A vCon (“Virtualized Conversation”) is a standardized format for the storage, interchange, and security of conversations. Conversations include voice calls, video calls, emails, text messages, etc. While such data is commonly generated and collected in business environments, surprisingly, there are no standards or interoperability within the storage or transmission mechanisms or formats.
vCons have emerged as a revolutionary concept in the field of programmable communications. Think of vCons as the PDFs of conversations. They go beyond text or voice recordings to include metadata — identifying the involved parties, AI-generated analyses, and various attachments like documents. As a holistic data unit, vCons offer businesses an unprecedented lens into the complexities of their conversations, thereby unlocking new avenues for customer understanding, analysis, and engagement.
TADHack offers a unique chance for you to work hands-on with a real-world vCon data set. This dataset encapsulates authentic business-customer interactions over a recent 24-hour period. While all data has been de-identified to ensure privacy, its richness and complexity remain intact. This dataset offers a one-of-a-kind environment for developers and data scientists to experiment and innovate.
Earlier this year, one of the winning vCon hackers, Suraj, had the opportunity of a summer intern project, adding vCons to the open-source project jambonz. Check out this video to see what he achieved. There is not only prize money available at TADHack, but highly marketable programmable communications skills to help your career.
3 or 4 Step vCon Challenge
The objective of this hack is to create vCon experts around the world. As you can see in the above interview video, Suraj had a great time at his summer intern project.
Here’s a list of challenges that you can use for your vCon hack:
- Search & Filter: Given the immense volume of conversations that businesses navigate daily, isolating specific elements is like finding a needle in a haystack. Your challenge at TADHack is to engineer a sophisticated search and filtering mechanism capable of trawling through the vCon data to flag specific comments or complaints. The aim is to empower businesses to proactively identify and tackle issues, thereby elevating customer satisfaction.
- Automated Responses: Manually generating tailored responses for each customer interaction is both essential and resource-intensive. The challenge here lies in designing an intelligent system capable of parsing the vCon data to auto-compose personalized thank-you or apology messages. The system should accurately capture the sentiment and context of each dialogue, ensuring that every customer feels individually acknowledged and valued.
- Customer Segmentation: The age-old adage of “one size doesn’t fit all” rings especially true in the realm of marketing. Utilizing the vCon data, your mission at TADHack is to create an AI-powered tool that classifies customers based on the behaviors and preferences detected in the conversations. Such segmented data can then be deployed for more precise and impactful marketing strategies.
- Stretch Challenge: Implement an integration that depends upon both vCon and SCITT. Check out this interview with Steve Lasker, one of the SCITT authors, for more information.
By tackling these challenges, TADHack aims to serve as the catalyst for the upcoming wave of innovation in the programmable communications industry. Your inventive solutions have the potential not only to bridge existing gaps but also to spearhead a new epoch of conversational intelligence.
How can I get my OWN vCon?
- Generate all the fake vCons you need using von-faker. You can also get the source for it at GitHub – vcon-dev/vcon_faker if you’d like to run it locally
- You can make one using the very excellent vCon libraries, like this one from vCon co-author, Dan Petrie.
- You can use the Conserver to create your own vCons
- You can sign up with a service provider like Comcent and RingPlan that provides a vCon service
You can use one in the Strolid test set.
Important Links
The vCon GitHub Repo