Creating Voice, Text and Web Portals with

VoIP Drupal

Leo Burd, PhD Research Associate, MIT Center for Civic Media

Research Scientist, MIT Center for Mobile LearningDecember 9, 2013

3Photo: Leo Burd (2005)

http://heidicohen.com/mobile-marketing-research-chart/http://kpcb.com/insights/internet-trends-2011 slide 14

The future of the web rests on voice-enabled

apps accessible even from regular phones (1)

(1) http://www.fastcompany.com/1719453/tim-berners-lees-voice-enabled-internet-quest-in-africa

VoIP Drupal modules

What’s Up South Wood County, Wisconsin

Potential Outreach

Population

45,803200 community organizations

How does it work?

Signs located at: Walmart Job Center Food Pantry

PDF Bulletins: Buyers Guide Job Center Food Pantry

Community Hotline715-952-9020

How things work

VoIP Drupal modules

Dialplan scripting commands– Dial number– Say text or audio file– Record audio from phone– GetInput from keypad– JoinConference– RejectCall– Hangup– SendText number, message– RunIvrMenu options

– Goto label– GotoIf label, condition– Gosub script name

$script = new VoipScript('hello_world');$script->addSay('hello world');$script->addHangup();

Hello world

$script = new VoipScript('voipscript_small_office_ivr'); $script->addSay(t('Welcome to our office hotline.’)); $script->addLabel(‘office_menu’);$options_menu = t(‘For sales, dial 1. For customer support, dial 2. For hours of operation, dial 3. To hang up, dial the star key.’);$input_options = array( ‘1’ => ‘sales’, ‘2’ => ‘customer support’, ‘3’ => ‘hours’, ‘*’ => ‘hang up’, ‘I’ => ‘hang up’, ‘t’ => ‘hang up’);$invalid_msg = t(‘Invalid option selected.’);$script->addRunIvrMenu($options_menu, $input_options, $invalid_msg);$script->addGoto(‘%ivr_option_selected’); $script->addLabel(‘sales’);$script->addSay(‘Sales department’);$script->addGoto(‘hang up’); $script->addLabel(‘customer support’);$script->addSay(t(‘Customer support department’));$script->addGoto(‘hang up’); $script->addLabel(‘hours’);$script->addSay(t(‘Our office is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.’));$script->addGoto(‘office_menu’); $script->addLabel(‘hang up’);$script->addSay(t(‘Thanks so much for calling our office. Bye bye.'));$script->addHangup(); 

Office hotline

Visual VoIP Drupal

Potential VoIP Drupal applications• Go Out to Vote campaigns• 2-1-1 and 3-1-1 community hotlines• Call centers• eCommerce lines• Phone- and SMS-based surveys• Group communication• Story recording / playback• Audio speed dating services• Language training• Audio tours• Adventure games

• Interactive community radio programs

• Emergency announcements

• And much more!

Key benefits of the platform

• Facilitates the construction of unified communications systems integrating SMS, email, web, and voice

• Makes Drupal accessible from any phone – no data plan required!

• Enables the expansion of “community plumbing” beyond the web

• Is open source and free – you are in control

Benefits for administrators

• Easy installation and configuration – no programming required

• Fully customizable – enable only the features you need

• Run as part of the Drupal system itself

– Enable access to VoIP Drupal features using roles and permissions

– Assign Rules, Actions and Triggers

• Enhance user interaction with ready-to-use audio blogs, click-to-call fields, phone recorders, audio announcements, etc.

Benefits for software developers

• Well defined API that can be extended to other VoIP services

• 20+ sample scripts that can be customized

• 30+ modules that already implement common functionality – no need to reinvent the wheel

• Simple, yet powerful PHP-like scripting language with a short learning curve

• Visual programming language for novice developers and fast prototyping

Benefits for development practitioners

• Provides a common web, SMS and phone platform for the implementation of participatory and inclusive community outreach initiatives of all kinds

• Facilitates data gathering via multi-channel surveys and comprehensive “community analytics” collection

• Adds “life” to traditional mapping initiatives

• Enables the development of local n:n communication infrastructure for all

• Facilitates the creation of “voice and text” apps that are accessible from the simplest phones

• Is free and open source

Future directions

• Keep developing civically empowering web, text and voice-

based apps

• Finish porting VoIP Drupal to Drupal 7

• Integration with widely adopted frameworks such as

Drupal COD, Drupal Commons, CiviCRM, and others

• Expand beyond MIT

leoburd@media.mit.edu

http://groups.drupal.org/voip-drupal

http://linkd.in/vIewAW

For additional information

Special thanks to