Drew Cogbill | Thesis Blog

cogbill_21_sept_brief

I’ve begun rapid prototyping out the Pigeon system using Voxeo’s CallXML.  I have the beginnings of the system from my previous work, so I’m starting by adding the next essential features.  Yesterday, I worked on making it so you could actually sign up for a Pigeon account (with a 9-digit member number, and a 4-digit pin number).

This “sign up” working version is available via Skype at +99000936 9996079834 or via a direct line at (845) 521-7421.

signup.zip contains code as of that implementation (contains 7 php files, one xml file).

*All developmental versions of Pigeon are and will be prealpha and hugely buggy.  The point of posting small prototypical builds is to document the process of development.  Phone access may or may not be active.

This is a re-post of my wrap-up of my mini-thesis last semester, Pigeon.  You can find it and the process leading up to it on the Computation08 blog.  Perhaps Pigeon is the right place for me to move forward, but I’m going to try to prototype outside of it a bit more.

In an attempt to facilitate communication between people with limited technological access through the creation of an experimental phone-based social network, Pigeon was created.  Pigeon is a voice message exchange system for friends and family.  The idea of this project began with a desire to connect loved ones who live far away and are unable to communicate as often as they might desire, such as a young girl who lives in Belize and her father who lives in Los Angeles, working several jobs to send money back home to their family, who can only communicate with an international call once a month.  The Pigeon concept provides an interesting idea for asynchronous phone-based message exchange, which has the potential to bridge communication barriers by employing accessible and affordable communication technology as a means for individual to tell their personal story, or what is currently happening in their life.

You can call in and interact with the current version of Pigeon: (713) 987-3001.  Use member number 999-999-999 and PIN 9999.  After logging on, options 1 (listen to message), 2 (record a message), and 6 (record Pigeon name, which is the system identifier, like a Facebook picture) are active.

Print materials, which in a comic/storyboard form explain Pigeon and it’s features.  They are designed to be folded up and attached to “phone cards”:

For more information, see the presentation, an interactive quicktime.