The aim of this module is to offer students some foundational understanding of the digital, open-source investigation method, which helps determine the truth from fake news in the globalised media world where misinformation and disinformation are on the rise. The module will offer students a series of lectures, seminars and workshops on investigative journalism, ethics of using social media for research and investigation, legal consideration when using social media in research, biases, trauma training, data management, data-driven analysis, verification of information, translation, flight/vessel tracking, and visualisation. The module will equip students with the interdisciplinary skills and ethical considerations required for conducting open-source investigation and evaluating open-source material (relevant across disciplines); it will offer students training in how to obtain digital knowledge and skills to become critical global citizens. The module will be challenge-based; students will be asked to identify a local issue that needs solving in their community; they will be then guided through the processes of solving the identified problem with the help of the open-investigation method. Students will also learn how to work collaboratively on a digital project. Students will develop skills of critical inquiry that cross disciplinary boundaries; they will learn about the investigation cycle and how to identify, collect, document, verify, analyse and evaluate open-source material such as news reports, social media posts, and satellite images.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
identify and critically analyse ethical and conceptual issues raised by the open-source investigation method.
apply specific open-source investigation techniques such as geolocation and chronolocation.
identify, collect, document, verify, analyse, and evaluate open-source material, and produce and communicate their findings through given tasks.
Critically reflect on the use of open-source investigation method.
Assessment
Assessment Methods & Exceptions
Assessment:
One digital project (5-7 min), involving an online task to be solved by the student and an audio/video recording which explains how the student has solved the problem, describing their decision-making. (70%)
