.co/OAXynsosnt

The World Database on Protected and Conserved Areas is a comprehensive global database of marine and terrestrial protected areas. We just added it to @bellingcat.com's Online Investigation Toolkit: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more...

💬 Lessons from Building an Online Toolkit to Aid Open-Source Investigations Publicly available sources can be a tool for all journalists, writes @johannawild.bsky.social of @bellingcat.com. niemanreports.org/osint-open-s...

Publicly available sources to aid open-source investigations can be a tool for all journalists, writes @johannawild.bsky.social of @bellingcat.com ⬇️ niemanreports.org/osint-open-s...

Face Comparison by ToolPie is one of several tools that allows researchers to compare faces. We don’t know who is behind this tool, so please consider carefully whether you want to use it. Bonny Albo tested it for @bellingcat.com's Online Investigation Toolkit: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more...

PublicWWW is a source code search engine. Open source researchers can use it to identify possible links between different websites. Learn more in @bellingcat.com's Online Investigation Toolkit. bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more... #OpenSourceResearch

Our new and improved Bellingcat Toolkit is one-year-old today! If you haven't used it yet its a one-stop shop for discovering useful open source tools, maintained by an amazing group of volunteers. You can find use cases, guidance and honest reviews for each tool. bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit

What3words is a geocode system which identifies any location on the surface of the earth to a resolution of 3 metres. You don’t need to use it yourself but open source researchers should be aware of its existence. Learn more in @bellingcat.com's Toolkit: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more...

Do you already know Navtex? It’s a historical database providing warnings and maritime safety information to ships. It can also be useful for open source researchers. Learn more about the site in @bellingcat.com's Online Investigation Toolkit: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more...

‼️ New from GIJN: A free e-book Guide to Investigating the Fossil Fuels — packed with tools, data sources, and expert tips. A must-have for journalists covering climate, energy, and corporate accountability. 📘 Download here: https://twp.ai/9PU7zi

Search4Faces lets you upload a photo of a face and search for visually similar faces. It scans photos from VK, Odnoklassniki, and TikTok. ⚠️ The tool provider' identity is unknown. Learn more about the tool in @bellingcat.com's Online Investigation Toolkit: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more...

Would you like to learn how to track ships? Discover how to use ShipFinder: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more.... We also compare ShipFinder to other ship tracking sites, helping you choose the best tool for your research #OpenSourceResearch

If you are interested in researching China-related topics, consider exploring Tencent Maps. Learn how to use this Chinese mapping service (also from outside of China) in @bellingcat.com ’s Online Investigation Toolkit: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more... #OpenSourceResearch

The EU has imposed sanctions on a range of countries and individuals. Open source researchers can use the EU Sanctions Map to find out who is affected. Learn more about the site in @bellingcat.com's Online Investigation Toolkit: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more... #OpenSourceResearch

Check out Bulletpicker - an online database with technical manuals, schematics, and detailed guidebooks of ordnance and explosive items from various armed forces around the world. More in @bellingcat.com's Online Investigation Toolkit by @afko.bsky.social: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more...

This month, the Bellingcat Open Source Challenge dives into the world of art, history and illicit trade. Can you spot the telltale signs of stolen cultural artifacts and trace who handled them in the past? Give this month’s Bellingcat Challenge a try! Challenge.bellingcat.com

From researching on Telegram to analyzing satellite imagery, the @journalismfestival.com offers free online recordings from past events. I have compiled a list of sessions that focus on, or are related to, open source research methods: t1p.de/mod4u. #OpenSourceResearch

Identifying birds that are visible in photos or audible in audio or video recordings can sometimes provide important clues when doing geolocations. Learn more about the bird identification tool Merlin in @bellingcat.com's Open Source Investigation Toolkit: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more...

China provides several map services that can be useful for open source researchers. Gaode Maps is one of them. Conveniently, it is also accessible to people based outside of China. Have a look at @bellingcat.com's Online Investigation Toolkit to learn more: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more...

China provides several map services that can be useful for open source researchers. Gaode Maps is one of them. Conveniently, it is also accessible to people based outside of China. Have a look at @bellingcat.com's Online Investigation Toolkit to learn more: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more...

Baidu Maps is one of those tools everyone has heard of, but few open source researchers actually know how to use. Learn more about Baidu Maps in @bellingcat.com's Online Investigation Toolkit: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more... #OpenSourceResearch

Did you ever struggle to estimate the number of people in a crowd? MapChecking can help with this task. Learn more about the tool in @bellingcat.com's Online Investigation Toolkit by @afko.bsky.social: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more... #OpenSourceResearch

Welcome to @quiztime.bsky.social with today's #ThursdayQuiz 📍 Can you find out where this photo was taken? 📞 Reply just to me with your answer 🗣️ Reply further in this threa to collaborate

PimEyes allows users to upload photos of faces in order to search the internet for pictures of people who look similar. Learn more about the tool in Bellingcat’s Online Investigation Toolkit: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more... by @anisashabir.bsky.social #OpenSourceResearch

New to flight tracking? Our Flightradar24 toolkit guide by teaches you everything you need to know about the site, including when (not) to use it: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more.... Written by @afko.bsky.social for @bellingcat.com's Online Investigation Toolkit.

Auto Archiver v1.0.0 is out 🎉 Now with documentation, guides, tests, and new exciting features. A big thanks to @erinhmclark.bsky.social and Patrick Robertson who went out of their way to improve the quality and reliability of the tool. See what changed here: github.com/bellingcat/a...

Leak-Lookup allows open source researchers to search across data breaches. Have a look at Bellingcat’s Online Investigation Toolkit to learn more about this tool: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more... #OpenSourceResearch

It’s already hard to judge whether products you buy online will be the right size or not, but what if the product doesn’t even exist? @koltai.bsky.social helps you to distinguish between real and AI-generated products online. www.bellingcat.com/resources/20...

The tool "Bluesky Insights" provides information on Bluesky accounts including favourite topics, preferred posting times or best performing posts. @cargocultscientist.bsky.social tested the tool by using @bellingcat.com as an example: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more... #OpenSourceResearch

Atlos is a platform that allows open source researchers to collaborate on large scale investigations. Learn more about Atlos in @stephanieladel.bsky.social's contribution to @bellingcat.com' Online Investigation Toolkit: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more... #OpenSourceResearch

💫 NEW! GIJN shares some of the no-cost, easy-to-use data tools that #NICAR25 conference panelists described as surprisingly useful but unknown by investigative reporters. More: https://twp.ai/1X1vX3#NICAR25

The Meta Content Library allows approved researchers to analyse public Facebook and Instagram posts. Open source researchers who are working for universities and nonprofits might be eligible to apply for access. bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more... by @cargocultscientist.bsky.social

We're hiring! Bellingcat is looking for a Europe-based Fundraising Officer. Find out more about the role and apply here www.bellingcat.com/bellingcat-i...

License plates can be a crucial piece of information for geolocations. Check out our new comparison of top license plate information sites: app.gitbook.com/o/WQpOq5ZFue... #OpenSourceResearch #Geolocation #LicensePlates

🌍 Fossil fuel investigations are critical to understanding the global climate crisis. Get the tools and resources you need to hold the industry accountable with GIJN's free guide: https://twp.ai/1UMmOj

Bellingcat's new US division is looking for an executive director to make Bellingcat US the best Bellingcat it can be. Details of the role and compensation can be found here: www.on-ramps.com/jobs/3408

How do you protect yourself online? In this video we’ll walk you through some steps we take to protect our online safety, and give you tips on how to strengthen yours… www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9uF...

Yet another open source resource lost on Meta platforms techcrunch.com/2025/02/18/f...

Finding relevant high resolution SAR imagery from Umbra's Open Data Program can be tricky 🛰️ With this new @bellingcat.com project you can browse all the currently available data in Google Earth📍🌏 github.com/bellingcat/u...

Come read my latest, in which together with @chrisosieck.bsky.social and Darcy White, we hunt down a wildlife trafficker dealing in endangered species.

My full lecture and Q&A about information disorder and what to do about it at Leiden University youtu.be/UfX5RLAcgLg?...

Our team has launched a tracker account for flights in and out of the US naval base and detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The tracker is based on open data from ADS-B signals. Check it out here @gtmowatch.bsky.social

Whether we like it or not, some open source researchers do use facial detection/recognition tools: Learn more about Azure AI Video Indexer and FaceCheckID (two very different tools!) in our toolkit: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more... + bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more... #OpenSourceResearch

Microsoft’s Azure AI Video Indexer is able to detect people and objects in videos. It can also be used to extract key topics and to generate transcripts. Learn more about the tool (including ethical concerns) in our new toolkit text by @anisashabir.bsky.social: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more...

💻 How to Acquire Free Satellite Imagery for Your Investigations 🗓️ Jan. 27 ⌚️ 9 AM ET Our upcoming GIJN webinar brings together leading experts to share practical advice and tips on navigating this often-overwhelming field. Register now: https://twp.ai/1PfUg1

Most open source researchers rely on search engines to do reverse image searches. However, there are also niche tools like RootAbout: It lets you upload a picture and checks it against Internet Archive collections. @anisashabir.bsky.social tested it: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more...

Adverts selling an opioid up to 500 times stronger than heroin are all over the internet, from social media platforms to trade sites. Bellingcat and partner Postimees investigate how this deadly drug is infiltrating Europe and beyond… www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/01...