An introduction to geolocation tools for open source investigations

This is an adaption of the course ‘Open Source Investigation for Academics’, which is a methodology course run by Cambridge’s Digital Verification Corps, in partnership with Cambridge’s Centre of Governance and Human Rights, the Social Science Research Methods Programme and Cambridge Digital Humanities, as well as with the Citizen Evidence Lab at Amnesty International.

For this Cambridge Social Data School 2022 Public Event, the team of Cambridge’s Digital Verification Corps has adapted one of their course’s lectures – Spotlight on geolocation, touching upon tools, research methods, and ethical dilemmas while investigating this data. Apart from being useful for the 20 students that take part in this year’s Social Data School, which focuses on the investigation of images, this lecture is made open to everyone with the aim of broadening access to digital research methods. Attendants will see practical skills to evaluate social media content, online databases and satellite images, whilst integrating considerations of ethics and power.

‘Open Source Investigation for Academics’ foregrounds a critical and reflexive approach to open source investigations. The showcasing of one of these lectures can be of great benefit to those wanting to embark on this kind of investigation, and we hope, it can also foster their collaboration with academics, journalists, NGOs, and other organisations.