This is what democracy looks like!" You can hear this chant and many others at the Occupy marches around the world. The assembly of large quantities of people is promoting communication that otherwise would not have occurred. People are exchanging new ideas and teaching the use of previously-proven concepts (like non-violent protest) from previous protest movements. They are taking mobile communication beyond the realm of obligatory social media, like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Both low-tech and high-tech approaches to information exchange are getting a facelift from this movement. Investment in improving upon and delivering this communication technology is becoming the next cottage industry.

Whatever your opinion of the Occupy protests, we are all benefiting from the advancements in communication that are coming out of this movement. "The whole world is watching."

Each city has common elements that are identifiable as Occupy. The Mic Check at the General Assembly is one common low-tech element. New York City regulations require permits for bullhorns and amplified sound, so the crowd instead projects the speaker's voice by repeating the speaker's cadenced speech. The Mic Check has become a more powerful tool than a megaphone: In engaging the crowd to repeat the speaker's words, the audience remembers more of the speeches than if they were just passively listening.

OccupyStream is a unifying high-tech element of the movement. It incorporates multiple Internet technologies on a website. LiveStream and IRC chat allow people all over the world to participate in the movement. LiveStream is a way to take a standard video camera and transmit a video to the website almost instantaneously for visitors of that website to view. It broadcasted videos of police brutality against unarmed protestors on the Brooklyn Bridge, which invigorated the movement and helped recruit thousands of new protestors. IRC chat is a means to exchange text messages with other visitors on a website. You log in to the website and type your message, which gets posted to the website's chat window. Other visitors will see your message appear on their screen, and can respond to you. Disabled people who support the movement, but cannot physically attend their local Occupy movement, can participate in the chat and share ideas from other Occupy movements. Visit the OccupyStream website to stay in touch with other participants of the movement.

You can talk to strangers you see on the street. Why not text them? The iPhone app Vibe allows people to message those who are in close proximity with them. It is similar to Tweeting without restricting your messages to those who follow your Twitter account. The application does not record your IP address, only your location. You have the ability to adjust the "volume" of your text message (i.e. distance from your location), and the message's duration.

Regulations have prevented gasoline-powered generators at Occupy SF from being used to charge the batteries that power the laptops and cameras used for streaming the Occupy activities. Solar-powered batteries quickly lost their charge. The Occupy SF technicians searched for other means to recharge their batteries. Luckily, Rock the Bike donated a bicycle-powered generator. Pedaling the bike at 40-60 Watts is enough to recharge the batteries. Charging the batteries is not like pedaling through a county park: Generating that much power takes a lot of work. To help charge some batteries, visit San Francisco's communications tent. Pedaling for half an hour will give you quite a work out. Not only will you be dizzy from the oxygen deprivation of the aerobic workout, but you will be exhilarated from directly contributing to the success of the movement!

All of this technology takes money to run. Since September 2011, the Occupy movement has reached people primarily through Internet communication. The streaming, web hosting, domain registration, and other fees that GoDaddy tacks on to the cost of running the OccupyStream website quickly mount to a hefty monthly charge. This cost is miniscule compared to television and radio technology. LoudSauce is a funding website that pools people's contributions to purchase television advertising airtime. By reaching television audiences, Occupy is looking to get its message to more of the 99% and maybe some of the 1%.

The Arab Spring began on September 18, 2010, coordinating flash mobs of people with Twitter messages and Facebook pages. Mobile communication was so effective, the Israeli government pressured Facebook to take down the "Third Palestinian Intifada" page for fear that it would encourage violence. The Occupy movement has extended the Arab Spring's proven success of instantly communicating with large masses of people. Where this movement will be a year from now is uncertain, but the technological breakthroughs of the past year can only spur our imagination for what it will bring in 2012.