For the past ten years, citizen investigators, independent research agencies, and newsrooms have developed innovative methodologies to repurpose digital media with multiple goals: settling ground truths, debunking misinformation campaigns, providing proof of environmental crimes, and even shedding light on cases of suspected human rights violations.

This course aims to provide the students with the essential practical tools needed to analyze and conduct digital investigations to support journalistic or legal research. Students will be acquainted with the basic requirements digital media objects need to comply with to be used within methodologically sound and ethical investigative projects and to be admitted as evidence in legal processes. Furthermore, students will acquire the basic skills necessary to conduct a full-fledged investigation, including gathering, processing, archiving, documenting, and analyzing digital media objects. The course will focus on providing the participants with the skills to identify data sources to fuel research, locate the tools to process them, and identify strategies to gain additional skills.

The course is structured around three abilities: planning digital investigations, conducting digital investigations, and reporting digital investigations.

Coordinator

Guillén Torres Sepulveda

Timetable

All lectures will take place on-campus and we assume you can be physically present during the scheduled hours. You can find the timetable on Datanose.

Registration

Registration is possible for students participating in an Honours programme. The registration period for the Honours courses will be from November 29, 10:00 am to December 3, 11.59 pm. You can register through the online registration form that will appear on Honoursmodules IIS. (registration is NOT through SIS)

Please note: Placement is not guaranteed if you register after December 3, so make sure you register on time. You will hear which course(s) you are registered for before December 15. 

For questions about registration, please contact us at: Honours-iis@uva.nl