I propose a lightning talk length case study of Bellingcat's work and our unique "audience engagement" strategy via an open-source investigative story about an oil spill in the Caribbean. This project started as a comment in our public Discord chatroom, and became a sprawling collaboration with multiple newsrooms across multiple continents. Along the way, it remained transparent and community-led. Our audience are more than passive consumers of our content. Through our public gathering spaces and volunteer programs, they can become co-creators of our research. By building this community, Bellingcat promotes ethical and responsible open source investigation skills, critical for media literacy and democratic participation in the misinformation age.
