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.

Learning Activities

Opening (15 minutes)

Instructions for trainer

• Grab attention if needed by posing a question or commenting on a relevant topic, image, etc.
• Introduce yourself and the goals of the workshop.
• Optional: Introduce the source of the workshop material (Tactical Tech.)
• Inform participants of the workshop agenda.
• Suggest ground rules for the workshop. Ask participants whether they would like to modify your suggestions or suggest other rules. Ensure that everybody understands and agrees with the ground rules. Specific suggestions about setting ground rules are available in the Facilitator's Guide, section on "Delivering the Workshops".

Instructions

• Make a quick round of introductions by asking participants to answer a couple of questions about themselves, their work, their workshop expectations, etc.
• Alternatively, you can pick an icebreaker exercise that encourages participants to get creative by drawing answers or ideas on an online whiteboard or, if off-line, stand up and perform some tasks. Check the Icebreakers section in the ETI Facilitator’s Manual for inspiration.

In addition, if your time allows it, you can include one of the following brief questions / activities:

• Ask each participant to pick one or two emotions from the “wheel of emotions” (see Annex: Emotion & Feeling Wheel - The Junto Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership), in order to describe their feelings towards this workshop topic. Start yourself and be honest and open, so as to encourage participants to be comfortable with sharing their feelings in the group.
• Alternatively, you can pick an icebreaker exercise that encourages participants to get creative by drawing answers or ideas on an online whiteboard or, if offline, stand up and perform some tasks. Check the Icebreakers section in the Facilitator's Guide for inspiration.

Introduction to using OSINT (15 minutes)

Tools/materials

• shared files (if online)
• sheets of paper and pens (if offline)

Instructions

Prepare and give a short opening presentation focusing on the following essential points:

What is OSINT?

• Define open source intelligence and give a brief overview of its history (use this resource from Bellingcat if needed) and the variety of applications e.g. government, police, civil society, and corporate intelligence.
• Agree on a working definition for the session e.g. “Free or inexpensive information, tools, or media that can be accessed, reviewed and used by average people, without licenses or active permissions” (source: kit.exposingtheinvisible.org/en/osint-ocean.html)

Why is OSINT relevant to climate and environmental investigations?

Provide some examples of OSINT tools and methods that can be applied to climate and environmental investigations:

• Advanced search using search engines and generative AI chatbots
• Using public registries to understand important financial information and the relationships between companies and individuals
• Tools to find leads and evidence on social media
• Tools to verify digital sources of evidence
• Using data sources to trace commodities through the supply chain
• Using satellite data and maps to understand the impact of climate change and extractive industries

RESOURCES:

• “OSINT- Diving into an ‘Ocean’ of Information” Guide, Exposing the Invisible: The Kit.
• “What Makes an Investigation” Guide , Exposing the Invisible: The Kit.

Digital Safety (30 minutes) - Optional section if the group needs it

Tools/materials

• shared files (if online)
• sheets of paper and pens (if offline)

Instructions

Prepare and give a short opening presentation focusing on the following essential points:

• Safety First! mindset - One should consider safety and privacy before launching a project or starting an investigation/research, and as preventive and ongoing measures rather than as a solution to a security crisis.
• The Do No Harm principle - Always plan your actions in a way that increases positive impact and reduces potential negative impact on the people you work with, on the issues you investigate and on yourself. 

RESOURCES:

• “Digital Security Checklist”: https://freedom.press/digisec/blog/journalists-digital-security-checklist/
• “Holistic Security Manual”: https://holistic-security.tacticaltech.org/

Tools/Materials

• "Digital Safety Self-assessment" table (Word file)

Instructions

[15 minutes]

Ask participants to individually reflect on their own work, and to fill out a sheet that includes the following sections:

1. The actions you perform as part of your work. - To guide participants, you can share some examples verbally, such as:

• Online research (desk-top research)
• Offline research
• Communication: mail, phone, online, offline
• Storing information and data on devices
• Transferring information and data
• Remote collaboration
• Travel: locally and across borders
• Interviewing with sources, dealing with vulnerable subjects, etc.

2. Tools / Techniques / Devices you use to perform these actions (these can vary from online tools/services to actual devices used)
3. Digital Safety measures and concerns while performing your tasks.

[5 minutes] Debriefing

• Once the time is up, ask a few volunteers to share what they have written. You can ask for a volunteer with a different function or with the same function but a different context or call for someone with a specific function you'd like to highlight.

• End the exercise by emphasizing these points:

  • Data we collect and want to safeguard might include the identities of others, for example people we interview, victims of abuse, whistleblowers, people working for a company that is being investigated, etc.
  • Therefore there is great responsibility and duty of care not only for ourselves but also for other people who become part of our daily work and who can be affected by our behavior.

Building an investigation using OSINT (90 minutes)

Tools/materials

• shared files (if online)
• sheets of paper and pens (if offline)

Instructions

Prepare and give a short opening presentation focusing on the following essential points:

• Discuss how search or generative AI chatbots can help participants build an investigation or support an ongoing investigation in finding new sources of information or ‘leads.’ 

• Briefly introduce the use of using advanced search methods/dorks to help investigators unlock the full capabilities of search engines to find targeted information:

  • Provide a few examples of dorks highlighting 3 key ‘operators’ such as: “exact phrase”, "site": and/or "filetype" - e.g. Find university research funded by fossil fuel industry: (BP OR SHELL OR Equinor) AND (sponsor OR partnership OR partner research) site:.edu OR site:ac.uk
  • Emphasise the importance of using different search engines as a way to expand searches
  • Emphasise the importance of combining operators for more targeted searches

• Briefly introduce the use of generative AI chatbots for sourcing and story research. 

  • Provide a few example prompts for investigators using generative AI chatbots - e.g. Perform a web search for comprehensive investigation for reporters and researchers on university research funded by the fossil fuel industry in the UK or US:
  1. Current status & key developments.
  2. Background & historical context.
  3. Key stakeholders (individuals, orgs, groups).
  4. Data, statistics & relevant studies.
  5. Different perspectives & controversies.
  6. Expert analysis & opinions.
  7. Future outlook & implications.
  • Prioritize credible sources. (Source: Henk Van Ess ‘Research Pilot’

• Provide an example(s) of where advanced search methods (using dorks or generative AI chatbots) have been used in a climate or environmental investigation. Provide an example relevant to your audience or specific geography or ask participants to share investigations that they think are relevant. 

EXAMPLE CASE STUDY: 

A 2023 investigation by the Centre for Climate Reporting(CCR) and the BBC found that the United Arab Emirates host team for COP28 prepared talking points to strike new oil deals with 15 nations in pre-conference meetings. As part of this investigation, lead reporter Ben Stockton wanted to answer a simple research question and used google dorks to help. Given that COP28 would be hosted by a petrostate, would local fossil fuel company employees be given roles within the COP28 host team? He started by typing “site:LinkedIn.com,” “COP28,” and the name of the UAE state oil company, “Adnoc,” into Google, and built a database of conference staff who were either hired or temporarily transferred from the oil company. This was one part of a complex investigation, but demonstrates how dorks can be used as part of a wider investigation and help open the door to human sources. - Source: GIJN - "How a Small Nonprofit Newsroom Broke the Oil Deal Pitching Scandal at COP28".

RESOURCES:

• “Search Smarter by Dorking” Guide, Exposing the Invisible: The Kit.
• “Advanced Online Search and Dorking” Workshop Guide, Exposing the Invisible.

Instructions

• Assign a series of missions for participants to complete individually. The missions might include advanced searches across different search engines or the use of generative AI chatbots to find: 

  • Slideshows (filetype:ppt) or PDFs (filetype:pdf) uploaded by a company
  • Spreadsheets (filetype: xls or csv) uploaded by a company
  • Other open sources for the company using a generative AI chatbot e.g. ChatGPT, Perplexity 

Tip: If participants are stuck for ideas, use a company listed on the ‘Carbon Bombs’ website. A carbon bomb is a fossil fuel extraction project that will generate more than one gigatonne of CO₂ (1 GtCO₂) over its remaining lifetime. Source: https://www.carbonbombs.org/

Tools/materials

• Breakout rooms online or separate room areas, tables if off-line.

Instructions

• Divide participants in small groups of 2-3 members. If online, separate them in online break out rooms. 
• Ask each participant to analyse at least one of the leads identified in the previous Produce session with the other members of the group. Ask them to share: 
• Which dorks/prompts they used to find the source?
• Did you have to adjust your search? Why? How? 

Note: We recommend keeping the same group membership for all the joint activities of this workshop unless you find it necessary to make changes for various reasons (e.g. participants find it stressful, they lose energy, tensions arise, etc..)

Tools/materials

• Breakout rooms online or separate room areas, tables if off-line.
• "Evaluating Digital Sources" template sheet (Word file)

Instructions

[20 minutes] Group Task

• Divide participants back into the same groups (2-3 people per group) and recommend that each group assigns a note-taker and presenter/speaker for later.

• Facilitate a discussion with the group about the use of dorking methods or generative AI chatbots for finding leads or sources.

  • Emphasise the following points for consideration:
  • How reliable is the evidence?
  • How could you verify the evidence?
  • What risks might be associated with this evidence?

[10 minutes] Debriefing and discussion

• Following the task, each group takes 2 minutes to present an overview of their evaluation to the other participants. 
• Open the floor to all participants and ask participants for any questions.

Note: With great information access comes great ethical responsibility. While you can use these techniques, in a responsible manner, to extend your investigations, others can use them to obtain personal data or exploit vulnerabilities. As is often the case, intentions matter. Source: “Search Smarter by Dorking” Guide, Exposing the Invisible: The Kit. 

RESOURCES:

• “Evaluating Evidence and Information Sources” Guide, Exposing the Invisible: The Kit.
• “Evaluating Evidence and Information Sources” Workshop curriculum, Exposing the Invisible.
• “Hello AI” article, Exposing the Invisible.

Investigating the Fossil Fuel Industry (90 minutes)

Tools/materials

• shared files (if online)
• sheets of paper and pens (if offline)

Instructions

Prepare and give a short opening presentation focusing on the following essential points:

• Give a brief overview of the role that the fossil fuel industry plays in contributing to global climate change.

• Emphasise that The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has found that emissions from fossil fuels are the dominant cause of climate change.

• Explain that investigations into the fossil fuel industry can take many different directions, drawing participants attention to just some of the areas suggested below:

  • Environmental and Climate Impacts - Investigate the full life cycle of fossil fuels such as extraction, processing, transport and their emissions, as well as local and national damage to the environment
  • Environmental Justice - Investigate how the fossil fuel industry, pollution and climate change fall disproportionately on e.g. low-income communities, Indigenous peoples.
  • Industry Influence - Investigate how fossil fuel companies have funded or influenced climate science, public policy, and public opinion, including the spread of disinformation and greenwashing campaigns
  • Follow the Money - Investigate corruption and tax avoidance by state-owned and private fossil fuel companies and where this might intersect with local and national politics

• Explain that investigative journalists have a vital role in holding these companies to account. Through in-depth investigations into businesses and their owners, they have uncovered environmental harm, corruption, greenwashing and false climate solutions.

• Introduce the idea that to understand private or state-owned companies you will need to access company information. Explain that official records about companies do not always tell the whole story. Sometimes, the real owners of a company are hidden.

• Outline that there are many ways to find out more about companies and who really owns them. You can use:

  • Free online databases
  • Official government registries
  • Court records
  • Advanced searches/google dorks
  • NGOs / transparency campaign databases

Example Case Study:

A 2023 investigation, looked at the displacement of local residents in the Democratic Republic of Congos ‘Cobalt capital’ Kolwezi. As this Pulitzer Center resource explains, journalist Didier Makal obtained a list of ten mining companies licensed to mine in the area. The investigation cross-referenced details using public registries, establishing the links between the different companies, finding that one of the shareholding companies was owned by mining giant Glencore. 

RESOURCES:

• "What’s in a Company? Guide, Exposing the Invisible: The Kit.
• "Who’s in control? A short guide to investigating corporate power", Corporate Watch.

Tools/materials

• Investigating Industry: Data Resources List provided below in RESOURCES.
• Break-out rooms (online) or separate tables / room areas (if offline).
• Flip-charts and pencils (if offline).
• Tool for making collaborative presentations or taking shared notes, such as a shared file/notepad, or whiteboard tools like such as Excalidraw, Mural, Miro, if online.

Instructions

• Prepare in advance a slide or a large sheet of paper with the task guidelines and questions below.
• Divide participants in small groups of 2-3 members. If online, separate them in online break out rooms.
• If offline, each group should have at least one device with internet connection available for their research.
• Ask each group to start by assigning roles including Facilitator, Note-taker, Timekeeper, Presenter / Artist (if a visual presentation is needed.), etc.

[20 minutes]

• Assign each group a resource from the Investigating Industry: Data Resources List (see list below in RESOURCES). 

• Ask each group to analyse the selected resource and prepare a brief presentation answering the following questions about their resource:

  • What information does the resource contain?
  • What type of data is it based on?
  • Where does the data come from? Who collects and provides it?
  • What is its geographical coverage?
  • Does the data require a certain level of expertise to use and understand?
  • Is it downloadable and does it allow further processing? 

• Participants should approach the presentation as an informal explanation of the tool, its advantages and potential limitations, using plain language and visual supports such as screenshots of the tool, a list of key points, or a mindmap.

[20 minutes]

• Following the task, each group takes 2 minutes to present their resource to the other participants.
• Encourage others to ask questions.
• NOTE: If there are too many groups, you can split the class into two (virtual or physical) rooms. Half of the tools will be presented in one room and the other half in the other room. In this case, make sure that there are enough co-trainers to facilitate each room in parallel and to take notes of the main findings to share with others.

[10 minutes]

• Open the floor to all participants and provide the following questions for their consideration:

  • What could these resources be useful for?
  • When could they be used during an investigation?
  • For what purpose?
  • Encourage participants to comment on the potential use of each resource for investigating fossil fuel companies, as well as potential limitations or challenges of each resource.

Note: This exercise also provides an opportunity to discuss the inherent biases and limitations of databases and online resources. Encourage participants to be critical and discuss the origins of the data, who is represented in it and who is not, as well as who funds that resource. These factors might influence the reliability of the data when using it in an investigation.

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RESOURCES:

Investigating Industry: Data Resources List

• OpenCorporates: https://opencorporates.com/
• Investigative Dashboard (ID): https://id.occrp.org/, from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)
• OCCRP Aleph https://aleph.occrp.org/
• The ICIJ Offshore Leaks database: https://offshoreleaks.icij.org
• Business and Human Rights Resource Centre: https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/companies/
• US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)'s Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (EDGAR): https://www.sec.gov/search-filings
• North Data: https://www.northdata.com/
• Wikirate: https://wikirate.org/
• LittleSis: https://littlesis.org/

Note: Trainers to add any resources they feel are missing or relevant to participants.

Tools/materials

• Breakout-rooms / spaces for group work online or offline
• Shared files / digital whiteboard (if online) or sheets of paper and pens (if offline)
• LinkFacts mapping tool (online), requires account sign up.

Instructions

[30 minutes] Group Task

• Divide participants in small groups of 2-3 members. If online, create a digital break-out room for each group / if in person, allocate a separate table for each group and use.
• Using a company identified in the "Finding investigative leads" activity earlier in the workshop, start to map the different connections for a company. Consider concentrating on one registered company if multiple companies are found in multiple jurisdictions.

[15 minutes] Debrief

• Following the task, each group takes 2 minutes to present their map to the other participants. The idea here is not to present an exhaustive picture of a company structure but to demonstrate their understanding of using open sources to find company information. 

• Open the floor to all participants and ask participants to:

  • Share how they found the information.
  • Why is it a good idea to map the power structure of a company for an investigation?
  • When might be the best time to map the actors during an investigation?
  • What information might be missing from open sources?

Closure (10 minutes)

Tools/Materials

1. Shared drawing pad / slide / whiteboard (online)
2. Whiteboard / flip-chart paper, post-its, markers (offline)

Instructions

• Ask participants to create a takeaway poster by sharing their answers to the following question in the shared whiteboard / drawing board:

  • What are your main takeaways from today's workshop?

• Give participants a few minutes to write and/or draw their thoughts and read the thoughts of others.

Debriefing

• The facilitator can highlight some of the points on the board.

Instructions

• Wrap up the workshop and sum up its contents.

• Run a quick review of the session. Each participants would say:

  • one thing they found very good about the session, and
  • one thing they would improve for the next time.
• You can encourage participants to ask questions or give some final tips.
• Share contact information if relevant and any follow-up details.

Contact Us

Please reach out to us at Exposing the Invisible if you:

• have any questions about this workshop plan and facilitation guidelines,
• use this workshop plan and want to share feedback and suggestions that can help to improve them,
• adapt the workshop plan to a specific context and want to share the results with us,
• want to suggest new activities, tips or examples that can be added to this workshop,
• want to share your expertise and collaborate with us on developing and testing new workshops.

Contact: eti@tacticaltech.org (GPG Key / fingerprint: BD30 C622 D030 FCF1 38EC C26D DD04 627E 1411 0C02).

Credits and Licensing

CC BY-SA 4.0

This content is produced by Tactical Tech's Exposing the Invisible project, and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license

• Workshop author: Guy Porter
• Project coordination and editorial: Laura Ranca

This resource has been developed as part of the Collaborative and Investigative Journalism Initiative (CIJI) co-funded by the European Commission under the Pilot Project: "Supporting investigative journalism and media freedom in the EU" (DG CONNECT).

This text reflects the author’s view and the Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.