“Some men see things as they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not.” Robert F. Kennedy
I know, I know: he was paraphrasing George Bernard Shaw’s play Back to Methuselah (1921). It is still a great quote. Kennedy used those words in speeches during his 1968 presidential campaign.
What is it to dream? Is it wishful thinking? If so, how does that explain nightmares? Is it thoughts, or vivid imagination? Or are dreams just ideas cloaked in our desire to create, or to use our gifts for the benefit of others?
For the benefit of others
I am always amazed at the things I learn when I speak to volunteers. They say the most amazing things when asked why they volunteer. Some are looking for acknowledgement, which is why any good event gives its volunteers brightly coloured T-shirts that set them apart from paid staff. Some say they believe in the overall goals of the event or organisation. Some are getting the day off, or their boss is volunteering. But the majority don’t answer this way.
It sets them apart
What sets people who are expert or skilled in their field apart from the rest? They can write scholarly articles, teach a course, write a book or simply offer a meagre blog post. Yes, I went there. So how can OSINT practitioners show they are adept, adroit, deft, savvy, skilled, clever, well practised? You get the idea. NobleNerds lets OSINT practitioners demonstrate their skills and do something good at the same time.
How an investigation pivots
Take publicly available information, analyse it, then pivot, sometimes in a completely new direction, then analyse again. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Now you know how OSINT investigations often work.
OSINT practitioners never stop dreaming of new places to collect data, or of tools, methods and scripts for collecting it. They dream of new ways through human barriers, and they study human behaviour to understand how social engineering gains access, passwords, intelligence and cooperation.
Great dreamers make for good OSINT.