Open Collections

Abstract

Citizen journalism videos (CJVs) can be the only evidence that a violation has occurred. Techniques for creating fake videos are advancing every day with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI). This requires expanding on video verification processes by incorporating methodologies from fields specialized in authenticating records. Can diplomatics, the science developed in the 17th century to detect forgeries, help us authenticate videos captured in conflict- affected regions? This dissertation explores how methods used to determine the authenticity of records in archival diplomatics can serve as a foundation for a workflow that open-source intelligence investigators (OSINTers) can use to authenticate online user-generated videos. The study describes the development and design of the Video Authentication Workflow (VAUW), a process design for inferring the authenticity of online CJVs based on archival science and diplomatics theory. The insights gained from the diplomatics analysis of CJVs were used in prototyping the workflow, which was developed following the Research through Design methodology, and falls within two of its streams: Human Centered Design and Adversarial Design. Following the design of the VAUW, interviews with OSINTers were conducted to examine the opportunities and challenges they perceived in the workflow. The prototype was presented to OSINT practitioners from twelve countries working in journalism, digital forensics, and human rights investigations. The findings reveal that OSINTers perceived that VAUW can enrich the pedagogical programs and professional practices of video verifiers. They noted that the workflow formalizes actions they perform informally during their verification process. Additionally, the findings reveal challenges in VAUW, including the shortage of open-source tools for researching specific elements and the need for flexibility in selecting which elements to incorporate into their verification process, depending on the investigation's circumstances. The feedback from OSINTers was distilled into concise iterations that were incorporated into a revised version of VAUW. This research has made theoretical contributions by expanding archival diplomatics’ understanding of the authenticity of online CJVs. It has also made methodological contributions to OSINT through the development of the workflow that has been designed to verify online videos.