Update December 2016
100 tools for investigative journalists
A @Journalism2ls selection.
Brainstorm
- Google Docs, write and think together: https://docs.google.com
- Workflowy, ever expanding notes, easy to share: https://workflowy.com/
- X-Mind, powerful desktop mind mapping tool: http://www.xmind.net
- Groupmap, real-time online collaborative
brainstorming and decision making: https://www.groupmap.com/ - Mindly, mind mapping on the go: http://www.mindlyapp.com/
- Realtime Board, make a story canvas: https://realtimeboard.com/
- Go Moodboard, simple online moodboards: http://www.gomoodboard.com/
Monitor a story
- Feedly, powerfull feedreader: https://feedly.com/
- Nuzzel, news shared by friend & connections: http://nuzzel.com/
- Google Alerts, alerts based on search term: https://www.google.com/alerts
- Mention, real time alerts based on keywords: https://en.mention.com/
- Tweetdeck, indispensable tool to monitor twitter: https://tweetdeck.twitter.com/
- Hootsuite, monitor Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube,…: https://hootsuite.com
- Facebook Signal: surface relevant trends, photos, videos and posts from Facebook and Instagram: https://www.facebook.com/facebookmedia/get-started/signal
- Storyful Multisearch, quickly query keywords across Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram and Spokeo: http://bit.ly/201go0Q
- IFTTT, automate actions between apps, set alerts & track stories: https://ifttt.com
- Versionista, track changes in web pages: https://versionista.com/
- Wikiwash, monitor real-time changes on wikipedia http://wikiwash.metronews.ca/
People Trail
- Social Me, discover someone’s social media presence: http://www.360social.me/
- Rapportive, shows you everything about your contacts right inside your inbox: https://rapportive.com/
- Graph.tips, experimental Facebook Graph Search Engine by Henk van Ess: http://graph.tips/
- Mentionmap, map twitter users and hashtags: http://mentionmapp.com/
- Followerwonk, deep twitter search, compare users: https://followerwonk.com/
- Myne, mobile app for advanced twitter search: http://www.saviapps.com/myne/
- Bio is Changed, get notified when a twitter bio changes: http://bioischanged.com/
- Bond, schedule calls with your sources: http://bit.ly/1uSKIsx
- Crystal, personality profiling with one-click as you browse LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. https://www.crystalknows.com/
- Little Sis, a free database of who-knows-who at the heights of business and government: https://littlesis.org/
Paper Trail
- Document Cloud, analyze and annotate documents: http://www.documentcloud.org/home
- Overview, analyze and visualize documents: https://www.overviewdocs.com/
- Open Coporates, the largest open database of companies in the world: https://opencorporates.com/
- Open Spending, explore, visualize and track government spending: https://openspending.org/
Location
- Banjo Discovery, discover & organizing social media content by time and location: http://ban.jo/discovery
- Geofeedia, monitor social media based on location: http://geofeedia.com/
- Echosec, free location based social media search: https://www.echosec.net/
- Yomapic, location search for Instagram and social network VKontakte http://www.yomapic.com/
- LIFTTT, IFTTT with location triggers: http://www.visualcandyapps.com/lifttt/
- Newspaper Map, find and translate online newspapers: http://newspapermap.com/
- Flight Aware, Live Tracking Maps, Flight Status, and Airport Delays for airline flights: https://flightaware.com/
- Marine Traffic, Discover information and vessel positions for vessels around the world: http://www.marinetraffic.com/
Verification
- First Draft visual verification guide for photos, http://firstdraftnews.com/downloads/firstdraft-vvg-photo-ALL.png
- First Draft visual verification guide video, http://firstdraftnews.com/downloads/firstdraft-vvg-video-ALL.png
- TinEye, reverse image search: https://www.tineye.com/
- Veracity App, reverse verification app: http://apple.co/2h0YLNw
- YouTube Dataviewer, a simple tool to extract hidden data from videos: http://bit.ly/1wHdJPX
- Checkdesk, open source fact checking application: http://bit.ly/2i9H3fS
- Bellingcat beginners’s guide to geolocation video’s: http://bit.ly/2hbFHkx
Collect Data
- Import.io, easiest way to scrape data from the internet: https://import.io/
- Webscraper, free Chrome extension for scraping: http://webscraper.io/
- Crowdata, crowdsource document investigations: http://crowdata.readthedocs.org/
- Kobotoolbox, reliable free field surveys: http://www.kobotoolbox.org/
- Poll, easy online polls: http://poll.lab.io/
- EU-Data Tools, Set of free tools for analysing data about the EU: http://www.politico.eu/article/7-tools-on-eu-governance-brussels-lobbying-governance-open-data/
- Open Refine, clean your data: http://openrefine.org/
- Tabula, turn PDF reports into Excel spreadsheets, CSVs, and JSON files for use in analysis and database application: http://tabula.technology/
Structure your story
- Detective.io, online investigative platform: https://www.detective.io/
- Casefile, map complex investigations: http://bit.ly/15HLRyH
- VIS, visualize investigations: http://vis.occrp.org/
- Zotero: information management tool: https://www.zotero.org/
Production
- Drp.io, file hosting without a password: http://drp.io/
- Toggle, keep track of your time: https://www.toggl.com/
- Camscanner, turn your phone into a scanner: https://www.camscanner.com/
- Cloudconvert, convert anything to anything: https://cloudconvert.org/
- Small Pdf, tools for pdf’s: http://smallpdf.com/
- Easy Annote, annote pdf’s: http://www.easy-annotate.com/
- Google Translate App & Extension, use your camera to translate text instantly in 26 languages: http://bit.ly/1dPxz1l
Privacy
- Hushed, temporary anonymous phone numbers: http://hushed.com/
- Telegram, encrypted messaging: https://telegram.org/
- Signal, secure calling and messaging: https://whispersystems.org/
- Mailvelop, encrypt your webmail: https://www.mailvelope.com/
- Redphone, secured phone conversations: https://whispersystems.org/
- OnionShare, open source tool for secure and anonymous file sharing: https://onionshare.org/
- Disconnect.me: protect your browser from trackers and search privately https://disconnect.me/
- Spideroak: group chat & file-sharing like Slack but more secure: https://spideroak.com/
Reporting
- Filmic Pro, video app with professional functions (iOS): http://www.filmicpro.com/
- Cinema FV-5, video app with professional functions (Android): http://www.cinemafv5.com/
- Teleprompter, use your smartphone as a teleprompter: http://apple.co/2hufjzn
- Camera+, versatile photo app (iOS): http://apple.co/Miq1bF
- Camera FV-5, versatile photo app (Android): http://www.camerafv5.com/
- Interviewy, audio-recorder with transcription functions (iOS): http://www.interviewy.co.uk/
- Field Recorder, record interviews & voice dictate (Android): http://bit.ly/2hqpMew
- Sky Recorder, audio recorder for VOIP: http://eapps.pro/app/sky-recorder/
- O-transcribe, online transcription tool: http://otranscribe.com/
Multimedia Publishing
- Spicynodes, interactive concept for layered information: http://www.spicynodes.org/
- Thinglink, make interactive video & pictures: https://www.thinglink.com/
- Timeline.js, best timeline tool out there: http://timeline.knightlab.com/
- Storymaps, interactive map and timeline tool: http://storymap.knightlab.com/
- Soundcite, integrate sound in your articles: http://soundcite.knightlab.com/
- Tangle, make adaptive documents: http://worrydream.com/Tangle/
Snowfalling
- Exposure, stunning platform for picture and video stories: https://exposure.co/
- Pageflow, open-source storytelling tool for rich video and image stories: http://pageflow.io/en
- Shorthand social, scrollytelling optimized for social sharing: http://shorthand.com/social/
Data Stories
- Silk, publish interactive data stories: https://www.silk.co/
- Raw, easy custom datavisualizations: http://app.raw.densitydesign.org/
- Chartblocks, versatile platform for infographics: http://www.chartblocks.com/en/
- Datavisual, alternative tool for data graphics: http://datavisu.al/
- Infogram, easy and stylish infographics: https://infogr.am/
- Highcharts & Highmaps, create interactive charts & maps easily for your web projects: http://www.highcharts.com/
Analytics
- Media Impact Project, impact assessment & metrics guides for news projects: http://www.mediaimpactproject.org/impact-assessment-and-metrics-guide.html
- Google Analytics, DIY Engagement Tracking guide: https://learn.inn.org/2015/08/18/tutorial-diy-engagement-tracking/
Need more Tools?
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