FINDING AND RECORDING METADATA

Applying the leads and content worthy of further examination.

Your results will constantly improve through a circular process that involves: starting with reliable sources for leads; methodical searches of key platforms based on an understanding of the preferred means of communication; expanding, curating and perfecting those searches based on new information gained throughout the process.

From there, seek original content and corroborating information to get as close to the sources and the story as possible.

Systematically logging metadata associated with a piece of content should be your goal. This metadata will vary based on how close an investigation can get to the original of any piece of content.

An original photo or video sourced directly from the owner, or via an archiving or FTP website, may contain original technical metadata about the camera, phone, time and location. Though this should not be trusted implicitly, it may provide some useful starting point for verification.

There are websites and tools that can provide the metadata for some videos and photos. Source the original file to get accurate metadata.

1. Amnesty International DataViewer
2. InVID: YouTube
3. GooFile: Video
4. FotoForensics  
5. Jeffrey’s Image Metadata Viewer
6. Get Metadata
7. Media Info

Perpetrators often disseminate content on social media and, as such, the content will be stripped of original technical information, but will gain metadata relating to upload time, date and location as well as information about the source that can be useful in the verification process.

You can develop a third layer of metadata during the content-verification process, establishing relevant information about the source, date and location of a given piece of content.

A schema for the archiving of content and associated metadata is set out below.