Some oil spill crowdsourcing projects have created smartphone apps. (CNN) -- As the Gulf oil spill spreads, news about it is coming from all kinds of places -- including regular people with cell phones. Here are a few ways that you can participate in "crowdsourced" reporting efforts about this unfolding disaster and response efforts. The Oil Spill Crisis Map, a project of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade (an environmental advocacy group) and Tulane University students, includes hundreds of field reports filed by people throughout the Gulf region. This map was built using the free open-source software Ushahidi, which was created in Kenya in 2008 specifically with cell phones in mind. You can submit a spill-related report from a cell phone or computer: Text message (SMS) or multimedia message (MMS): Send your message to 504-272-7OIL. Text messaging works on even the most basic cell phones. E-mail: bpspillmap@gmail.com. Many cell phones, even simple inexpensive Read More

Crisis Commons, an international volunteer network of technical and business professionals, has released an iPhone / Android application called "Oil Reporter." The app is designed to smartphone users on those platforms to report issues related to the Gulf Coast BP oil spill. Crisis Commons earlier created a similar app during the early days of the Haiti Earthquake recovery efforts.  Here's how the application is described: The Oil Reporter mobile application is available on the Android and iPhone platforms. It features the ability to capture geotagged photographs, video, text and basic data elements such the presence of oil and distressed wildlife. The application also provides official phone numbers on where to report oiled beaches, wildlife as well as volunteer information links. Crisis Commons has also created a website at OilReporter.org. The fact that Crisis Commons, which is admittedly not a huge "outfit," chose to create both an iPhone and Android apps just Read More

Screen shot of Oil Reporter, the iPhone/Android app that allows you to document oil and tar balls from the Deepwater Horizon spill. With tar balls and oil sheens beginning to reach the Gulf Coast, government officials and wildlife groups are anxious to document the oil spill’s impact. As has been the case in previous oil spills, they’ve rolled out toll-free numbers for people to report any oil sightings or distressed wildlife. Thanks to the widespread adoption of GPS-friendly smartphones, though, it’s now possible to gather this data more precisely than ever. And yes, there’s now an app for that: Oil Reporter. CrisisCommons, a coalition of volunteer software developers that I’ve been involved with since the Haiti Earthquake, rolled out the Oil Reporter app yesterday. Available for free on both iPhone and Android phones, the app is a simple interface for people who encounter oil along the Gulf Coast. Oil Reporter lets Read More

Oil Reporter is a free new iPhone and Android app that allows crowdsourced reporting of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Built using Appcelerator by volunteers and organizations committed to open source apps for good causes, including Crisis Commons, Intridea and Github, the app allows anyone to document the spill from the shore (or a boat if you have one) right from a smartphone. Users will be able to post and view reports on Twitter and answer the following questions: “What do you see?” (a picture can be taken and attached) “How much oil do you see?” (with a slider from 1 to 10, 1 being clear water, 10 being thick oil) “Mark as urgent?” (yes or no) All reports will include a GPS location (for phones with GPS, which of course with smartphones is most phones) and will be directed to a database run by San Diego Read More