Do any VOIP Drupal installs interface with Organic Groups (and perhaps OG Mailinglist)?

We encourage users to post events happening in the community to the community events group on https://www.drupal.org.
netclift's picture

We are gearing up for an initial gathering in the Twin Cities based on this interest - http://groups.drupal.org/node/251383 - and I'd like to point people toward VOIP Drupal - http://groups.drupal.org/voip-drupal - implementations connecting small groups of people in two-way communication.

It would be great to point to an example of a small group that allows users to connect two-way in online groups with user-based notification options to receive (and send) e-mail, SMS, or a text to speech voice calls based on online group activity (or of course go to the website). Ideally, there would be a normal delivery channel and an urgent delivery channel option that allows for more broadcast levels of notice. Alternatively, there would be customizable keyword alert options SMS/Voice call could be selected.

Scenario: Announcing a neighborhood BBQ would only go out via voice call (instead of e-mail) to those who are in the system but don't have regular Internet access or those who requested it, while a note saying "XYZ neighbor is having a heart attack, all CPR trained neighbors please come to ABC address" would go via SMS and/or robo-call immediately to all folks in the online group. (We will leave tagging people's skills in emergencies until later.) The BBQ reminder one hour ahead of time could be a broadcast option too - "bring beer" is pretty urgent.

Also, in terms of OG Mailinglist, if there is an install that uses it - http://drupal.org/project/og_mailinglist - that would be nice to learn about. If not, any pointers on other two-way group e-mail communication options integrated with VOIP Drupal using other modules or what kinds of many-to-many group communication options that include e-mail that are native to the module that we can see live.

(Why all this e-mail stuff? E-Democracy's approach is to allow publishing through multiple channels and the idea is that near@eblock.org from X registered person would be routed to the right neighbors. Being able to simply say, just e-mail X, SMS Y or call Z and your message will automatically get to your group of nearest neighbors via the channel they prefer is the lowest common denominator vision I am suggesting. Also urgent@eblock.org would go via the urgent channel.)

Cheers,
Steven Clift

Comments

Re: VoIP Drupal and OG integration...

leoburd's picture

Hi Steve, good to hear from you!

Currently, only a few systems integrate VoIP Drupal with Organic Groups. The most mature of them is probably VoJo (http://vojo.co/), where each OG has an unique extension number and is associated with a multimedia blog. Users can submit new entries via web, phone, SMS and MMS.

VoxBox (http://myvoxbox.org/) is another example. Although that system is still under construction, each of its OG instances is associated with an audio and text bulletin board that can be used by grassroots groups for announcements and general communications. Users can submit new entries via web, phone and SMS.

Differently from VoJo, VoxBox users can subscribe to bulletin boards and receive notifications whenever something new is posted in their boards. Using Drupal's notification's framework, VoxBox users tell the system the way through which they would like to receive those notifications. Options include email, SMS and phone calls.

In theory, I don't foresee any issues integrating og_mailinglist w/ VoxBox. As og_mailinglist interoperates directly with OG, I don't think it would interfere with VoIP Drupal in any way. The only thing is that you will have to define ways for og_mailinglist messages not to duplicate what users might receive via email notifications.

Does this message answer some of your questions?

Thank you Leo, some links

netclift's picture

This is great to learn about these examples.

I see that VoJo has a road map/issues tracker here:
https://dev.vozmob.net/projects/cronicas

Also, they are making a splash with:
http://interoccupy.net/occupysandy/storyline/

Thanks!

Steve