Bellingcat’s Toolkit helps the wide community of open-source investigators find the tools they need for their research by providing accurate and regularly updated tools’ reviews written by volunteers from the Bellingcat Volunteer Community and checked by Bellingcat staff.

This article reveals the behind-the-scenes of Bellingcat’s Toolkit and how volunteers from the Bellingcat Volunteer Community directly shape and contribute to it. 

The Volunteers: The Maintainers and Guardians of the Toolkit 

More than a simple list of tools useful for open-source research, the Toolkit provides a detailed, accurate and updated overview of the characteristics and features of nearly 200 tools. This meticulous work is carried out by several volunteers from the Bellingcat Volunteer Community who serve as  “Maintainers” and “Guardians” of the Toolkit. 

Maintainers are responsible for testing a tool's features, its uses in open-source research, and its ethical limitations and writing about those once every two months. Guardians are responsible for  overseeing their category (themed sections of the toolkit) and improving the quality of the Toolkit entries to ensure it meets the needs of open-source researchers. 

This work is coordinated by Bellingcat staff members who ensure the sustainability of the Toolkit, and individuals from the Bellingcat Volunteer Community, while providing a meaningful learning experience to Maintainers and Guardians.

Curious to know more about the Toolkit’s Guardians? Watch them introducing you to the work they are doing for the Toolkit in this video. 

Contributing or developing an expertise by doing and learning from each other 

The Toolkit Project follows a key principle of the Bellingcat Volunteer Community: learning by doing. While the Toolkit project is an opportunity for volunteers to share their expertise using certain tools, a significant portion of volunteers who joined the Toolkit Project did not already have an expertise on the tools they chose to maintain. Instead, they developed that expertise by regularly testing and writing about their tools, even with a limited amount of time to dedicate to the Toolkit Project per month. Consistency pays off. 

“Contributing to the Toolkit encourages me to think clearly and sharpens my learner's mindset. The Toolkit Project creates space for me to be curious, creative, and ready to adapt to change” Bellingcat Volunteer Community member river_n.

Maintainers and Guardians also deepen their knowledge about specific tools such as maps and satellites or financial tools by applying another key principle of the Bellingcat Volunteer Community: learning from each other by tapping into one another’s experience, skills and knowledge. Toolkit Maintainers and Guardians regularly exchange ideas on a dedicated community channel and during online sessions, sharing questions, reflections, advice, and tips and tricks on tool testing, monitoring, and writing, as well as sharing information about tool developments that could help their own investigations.

“The Toolkit Project is unique in its scope and ambition and potential value to the OSINV community, so being part of it is a very good feeling. It is also a great education and a chance to work with staff and volunteers contributing a wealth of disparate expertise to a common goal. The project is very well managed and supported by staff, and contributors are given a good deal of freedom in how they work and which tools they work on - suggestions for tools to be included are welcomed” Bellingcat Volunteer Community member Sophie Tedling.