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Short abstract

Drawing on theories of the aperture and sociotechnical histories of computer vision, this paper explores whether open source investigations inadvertently reconstruct militaristic modes of seeing and, by extension, reaffirm epistemic asymmetries concerning the recognition of violence.

Long abstract

Situated at the juncture between investigative journalism and human rights work, Open-Source Investigation (OSI) is now well-established as a practice that uses publicly available data – open sources – to investigate disputed events, often in relation to military violence. Highly mediated and technical in its operations, OSI relies on an array of computational tools and infrastructures – which increasingly includes algorithmic technologies such as computer vision – to assemble public data into “anti-hegemonic” narratives that challenge military and state power (Fuller & Weizman, 2021).

Taking a more critical perspective, this paper probes the limits of OSI’s capacity to intervene in the technoscientific imaginaries of software-based war. Our response focuses on how computer vision systems are used to process vast quantities of image data, both in experimental drone targeting systems and recent OSI projects aiming to reveal patterns of violence in conflict zones. Drawing on sociotechnical histories of computer vision (Dobson, 2023) and theories of ‘apertures’ (Amoore, 2020), we explore how such systems function by enabling certain forms of “seeing” while necessarily closing down others.

Taking the Vermeer drone-camera system and the Tech4Tracing OSI toolkit as case studies, we reflect on the technicality of computer vision and the aesthetic forms it produces. In doing so, we contend that it affords a distinctly militarised imaginary of space, bodies, and objects. We suggest that efforts to investigate military operations using such tools can inadvertently reconstruct militaristic modes of seeing and, by extension, reaffirm epistemic asymmetries concerning the recognition and acknowledgement of violence.