A year ago, Tim Pool traveled to New York to see the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations for himself. On a whim, he came from Virginia with only a smartphone and a battery pack. Pool, who worked as a community outreach director at a non-profit, then began live-streaming the protests and clashes with NYPD.
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Pool quickly gained followers to his channels on Ustream and Twitter where he reported on what was happening at the time in Zuccatti Park. He became a source of information for the outside world by covering what was happening as it happened and soon received the title "citizen journalist" -- though that's not exactly what he'd call himself.
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"I never even considered myself a journalist until people told me I was," Pool told Mashable. "It was for myself. I wasn't putting it on YouTube."
Much of Pool's coverage was syndicated by major media outlets and TIME named him "The Media Messenger of Zuccotti Park." He told Mashable that he wasn't looking for attention, but rather was trying to figure out the movement's intentions for himself.
Pool has covered the movement since the original demonstrations last year. He was in New York earlier this week covering what was the one year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street's beginning. In recognition of the event, Ustream has put together an Occupy Wall Street "most-memorable live-broadcast streams" which include some of Pool's reporting:
Protesters take orange net from NYPD and Tim Pool yells: "Tonight belongs to occupy wall street."
The Police Did What? NYPD Smashes Protesters Head Against Glass Door, shatters
Call For Medics…Unconscious Occupy Protester in DC
Most Viewed Occupy Wall Street Arrest At One-Year Occupy Anniversary
Occupy Wall Street 1-yr Celebration Needs Entertainment Too!
Image courtesy of Mashable Intern Kenneth Rosen
This story originally published on Mashable here.