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title: Hello OSINT!

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# Getting start with my Individual Project

[](https://hackmd.io/XHTlDuQ8QI6CQrBm0rbYSQ)

January, 24 2025

## Building Narrations: A Critical Exploration of OSINT-Driven Visualisations

Keywords: OSINT | Data Visualisation | Narration | Critical Design | Information War.

### Description of the subject area and relevance
The project takes inspiration from the Symposium "Visual Grammar of Designed Truth in OSINT" (January 22—24, 2025, HGK Basel) and the ongoing discussion on visual tools in data representation. The scope of action intersects with Critical design in its ability to question the status quo of reality and deal with contemporary topics of information manipulation and narrative weaponisation in the digital era.
While the project deals mainly with intentional framing of a narration in a more or less specific ideology, its outputs could also be applied to a more accidental scenario where biases, mistakes, or a lack of information could occur. Reflecting on the relationship between content and form, the focus will first concentrate on the rhetorical construction of the artefact(s) before shifting again to the visual tools implicated.

### Research question and goal
What is the correlation between visual grammar and the trustworthiness of a narration in the current practice of OSINT investigations? Through a practice-based experiment, my goal is to expose which elements trigger audience perception of real news and what questions arose from a visual communication point of view in OSINT practice.

### Practical and/or theoretical approach to the subject
The final output is expected to be two similar media artefacts, deliberately developed to carry two diverse points of view about the same news story with identical visual language and media. An OSINT approach will be carried out form source identification and collection, analysis and design of the intended outputs. At the same time, a theoretical approach will be needed to analyse and establish two rhetorical and narrative constructions.

### Criteria for evaluation
The project should be evaluated by considering both the final artefact and its development, as well as its power to raise new questions around the intended topics.

The following aspects can be considered:
* Proper use of an OSINT approach;
* Ability to identify and analyse the elements of a narration;
* Development of two diverse persuasive stories from the same news case;
* The visual quality of the two artefacts;
* The ability of the two artefacts (when both experienced/visualised) to raise questions about the intended topics and to provide a valuable contribution to the field.

### Research plan
1. Narrowing of the research field:
a. Definition of the intended media (video or map) and his specifications;
b. Identification of the boundaries and the intended investigation aspects;
c. Selection of a news case on which to base the analysis on.
2. Initial data gathering and analysis:
a. Gathering of the sources;
b. Data analysis and checking through an OSINT approach;
c. Narration elements breakdown (actors involved, setting, proofs, intended audience...).
3. Narrative development:
a. Defining two different points of view;
b. Structuring of two competing narratives;
c. Writing of the two intended stories.
4. Designing of the first visual elements:
a. Establishment of a visual grammar;
b. Development of visual key elements;
c. Composition of the primary visual tools.
5. Development of the two artefacts:
a. Designing of the left-out graphics elements
b. Putting together all the elements
c. Refining and finalising artefacts
6. Critical consideration and account of the overall project:
a. Report of the main take-outs;
b. Final presentation development.

**FIRST MILESTONE**: Project setup and data analysis (points 1 and 2);

**SECOND MILESTONE**: Data analysis and visual translation (points 3 and 4);

**THIRD MILESTONE**: Development and delivery of the final artefacts and final reflections (points 5 and 6).

### Personal experience and motivation
The idea for this project proposal comes from my growing interest in the field of OSINT, combined with my past experience in data visualisation and instructional video design. The idea of blending these tools with Critical design and Critical media theories approach, allows me to test myself on a full OSINT-like process, giving me the opportunity to then share my findings with the rest of the MA community. Further, the discourse around the manipulation of media and narratives, the role of the visual designer in shaping power and the rising needs of a interdisciplinary approach to the journalism are, form my point of view, among the most compelling topics of our present times.