LONDON -- Brown Moses and Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins has revealed what it takes to become a citizen journalist.
Speaking to Mashable's Executive Editor Jim Roberts at the +SocialGood UK conference in London, Higgins said he looks for people who think in "obsessive detail but also aren't crazy."
Higgins' investigative reporting, which is rooted in analysing online content including photos, videos and social media accounts alongside likeminded people, has helped him break new angles on several stories over the last few years.
He pinpointed the location of a Buk missile launcher in Ukraine in the days after the MH17 crash, providing evidence that pro-Russia rebels had access to military hardware, confirmed that Bashar al-Assad's regime had used chemical weapons and exposed Syrian arms trafficking -- all from a house in Leicester in the UK.
He told the audience at London's BT Centre that a background in finance and spreadsheets had nurtured an eye for detail that's proven invaluable to his work, admitting, "I taught myself everything from day one."
A "little spare time" + tech + a touch of obsession = new champions for free speech. Loving @EliotHiggins talk @ #SocialGood +UK. #2030Now— corriefrasier (@corriefrasier) March 27, 2015
Higgins then went on to explain how tiny details in photographs, such as a telegraph pole or a crack in the road, can help verify the location and context and provide a better picture of the facts when piecing together a story.
He now works with a team of eight volunteers, and is starting to work with universities, training students as interest in open source, citizen journalism grows. He said that there was a huge amount of enthusiasm, but few qualified trainers in the field.
.@ElliotHiggins: we need to monitor social media in conflict zones to understand their depth & complexity #2030NOW pic.twitter.com/mmav3f1QLq— Gosia Brzezinska (@PRheroine) March 27, 2015
Bellingcat, his platform by and for citizen journalists, is geared at "helping other people doing that work to get recognition," he said, and to give them "room to make their own names."
Asked if he had advice for budding journalists, his statement was simple. "Just do it," he said. "Start a WordPress blog. Pick a video and think 'how can I verify this?'"
Pick a video and try verify it says @EliotHiggins just do it and build up that skill set #2030NOW pic.twitter.com/pfXGHv235I— Blathnaid Healy (@blathnaidhealy) March 27, 2015
.@eliothiggins on how to start working in the field of digital forensics and online verification. http://t.co/9vSmwxGuCR #2030NOW— Mashable Social Good (@socialgood) March 27, 2015
Higgins also said that his early pseudonym, Brown Moses, comes from a Frank Zappa song, but he's now switched to using his real name full time.
Asked why he hasn't found MH370, he responded: "There’s a massive amount of information out there - and only a tiny tiny amount that we’ve looked at."
Mashable's Social Good conference was focussed on how technology and digital media are driving social change both within the UK and around the world.