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Shouty app helps Occupy protesters be heard

Shouty follows in footsteps of "I'm Getting Arrested" app; more in the works.

Eric Mack Contributing Editor
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Eric Mack
2 min read

More apps and coded solutions are coming to the aid of the 99 percent "occupying" the streets from Manhattan to Oakland and worldwide.

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A few weeks ago we told you about a nifty app designed with the Occupy Wall Street and elsewhere protests in mind that notifies your comrades in the event you get cuffed by the cops.

It turns out that mobile apps are helping protesters surmount other hurdles to their freedom of expression. An example: Shouty, which circumvents the ban on megaphones and other forms of amplification around New York's Zuccotti Park.

Shouty is basically a live-streaming app along the lines of UStream and others that broadcasts whatever is being picked up by the microphone as an MP3 stream available to whoever wants to connect. It's the work of coder Nathan Hamblen and others at the "social coding" site Github, where the app is available for download for Android--it's not to be confused with the iOS app by the same name, which is basically a Twitter client.

The idea is that as long as somebody is near the speaker with an Android phone running Shouty, they can broadcast what's being said to others in the crowd, eliminating the need for a megaphone and making us all appreciate just how brilliant the speaker system at a drive-in theater was. It's not necessary to have Shouty to listen to the stream--any app that can play streaming MP3s should do, according to the release notes.

There are also several other projects in development to provide apps to support the Occupiers. Here's just a few that have come out of recent Occupy-themed hack-a-thons:

  • Web Cop Watch: A tool to keep track of reports and instances of police brutality.
  • OccupyHandbook: An HTML5 app that's a "How to" guide for occupying.
  • OccupySMSNet: A planned "group messaging utility to help organize people in real time via sms."

No word yet on an app to help you explain just what exactly the OWS movement is about in three short sentences your parents and grandparents might be able to understand at Thanksgiving dinner next month. Somebody ought to ask Siri...

(Via Huffington Post)