VoIP Drupal: building sites that send SMS, answer phone calls, and more

VoIP Drupal
building sites that answer calls,
send SMS, and more

Leo Burd
MIT Center for Civic Media
MIT – 2012.03.07

Goals

• Help people understand what VoIP Drupal is

• Demonstrate examples of what it can do

• Highlight the benefits of the platform

• Invite you to join the fun – it takes a village to raise
a platform!

Acknowledgements

VoIP Drupal Development
Ben Bunk*, Blair McNeib*, Kester Edmonds, Tamer
Zoubi

VoIP Drupal UX
Adam Kalsey*, Andy Oram*, Hector Iribarne, Keith
Casey Jr.*, Konstantin Ordoulidis*, Lee Vodra*, Mark
J. Pearrow*, Micky Metts*,
Owen Barton*

Note: volunteers names are marked with (*)

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 is…

A software platform that enables Drupal sites to
•Make and answer phone calls
•Play and record audio messages
•Send and receive SMS
•Organize conference calls
•Implement voice menus and call routing
•Run polls, surveys, and many more things

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

Hello world

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

Office hotline
$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();

SameBoat
South Wood County, Wisconsin

Potential Outreach
Population
45,803
200 community
organizations

Signs located at:
Walmart
Job Center
Food Pantry

PDF Bulletins:
Buyers Guide
Job Center
Food Pantry

Community Hotline
715-952-9020

Potential VoIP Drupal applications
• Go Out to Vote campaigns
• 2-1-1 and 3-1-1 community hotlines
• Call centers
• 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 developers
• Well defined API that can be extended to other VoIP services

• 20+ sample scripts that can be customized

• 20+ 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

Future directions

• VoIP Drupal 1.0

• What’s Up and other VoIP apps

• Drupal 7 port

• Visual VoIP Drupal

• Integration with Drupal Commons, CiviCRM, OpenScholar,
Open Atrium and other systems

• Expand beyond MIT

Ways to get involved
• Join http://groups.drupal.org/voip-drupal

• Play with script examples in the sandbox

• Create new modules; new sites

• Contribute code, documentation

• Organize meetups

• Help us spread the word!

Key take-aways
Much better understanding of
• What VoIP Drupal is
• How VoIP Drupal expands the power of computing beyond the
browser
• Its potential uses for non-profit and for-profit organizations
• How to get started and where to find resources
– Sandbox

– Discussion group

– VoIP Drupal’s project page

Upcoming events
• 3/14 :: Impromptu hands-on session with Micky on how to set
up VoIP Drupal and get it to say ‘hello‘

• 3/20-23 :: Drupal Con Denver
– Introductory and hands-on sessions (TBD)

– Twilio contest: http://bit.ly/xAlgpV

– Tropo hackaton: http://bit.ly/z9IrUs

• Biweekly web gatherings after that

For additional information
leoburd@media.mit.edu

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

http://linkd.in/vIewAW

Special thanks to

VoIP Drupal: building sites that send SMS, answer phone calls, and more

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