Investigative Techniques and Tools

The Kit

kit.exposingtheinvisible.org

Workshops

Exposing the Invisible provides free training curriculum for anyone interested in running their own investigative workshops.

About the Workshops

Exposing the Invisible provides workshop curricula for anyone interested in running their own investigative workshops or trainings. We offer a structure, techniques, tips and recommended tools that can be used to train on various topics and methods of online and offline investigation.

Most of the workshops are based on topics from our Exposing the Invisible Kit and can be adapted to specific contexts.

We will be adding new workshop curriculum and additional materials in this space and we invite you to send us feedback, suggestions for improvement or ideas for collaboration.

Workshops

Environment Collaborative Investigations

People, Power, Planet - Module 1. Start Digging Using OSINT

Using open source intelligence (OSINT) tools and methods for climate and environmental investigations. | This workshop introduces some of the key tools and methods from open source intelligence (OSINT) which participants can apply to climate and environmental investigations. It will guide trainers through delivering practical, hands-on sessions with exercises to help participants who want to start investigations into the urgent topics facing our planet.

Duration: 3h:30m

Participants: 8 - 24

Included in plan: Workshop plan and activity templates

Political influence

How Political Campaigns Use Personal Data

This introductory workshop is for researchers, activists, technologists, and anyone curious to know more about the use of personal data in political campaigns. The workshop addresses foundational information about personal data and explores its multifaceted relevance to political influence. Participants, regardless of their expertise, will engage in discussions and activities to grasp the intricacies of different data categories, real-world examples with relevance to current politics, and share experiences from their personal or professional realms, facilitating the identification of...

Duration: 3h

Participants: 6 – 24 participants

Included in plan: Workshop plan and additional readings

Political influence

Understanding Political Data as an Asset and Intelligence

This workshop explores how data-driven technologies are used in political influence, in particular what data is collected, bought, and sold to political parties, how this data is used to profile voters and to target political influence, as well as how data is used to enhance the success of a political campaign. Participants, regardless of their expertise, will engage in discussions and activities to grasp the intricacies of different data-driven technologies. The workshop aims to cultivate a collaborative space for participants to share experiences from their personal or...

Duration: 3h:30m

Participants: 6 - 24

Included in plan: Workshop plan and additional readings

Exposing the Invisible Workshops: A Facilitator’s Guide

Welcome to the Facilitator’s Guide for "Exposing the Invisible" Workshops! This resource includes general guidelines and tips for facilitators and trainers who wish to conduct workshops based on the curricula we provide on this website. You will find a brief background about the workshops, suggested tools and activities as well as recommendations on how to start, run and conclude a workshop. You can adapt these guidelines and our workshop plans according to your audience's needs and context.

Included in plan: Useful background information about the workshops' structure, activities and tools, including how trainers can apply and adapt them to various audiences or contexts.

Communication Collaborative Investigations Interviews

A “New Narratives” Approach to Investigations

This workshop provides participants with skills and methods to identify, investigate and tell social stories that are relevant to local communities in order to connect audiences to topics which affect them. It applies a “new narratives” approach to creating and telling stories, aiming to improve the social impact of investigations in terms of collaborative efforts, evidence shared and audience reached. The workshop is particularly recommended to NGO researchers, community members, activists and others who wish to conduct local investigations that meet journalistic standards.

Duration: 5h

Participants: 6 - 20

Included in plan: Workshop plan and activity templates

Collaborative Investigations Evaluating Evidence Searching

Investigating the Unfamiliar

This workshop provides participants with a generic framework for planning and structuring research on new and unfamiliar topics. It focuses on adapting and expanding their previous knowledge, skills and methodologies to help navigate new investigation scenarios and contexts. The workshop is recommended for participants who have at least basic experience and awareness with conducting research online and / or in the field.

Duration: 3h:30m

Participants: 6 - 24

Included in plan: Workshop plan and activity templates

Interviews Managing Sources

The Human Element of Investigations: (1) Identifying and Reaching Out to Sources Safely

This workshop is part of a four-module training plan addressing "the human element of investigations", namely the interaction between investigators / researchers and people who may become their sources of information. In this module participants will learn how to identify and reach out to sources and interviewees in a safe manner, and how to assess and mitigate potential risks.

Duration: 3h

Participants: 6 - 24

Included in plan: Workshop plan and activity templates

Interviews Managing Sources

The Human Element of Investigations: (2) Conducting Interviews

This workshop is part of a four-module training plan addressing "the human element of investigations", namely the interaction between investigators / researchers and people who may become their sources of information. It follows the workshop on “The Human Element: Identifying and Reaching Out to Sources Safely” (which should come first for beginners). This second workshop provides participants with techniques, skills and best practices to safely interview and maintain contact with human sources providing evidence during investigations.

Duration: 2h:10m

Participants: 6 - 24

Included in plan: Workshop plan and activity templates

Managing Sources Interviews

The Human Element of Investigations: (3) Managing Sources

This workshop is part of a four-module training plan addressing "the human element of investigations", namely the interaction between investigators / researchers and people who may become their sources of information. As the final module in the series, it provides an introduction to managing contacts for investigations, including how to develop, interact with and maintain safe and effective collaboration with human sources to enrich investigations.

Duration: 2h:50m

Participants: 6 - 24

Included in plan: Workshop plan and activity templates

Interviews Managing Sources

The Human Element of Investigations: (4) Interviews requiring special approaches

This workshop is part of a four-module training plan addressing "the human element of investigations", namely the interaction between investigators / researchers and people who may become their sources of information. It provides participants with necessary skills to safely approach and interview sources in unknown or hostile places, as well as with methods to address people who are vulnerable or may become adversarial over the course of an investigation.

Duration: 2h:30m

Participants: 6 - 24

Included in plan: Workshop plan and activity templates

Mapping Disinformation

How to Track Disinformation Networks

This workshop introduces the basics of networked disinformation and manipulation campaigns, helping participants acquire a methodology for discovering, mapping and tracking networks of disinformation in different languages and contexts. Participants gain awareness that disinformation and manipulation campaigns are multi-dimensional, and that digital investigators need to adopt a networked approach (looking for connections on multiple platforms) in order to "expose the invisible" behind disinformation campaigns.

Duration: 4h (including optional activities)

Participants: 6 - 24

Included in plan: Workshop plan and activity templates

Evaluating Evidence

Evaluating Evidence and Information Sources

In this workshop, participants will learn how to analyse and verify collected information, as well as how to evaluate information sources to be able to assess the reliability of research / investigation findings.

Duration: 3h:10m

Participants: 6 - 24

Included in plan: Workshop plan and activity templates

Collaborative Investigations

Investigation is Collaboration: How to Make it Work

This workshop introduces participants to practical ways of finding common ground for working together while navigating and addressing key aspects such as ethics, motivation, context, experiences, goals, etc. Through various exercises, participants will become aware of, and help manage situations where varying reasons and differences can make it hard for people to collaborate, with the aim to understand the collective methods that would enable a team to contribute to the project to the best of their ability.

Duration: 4h:40m

Participants: 6 - 24

Included in plan: Workshop plan and activity templates

Crowdsourcing Managing Sources

Crowdsourcing Information for Investigations

This workshop provides participants with the essential methods, tools, examples and considerations to be aware of when planning and managing a crowdsourcing effort. It also demonstrates the role of crowdsourcing as a method increasingly used by journalists, activists, researchers and others to engage with communities to collect information, verify it and build evidence that can help expose issues affecting societies everywhere.

Duration: 4h

Participants: 6 - 24

Included in plan: Workshop plan, trainer's guides and activity templates

Collaborative Investigations Communication

Communicating Investigations

This workshop demonstrates the importance of communicating investigation findings, and provides methods and tips about investigative "storytelling." It aims to familiarize participants with the process of defining communication goals, identifying audiences, designing a communication plan adapted to contexts, utilizing various communication formats and channels and understanding how they impact the message and the audiences alike.

Duration: 3h:50m

Participants: 6 - 24

Included in plan: Workshop plan and activity templates

Environment

Investigating Climate Change Adaptation: Methods and Principles

This workshop introduces participants to basic principles of climate change adaptation. It provides guidance and tips on investigating exposure to climate impacts, vulnerabilities and coping capacities that participants can apply to their local context. Participants will gain awareness on the complex relationship between climate change, public policies and societal safety, as well as potential wrongdoing related to climate change adaptation.

Duration: 3h:40m

Participants: 8 - 24

Included in plan: Workshop plan and activity templates

Safety Digital Security

An Investigator’s Introduction to Risk Management

This workshop aims to introduce participants to basic principles of risk assessment and risk management, which they can apply to their professional and personal contexts. It provide a working process and guidance on how to conduct a risk assessment and use this assessment as a tool for making decisions at an individual and/or team level.

Duration: 2h:45m

Participants: 6 - 24

Included in plan: Workshop plan and activity templates

Safety Searching Digital Security

How the Internet Works

This short workshop helps participants to understand how the internet is structured, and which journey information takes when traveling from the end user to the providers of information and vice versa. Participants will gain awareness of where the main digital safety risks are and how they look like for various scenarios.

Duration: 1h / 1h:20m

Participants: 6-24

Included in plan: Workshop plan and activity templates

Safety Digital Security

Safety First! Basics of Preventive Digital Safety

This workshop introduces participants to the basics of preventive digital safety and risk awareness measures, which they can apply to their own context. It also provides the main principles and criteria of assessing and deciding what digital tools to choose based on specific individual or group / team situations and needs.

Duration: 2h:40m

Participants: 6-24

Included in plan: Workshop plan and activity templates

Verification Searching Archiving

Web Archiving and Retrieving Archived Information Online

This workshop introduces participants to methods, tools and tips to find and retrieve historical and ‘lost’ information from websites, as well as to archive and preserve copies of webpages for future reference and evidence that something existed online.

Duration: 2h:40m

Participants: 6 - 24

Included in plan: Workshop plan and activity templates

Searching Digital Security Verification

Advanced Online Search and Dorking

This workshop introduces participants to advanced internet search methods, tips and tools, all under the umbrella of a technique known as “dorking.” Participants will learn and practice the technique across different search engines, while applying it to various investigation contexts. The workshop also includes tips on essential digital safety and privacy aspects relevant when searching, collecting and sharing information online.

Duration: 2h:40m

Participants: 6 - 24

Included in plan: Workshop plan and activity templates