Software For The Open Source Analyst

Social Networking

        Social networking sites can be especially useful for the analyst. Many of the sites are used by terrorists, gangs, criminals and others with less than honorable intentions. Careful analysis of these open source worlds can yield intelligence you never knew existed. Like a jigsaw puzzle, you may have to visit several sites (as the enemy does to post bits and pieces of information so as to not leave a trail) to bring it all together. This is the heart of analysis: bringing it all together to monitor the beat. More to be added later.                                      
        Top Ten                                               http://social-networking-websites-review.toptenreviews.com/
        List Of Social Networking Sites       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites                    

Software For The Open Source Analyst

         Granted there are many units out there that do not have the budget to buy or subscribe to expensive analytical software, but this should not stop the analyst from doing his/her work. There are abundant resources of freebies that when used in conjunction with each other provide just as powerful analytical capabilities. I actually view this as a heavy plus. When we use expensive commercial versions of analytical software that give instantaneous analysis/gratification we tend to depend too much on the outcome and in many cases take the results for granted. When we do this we cheat ourselves from doing our own critical thinking and critical analysis. However, by taking advantage of the free community versions and using them together we force ourselves to do more critical thinking/analysis because we are trying to determine what information to input into one program based on the output of another program.

         Analysis Of Competing Hypotheses (ACH), Analysis of Competing Hypotheses is a simple model for how to think about a complex problem. It takes you through a process for making a well-reasoned, analytical judgment. It is particularly useful for issues that require careful weighing of alternative explanations of what has happened, is happening, or is likely to happen in the future. It helps you overcome, or at least minimize, some of the cognitive limitations that make prescient intelligence analysis so difficult. ACH is grounded in basic insights from cognitive psychology, decision analysis, and the scientific method. It helps analysts protect themselves from avoidable error and improve their chances of making right calls. A free download.                                    http://www2.parc.com/istl/projects/ach/ach.html

         Silobreaker (for those familiar with Analyst Notebook, I think you’ll like this)
                                                                                                                        http://www.silobreaker.com/

Evolution (It has applications in forensic investigations, law enforcement, intelligence operations, identity fraud, and identity verification processes). Download the free community edition. It is not as powerful as the commercial version, which is also very expensive, but has great utility when used in conjunction with other free sites like Silobreaker. http://www.paterva.com/web2/

         A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods (If you've ever wondered how to model something, or were looking for new ideas for segmenting and presenting complex concepts, this is an incredible online resource. A neat graphical explanation and example of each "element" (ex; a cycle diagram) appears as soon as your cursor scrolls over them. For instance, they've color-coded their categories: data, metaphor, concept, strategy, information, and compound visualisation techniques. As if that were not enough to spark your brain, the creators also provide clues as to whether the model works best for convergent or divergent thinking, and whether it is more for an overview vs. detailed perspective.) 
                                                                http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html

         Sentinel Visualizer (for those of you who have experience with Crime Link and Analyst Notebook this one should be quite interesting. You can download a 45-day fully functional with all the bells and whistles copy and take it for a spin, and at the same time train yourself to use the software. It may come in handy down the road and you can always say you know how to use it)              http://www.fmsasg.com/
         The Best Ever Freeware Utilities                                                   http://www.techsupportalert.com/
         Ideas Worth Spreading: Imagine what the open source analyst has at his/her disposal with this type of technology. View the video and see what I mean    http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/129
         Free Antivirus And Spyware Software                                  http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/us/frt/0
         Want Your Own Blog? It’s Easy. It’s Free                                          https://www.blogger.com/start
                                                                                                                                  http://wordpress.com/
         TOR Anonymizer                                                                                       http://www.torproject.org/
         Images (convert 2D to 3D online for free) The 3D face reconstruction may have utility if you only have a frontal face shot of a suspect. 
                           http://sourcesandmethods.blogspot.com/2008/02/convert-2d-to-3d-online-for-free.html
                                                                                                                        http://make3d.stanford.edu/
         Semantics – in a nutshell, the study of words. Great site of 302 semantic web videos and podcasts.               http://www.semanticfocus.com/blog/entry/title/302-semantic-web-videos-and-podcasts/
         NNDB Mapper (a visual tool for exploring the connections between people in NNDB, linking them together through family relations, corporate boards, movies and TV, political alliances, and shadowy conspiracy groups. Maps can be saved and shared for others to explore.)                 http://www.nndb.com/
         Generate Maps of the Blogosphere (Generate animated clickable maps of connected blogs from Blogger . Simply enter the URL of a blog website to start mapping.  
                                                                       http://www.lococitato.com/blogger_map/blogger_map.html
                                                                                                                          http://www.lococitato.com/
         TouchGraph Google Browser (The touch graph google browser reveals the network of connectivity between websites, as reported by Googles database of related websites)
                                                                                  http://www.touchgraph.com/TGGoogleBrowser.html
         SquidMat  (The program compares two or more courses of action based on two or more evaluation criteria. The user arranges the evaluation criteria in descending order of importance and tells the program how much more important each criterion is than the next lower criterion. These importance ratings are used to calculate weights for each criterion. SquidMat takes user-supplied values for each course-of-action/criterion combination and converts them to Z scores. Using the criterion weights, the program calculates weighted sums for each course of action. The course of action with the highest weighted sum is considered to be the best.            http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/jmstauffer/Squidmat/
         Decision Matrix Software Download                           http://www.dcswift.com/military/software.html