Open-source intelligence educational resources: A visual perspective analysis

Abstract

Given the growing application of open-source intelligence (OSINT), which has facilitated fast decision-making, this study aims to explore how research and educational material production in OSINT has evolved. For this analysis, two OSINT material sources are examined: the research dissemination databases and educational resources repositories. Considering that web information may or may not be publicly available, web Scraping and querying web interface strategies are used to metadata extraction. Finally, we suggest a findings hierarchical classification for the metadata retrieval results. Our main results: (1) Google Scholar and NewsBank are the centralizing axes of OSINT publications; (2) OSINT presents a broad development in the areas of defense and security; thus, presenting itself a promising future; (3) it is necessary both to generate educational resources that complement OSINT training processes and documenting existing resources with a metadata structure defined for this purpose; (4) pay increased attention to the last stages of the OSINT process, to use this knowledge in more assertive ways. This study allows guiding the researchers to the current state of research and education in OSINT and promotes a useful metadata description to make resources accessible and reusable in the educational environment.