• Are there other accounts - Google Plus, a blog or website - listed on the video profile or otherwise affiliated with this uploader? • What information do affiliated accounts contain that indicate recent location, activity, reliability, bias or agenda of the account holder? • How long have these accounts been active? How active are they? • Who are the social media accounts connected with, and what does this tell us about the uploader? • Can we find whois information for an affiliated website? • Is the person listed in local phone directories, on Spokeo, Pipl.com or WebMii or on LinkedIn? • Do the source’s online social circles indicate proximity to this story/location? Asking these questions, and answering them, gives us an impression as to the reliability of a source of content. And, importantly, it provides a means to contact the uploader to seek further questions and guidance on the how the video may be used by news organizations. When speaking to the source, be sure to ask about some of the information you came across. Do the answers match up? If the source isn’t honest with you about information, then you should be extra suspicious of the content. Locate the video With the source identified and examined, it’s time to try to verify the content of the video itself. This begins with confirming, or establishing, the location of the video. Verifying where a video was filmed very much depends on the clues the video presents. A distinctive streetscape, a building, church, line of trees, mountain range, minaret or bridge are all good reference points to compare with satellite imagery and geolocated photographs. Should the camera pan across a business name, this might be listed in online classifieds or a local directory. A street sign might give clues to the precise location. Car registration plates or advertising billboards might indicate provincial details. Sunlight, shadows and the approximate time of day of the event can also be helpful. And if the video contains dialogue, do the accents or dialects fit the circumstances it purports to represent? The starting point, again, is to examine any text accompanying the video and clues within the video. Home in on the location using Google Maps and try to map the video location. If possible, zoom into Street View to get the camera angle. If Street View is not available, turn on “Photos” in Google Maps’ options and check if geolocated photographs match the video location. Geolocated photos may also be searched using the advanced search features on Flickr, Picasa and Twitter. If the video is in a foreign language, enter the text into Google Translate and identify the place name. Be aware that Google Translate often mistranslates: for instance, the Arabic for Lattakia in Syria mistranslates as “Protoplasm,” Daraa as “Shield.” Also be aware that various 50