The tools available to human rights researchers have expanded dramatically over the past 20 years, enabling greater remote investigative powers than ever before. Analysts in distant locations working independently, in loose collectives or for formal NGOs, can now parse social media feeds, analyze satellite imagery, and examine geographical data that were once the preserve of government intelligence agencies. As these technologies have become more readily available to a wider variety of actors, funders and governments have increasingly directed resources toward open-source investigation (OSINT) efforts, which can be launched rapidly as crises unfold and redeployed as situations change. Yet, this focus often comes at the expense of building local community networks that can provide a more varied dataset gained from proximity, lived experience, and local knowledge. Whereas OSINT efforts can be stood up immediately, such networks must be developed well before peak information demand. This process requires longer lead times and sustained financial and personnel resourcing that often stretches beyond the short-term (and frequently reactive) institutional funding timelines for crisis response.
From Open-Source to All-Source: Leveraging Local Knowledge for Atrocity Prevention (Jacqueline Geis, Just Security)
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