Open source researchers are constantly exposed to graphic, distressing content, some of which can have severe negative impacts on their mental health.
I wrote an article with suggestions on how to minimise exposure to this content and build resilience.
bellingcat.com/resources/2022…
Some of the tips in the article include steps that you can take to help diminish your exposure to potentially graphic and distressing content while doing research. For example, I suggest the Blurry app, which blurs all images as you browse:
CNN conducted its own investigation into the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, and concludes that she was "shot dead in targeted attack by Israeli forces".
cnn.com/2022/05/24/mid…
The CNN report includes new evidence on top of that which we covered in our investigation. This new evidence includes video footage as well as interviews with witnesses, all pointing to the IDF as the culprit in the killing.
It's been so encouraging to see the open source community organize in the @bellingcat Discord server recently.
Earlier this year, the server was quiet. Today, it's got 6,500+ members. Dozens of them are active every day, geolocating images from Ukraine.
discord.gg/3vebafx
The sense of community in the server today reminds me so much of that of the early message boards of the late 1990s/early 2000s, like the Something Awful forums.
It's no coincidence that Bellingcat can trace its origins to these early online communities, like SA.
Jun 22, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
It's been really encouraging to be part of the volunteer effort that's helping to shape the Colombia police violence map with which we've been helping @cerosetenta since May.
bellingcat.com/news/americas/…
We have a group of about 20 volunteers, plus a few others on the @cerosetenta side, who've been dedicating their free time to monitoring, archiving, and verifying footage from the protests in Colombia.
Together, we've mapped 180+ incidents.
Jun 17, 2021 • 9 tweets • 6 min read
Two new videos have surfaced today showing civilians being executed near #MahbereDego, in the #Tigray region in #Ethiopia.
I won't link the videos due to their graphic nature, but here is a short thread with what they tell us.
The new videos appear to be linked to the same massacre that we (@BBCAfrica + @Newsy), and @cnni and @amnesty geolocated and verified independently.
That massacre likely occurred in January of this year.
RTing this again from yesterday because it's very important:
Crowdsourcing identification efforts go wrong. When they do, they have devastating impacts on the innocent people caught up in them.
cbc.ca/radio/thecurre…
I know the adrenaline rush that you get when you think you've found someone. I get it all the time.
But IDing people is precisely the kind of work that you should not do in a rush.
This work must be deliberate, thorough, methodical, slow.
Nov 25, 2020 • 10 tweets • 5 min read
People are talking about AI-generated faces (check out this NYT article on the topic nytimes.com/interactive/20…)
Aside from creating fake faces, this tech can also edit the faces of real people with just a couple of clicks.
Let's do an experiment with Harrison Ford.
The 2021 version of Adobe Photoshop includes a new feature: "Neural Filters".
These filters put the power of machine learning in the hands of everyone with access to the program.
To demonstrate, I'll use this picture of Harrison Ford in 1982's "Blade Runner".
May 4, 2020 • 8 tweets • 5 min read
Reports now that #Venezuela authorities intercepted a boat at sea near Chuao, in Aragua state, and that among the eight detained is the son of General Baduel, a high-profile gov't defector.
The account that claims to be the legitimate portal of the movement has identified these two men as "Luke and Aaron", says that they are American and that they were captured in #Venezuela today
Here's Jordan Goudreau from the @APjoshgoodman AP piece saying that there's a military operation underway "into the heart of Caracas" and that there's fighting ongoing (????) #Venezuela
Interesting that: 1) They're calling this "Operacion Gedeon", which is the name of the operation that killed Oscar Perez (who is now a cult hero to the more militant sections of the opposition), and 2) That the purpose of this raid (???) is to "capture" Maduro & Co.
Apr 30, 2020 • 9 tweets • 5 min read
A year ago today, #Venezuela awoke to shocking developments.
Opposition leader Juan Guaido was outside La Carlota military base in Caracas with a group of soldiers. He was joined by Leopoldo Lopez, who'd been freed from house arrest overnight.
A coup was underway.
Lopez, who'd been in custody since 2014, tweeted pictures from the scene and said that "the definitive phase" in the struggle against the Maduro gov't was at hand.
The men waited outside the base throughout the morning, though it was not clear for what.
This CCTV footage allegedly shows *two* missile launched at #PS752. Prior to the surfacing of this footage there were reports that people in the area heard two explosions/launches.
Working to geolocate now. I'll post some likely spots in a sec.
Based on the trajectories of the two missiles and the airplane, if this is indeed footage of the #PS752 event then the vantage point could be somewhere in this area (green line is PS752 flight path): 35.613541, 50.920686
