In 2011, Tim Pool didn’t hear about the Occupy Wall Street movement from the news — he discovered it through social networks like YouTube and Facebook. He ended up seeing a video of a police officer dragging a protester by his leg, and Pool noticed that the protester’s hands were bleeding. It was at that moment that Pool decided to see what was going on for himself. He hopped on a bus from Chicago to New York City, and soon he was in the thick of things. Pool started filming and documenting the protests, armed with only his smartphone. Before long, he became one of the foremost independent journalists broadcasting Occupy Wall Street and the events that followed online. “My stance has always sort of been to learn and experience to try and better understand,” he told Mashable‘s Zoe Fox at the 2012 Social Good Summit on Sunday. “I like to get all the facts before I make a decision about what the answer’s going to be.” Because he gathered so much information, he realized that it was safer and more efficient to broadcast everything live with the UStream mobile app. On Nov. 17, 2011, a notable day of protests, he reached an impressive 750,000 viewers. Pool explained that as the protests continued, he often had to get creative with his use of tech as he filmed for long periods of time — sometimes up to 21 hours straight. In addition to his smartphone, he had an external battery that could power a phone for approximately 15 hours. “With just a smartphone, you can send tweets, you can send messages [and] photos, and do a broadcast for a very long amount of time. However, that’s not to say that there aren’t pitfalls. They overheat, they shut down,” he said. Pool and his friend put together a makeshift cooling system using a computer fan plugged into an external battery. They have also used “drones” — remote-controlled quadrocopters — to film events from the air. However, due to the ban on the commercial use of drones, Pool says they are reluctant to use them. “There [are a] million things that need to be built that [are] going to change and further decentralize the ability to share information,” he said. “As time goes on, we’re going to see more and more people with the ability to share information with each other. Bringing more people into the conversation is really what is going to create what I consider social good.” What’s next? Pool says he would like to work on a documentary about Occupy Wall Street, but, surprisingly, he can’t find anyone who wants to go through “terabytes and terabytes” of footage. Read more of Mashable’s coverage of the 2012 Social Good Summit: Day One: Hillary Clinton Opens the Social Good Summit [VIDEO] How the U.S. Chief Technology Officer Is Making Data Awesome Can Mobile Phones Help Fight Pediatric AIDS? How Is Social Media Changing Diplomacy? Peter Gabriel Makes Case For Internet Freedom ITU […]
Google’s taking on an ambitious global initiative — using technology to expose, map and disrupt illicit networks of drug smugglers, arms dealers and human traffickers. The tech giant is hosting its second annual summit, this time called the Illicit Networks: Forces in Opposition (INFO), in Los Angeles on Tuesday and Wednesday. The INFO summit will focus on how technology can expose and disable these illegal networks. In attendance will be tech leaders, Googlers, government officials and survivors. Google says it’s been working with frontline fighter groups to gain an understanding of how these criminal trades function. The summit is part of Google Ideas — the “think/do tank” the company launched in Oct. 2010 to tackle some of the world’s toughest problems. The search giant wrote in a blog post Tuesday that it plans to take on illicit networks, expanding from its first challenge, counter-radicalization. Included in the conversations of these networks, are organ harvesting, arms trading and drug smuggling. Google hosted a Summit Against Violent Extremism one year ago, bringing together former right-wing extremists, jihadists, gang members, militants and survivors. The illegal trade of goods is no small problem, representing a trillion-dollar industry and claiming hundreds of thousands of lives annually. This year’s summit is a joint initiative from Google, the Tribeca Film Festival and the Council on Foreign Relations. Google cites a 2003 U.N. estimate that the illegal drug trade alone is worth $320 billion, totaling more than the gross domestic product of 88% of countries. It also points to the more than 50,000 causualties of the ongoing drug cartel war in Mexico over the past five years. As for specific ways Google plans to use technology to disrupt illicit networks, we’ll have to wait until the conference concludes to find out. Google doesn’t highlight any particular technologies it’s using to try to bring an end to criminal business activities. Do you have any ideas about how Google can use technology to expose illegal practices? What would you like to see come out of this summit? Let us know in the comments. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/07/17/google-drug-cartels/
The Social Good Summit continues Sunday in New York — but you can still join in the global conversation even if you couldn’t make it to New York. This year’s livestream is available in seven languages — English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin, Russian and Hebrew. This year’s Social Good Summit expands beyond the 92nd Street Y’s New York walls. Partner events, forming The Global Conversation are taking place in Beijing, China; Nairobi, Kenya; and Mogadishu, Somalia on Monday. One of the early Meetups took place Sunday morning in Madagascar: @thierry_ratsiz partage son exprience du web et des médias sociaux au #sgsglobal #madagascar twitter.com/saveoursmile/s… — Hery Zo (@saveoursmile) September 23, 2012 All Meetups in dangerous regions of the world have been cleared with U.N. security officials, who are taking responsibility. Are you taking part in a community Social Good Meetup? Let us know what’s taking place your region in the comments. About Ericsson Read more of Mashable’s coverage of the 2012 Social Good Summit: Day One: Hillary Clinton Opens the Social Good Summit [VIDEO] How the U.S. Chief Technology Officer Is Making Data Awesome Can Mobile Phones Help Fight Pediatric AIDS? How Is Social Media Changing Diplomacy? Peter Gabriel Makes Case For Internet Freedom ITU Secretary-General: OK to Make Profit When Helping Developing Nations 8-Year-Old YouTube Sensation Performs at Social Good Summit Social Good Summit Day 1: Highlights and Pics Day Two: ShoutAbout Aims to Inspire Social Action Based on News Stories Tim Pool, Guerrilla Journalist of the Digital Age [VIDEO] U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice: Twitter Crucial to Her Mission How Social Media Is Empowering Women in Haiti How to Use Mobile Devices to Solve Global Problems How Forest Whitaker Is Using Technology to Spread Peace Social Good Summit Day 2: Highlights and Pics Day Three: Napolitano: Congress ‘Got Stuck’ on Cybersecurity U.N. Foundation Challenges the World to Take Action Nick Kristof Takes Social Good Gaming to the Next Level Why Tech and New Media Can Help End Modern Slavery UNICEF Launches Online Campaign to Reduce Child Mortality Rates What It Means to Be an Advocate in the Digital Age What Non-Profits Can Learn From Cat Videos Wikipedia Founder: Online Connections Foster Real Change Deepak Chopra: Social Media is the Next Phase of Humanity [VIDEO] How Social Good Summit Sparked the Largest Conversation on Earth Social Good Summit Day 3: Highlights and Pics 10 Inspiring Quotes From Mashable’s Social Good Summit Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, skegbydave window._msla=window.loadScriptAsync||function(src,id){if(document.getElementById(id))return;var js=document.createElement(‘script’);js.id=id;js.src=src;document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0].parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}; _msla(“//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”,”twitter_jssdk”); Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/09/23/social-good-livestream-summit/
