Identify, verify and connect with sources In most cases, the starting point is to identify sources that are reliable and then curate, aggregate and verify the information that comes from them. Andy Carvin of NPR built what he called a “Twitter newsroom” of sources in the Middle East during the Arab Spring by starting with people he knew personally and using them as a means to discover other sources. “What I find really important is paying attention to who these folks on Twitter, and occasionally on Facebook, are talking to,” Carvin told Craig Silverman in a 2011 interview. “For both Tunisia and Egypt I already had about half a dozen sources in each country that I had known.” Carvin also asked people he knew to recommend or verify other sources he was finding through Twitter searches and by following specific hashtags. Over time, he generated lists of hundreds of valuable sources. Those lists in turn became the engine that allowed Carvin to effectively live-tweet a series of wars - receiving information, republishing it, asking his followers and sources for help verifying it, then posting the results. In many ways it was a chaotic process, but ultimately successful. To manage these many contacts, he built Twitter Lists to organize them into logical groups based on topics or geographical location. Today, this kind of thing could also be accomplished with Facebook Interest Lists, Google Plus circles and other tools, or by subscribing to YouTube accounts and building playlists, among other options. Carvin also took another critical step, which was to contact many of his sources directly or meet them in person to develop a relationship. Many people saw only what he was doing with his Twitter account, but he also spent a lot of time communicating with people via Skype, email and other means to confirm their identities. As detailed in previous chapters, these kinds of sources and the information they provide must be verified. After using Twitter advanced search, YouTube search and other means to find people and organizations on the ground or with access to relevant information, you need to work to contact them and verify where their information is coming from. The more you interact with your sources, and learn about them, the more you’ll see their strengths, weaknesses, biases and other factors that need to be weighed when considering the information they share. As your list of sources grows, you also begin to see patterns in what they see and share and report, and this provides the raw material needed to triangulate and determine exactly what is and isn’t happening. 71