Started: March 2012
Based: Leicester
Website: www.brown-moses.blogspot.com
Twitter: @EliotHiggins
Category: Politics

Eliot Higgins, also known as Brown Moses, is a citizen journalist and blogger, who uses social media to examine the conflict in Syria and the Middle East.

A former finance worker, Eliot started the Brown Moses blog about the conflict in Syria for his own interest and in his spare time. He monitors various social media channels and reports on the conflict with a particular focus on the types of weapons being used.

His work has now expanded to areas across the Middle East and his information is being used by other citizen journalists and agencies to better understand conflicts in the region and highlight underreported stories.

The Brown Moses Blog now receives an average of 120,000 views per week. Eliot is not yet satisfied, though. He is looking to amplify his impact by collaborating with a multitude of journalists and ordinary people he has identified over the years by bringing their work into a central space known as Bellingcat, a site by and for citizen investigative journalists using open source information.

Eliot and his colleagues plan to grow the base of conflict zone information and stories around the world and become a beacon of open source citizen journalism.