Join us for our Investigating the Influence Industry in Elections mastercourse on the 19th - 23rd May from 09 to 12 CET. This series of workshops will provide investigation methods, resources and skills for monitoring elections. Attendees will learn and share skills to prepare them for upcoming elections. This year’s course will in particular draw on expertise from the 2024 election super year. The mix of training, discussions, and skill-sharing will be run by Tactical Tech’s The Influence Industry Project and Exposing the Invisible teams.
We are inviting journalists, researchers and civil society investigators with a passion for unpacking and uncovering political influence and the surrounding industry. This course will cover the role of private firms, misinformation, and data-driven technologies in election campaigns.
Apply by filling in our application form by 5th May: https://lime.ttc.io/index.php/94297?lang=en
The Investigating the Influence Industry in Elections mastercourse will cover:
- tools and tactics that political actors and the companies they work with are using to conduct political influence,
- investigation techniques and cases specific to researching the political use of data-driven technologies and their surrounding industry,
- networking and skill-sharing opportunities among participants to encourage connections with each other’s work and to advance this area of knowledge and investigation.
The mastercourse will be a mix of lectures, hands-on workshops, and discussion-based activities. The online sessions will be accompanied by resources provided by Tactical Tech's Influence Industry Project.
Dates and Times
Online workshop 19th - 23rd May from 09 – 12 CET. The main course will take place on five half-days during this period.
To Apply
Apply by filling in our application form by 5th May.
Apply if you are:
- a journalist (freelance, affiliated with independent media, journalism networks or NGOs), fact-checker, researcher, OSINT investigator, civil society/'citizen' investigator, investigative artist, etc., with experience and passion for investigations in the public interest.
- a member of an NGO or other research organisation using and benefiting from investigation methods in the public interest
- an academic or student researching a related topic
- any other member of civil society with a demonstrated passion and curiosity for applying investigative methods and standards to document, verify and expose issues of public interest.
Application form: https://lime.ttc.io/index.php/94297?lang=en
Applicants will be accepted on a rolling basis.
Please Note – this workshop provides a free learning and collaboration opportunity, and we do not provide stipends or grants for attending the online sessions.
Contact
With questions about the mastercourse and related application process, please get in touch with us by email at ttc @ tacticaltech.org, using the subject-line "Influence Mastercourse".
The Hosts
The Influence Industry Project is lead since 2016 by Tactical Tech’s Data and Politics team addressing the pervasive data-driven technologies used by political groups within elections and political campaigns. We’ve unpacked the technical processes of campaign apps, examined the spending on campaign and communication consultants, and worked with partners to investigate how data-driven tools are used in elections worldwide.
Tactical Tech’s Exposing the Invisible (ETI) project promotes and enables the safe and ethical use of investigative techniques to expose wrongdoing and promote transparency. ETI provides regular workshops, investigation and training institutes, has been developing an online Kit for investigators, and facilitates a growing network of journalists, community investigators, artists, researchers, activists, technologists and NGOs who believe in the power of investigation as an important form of public engagement.
The Funders
Thank you to the the following groups for supporting and funding this event.
Media Organisations for Stronger Transnational Journalism” (MOST) in and EU funded project that aims to strengthen the resilience of independent media outlets in Europe by offering innovative business and audience development strategies, and a collaborative platform for the exchange of knowledge, resources, and content. The MOST project consortium is led by OBC Transeuropa and includes Le Courrier des Balkans, New Eastern Europe, European Pravda, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), El Orden Mundial, and Tactical Tech. The MOST project is funded by the European Commission CREA Fund (GA 101180285). More at: https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Projects2/MOST-Media-Organisations-for-Stronger-Transnational-Journalism
The EU funded “Collaborative and Investigative Journalism Initiative” (CIJI) aims to equip independent media outlets and individual journalists with resources, innovative networking infrastructure and standards-based methods that enable them to practice high-quality, and ethical and accountable collaborative and investigative journalism. More at: https://www.ciji.info/
Disclaimer: Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
