[ S&S / OPS ] Versoix · Geneva

● ACTIVE PRACTICE

Signal & Shadow · About

The practice.

We trace what is visible.
We document what is not.
We teach the methods that connect the two.

Signal & Shadow is an investigative practice and publishing house for open-source intelligence. Our work sits at the intersection of investigative journalism, digital forensics, and OSINT education. We publish field-tested methods, build tools that practitioners actually use, and train newsrooms and researchers to work faster without cutting corners on verification.

Section · 01

A working practice, not a content brand.

Every method we publish has been used on a real investigation.

Every method we publish has been used on a real investigation. Every tool we ship has been tested in the field. Every reference card has been pressure-checked against the way investigative journalists, researchers, and analysts actually work, under deadline, on contested material, with consequences.

We publish:

Methods.

Step-by-step tutorials for verification, geolocation, chronolocation, source discovery, and chain of custody, built to LST-001, our internal editorial and structural standard.

Reference cards.

Short, working-format cards covering maritime, aviation, satellite, social, and forensic OSINT taxonomies. Designed to live next to a keyboard, not in a slide deck.

The Signal.

A weekly dispatch covering technique, tradecraft, and the field's moving edges.

Tools.

Browser extensions and workflow utilities for verification, dorking, archival, and pivot work. Audit-first, privacy-respecting, no telemetry.

Training.

Masterclasses, bespoke newsroom training, and audit retainers for organisations that need to raise the floor on verification capability.

Section · 02

The counterweight.

What we are not, stated plainly.

By exclusion

We are not a think tank. We are not a content marketing operation dressed as journalism. We are not in the business of producing OSINT theatre, the well-lit thread that performs verification without doing it.

We do not chase virality. We do not publish material we cannot stand behind under cross-examination. We do not treat sources, subjects, or audiences as raw material for engagement metrics.

If a method does not survive contact with a real investigation, we do not ship it. If a tool cannot meet a 9 out of 10 needle-mover standard, we deprecate it. The bar is not perfection. The bar is whether the work holds.

Section · 03

LST-001, the published house standard.

The standard governs voice, structure, sourcing, and attribution across everything we publish.

View standard →

Signal & Shadow operates to a published house standard, LST-001, which governs voice, structure, sourcing, and attribution across everything we publish. In summary:

British English, AP Style for capitalisation and treatment of titles.
Declarative practitioner register. No marketing language. No em dashes.
Every method cites its evidence. Every claim is sourced. Speculation is labelled as speculation.
Attribution laundering, the practice of dressing sourced material as original analysis, is treated as a publication failure.
OPSEC and chain of custody guidance is included by default, not as an afterthought.
Errors are corrected on the record, with a visible correction note and a timestamp.

We write for the working investigator. That means we assume competence, we explain trade-offs honestly, and we do not pad the page.

Section · 04

Operational, not aspirational.

Ethics as practice, not as posture.

SIG-STD-002 →

We protect sources. We minimise harm to subjects who are not public figures. We do not publish material that would put bystanders at risk, even when it is technically available. We do not collaborate with state or commercial actors whose interests would compromise our independence. We disclose conflicts of interest. We pay contributors.

When we get something wrong, we say so, in public, in the same channel where we said it the first time.

The full ethical and evidentiary framework is published as the Signal & Shadow Code of Standards.

Section · 05

Founder.

The practice was founded and is led by Derek Bowler.

Versoix · Geneva

Practice lead

Derek Bowler

Investigative journalist, OSINT practitioner, digital forensics educator. Versoix, Geneva.

Previously Head of Social Newsgathering at the European Broadcasting Union, where he led verification work across the EBU's member newsrooms.

Co-author of Eyewitness Textures (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2024) and currently writing OSINT for Investigative Journalists, a multi-volume manuscript for Routledge covering method, tradecraft, and case study. Creator of The Agile Newsroom, a framework for verification capability inside working newsrooms.

His work has shaped verification practice across European public broadcasting, and his teaching has reached investigative journalists, human rights researchers, and accountability practitioners working on conflict, migration, and corporate malpractice.

Section · 06

Working with us.

Two paths into the practice. Training for capability uplift. Consultancy for commissioned work.

Path · 01

Training.

Workshops, masterclasses, in-newsroom programmes, and custom curricula in OSINT and digital forensics. For teams that need to raise the floor on verification capability.

View training →

Path · 02

Consultancy.

Bespoke investigations, capability audits, retained advisory, and editorial consultation. For organisations that need a verified answer, a defensible process, or a second pair of expert eyes.

View consultancy →

Direct enquiries

For training, advisory, or editorial enquiries, write to us through the contact channel on signalandshadow.io. We respond to every legitimate enquiry, in order, in the language of the work.

General and editorial

[email protected]

For editorial collaboration, corrections, and general enquiries.

Email the editor →

Training and consultancy

[email protected]

For workshops, capability audits, retained advisory, and commissioned investigations.

Email the practice →