currently

Fall 2007

• Design Workshop
• MC Magazine Internship
• Redial
• Show/Tell Studio

Cocurricular

• ITP Radio
• Stuff for Kids
• The Half Hour Cozy
• Thesis

archived

Spring 2007

• Designing for Constraints
• GUI in AJAX

Fall 2006

• Physical Computing

Other Projects

• Graphics
• Video
• Web

Search /projects

ITP Radio Show Reminder Service
In collaboration with Christian Bovine
Receive reminder phone calls a half-hour before your favorite shows air live! This is an opt-in service.

Project Description

Goals for Redial Midterm

Beyond the Midterm…

1. Call a number from the database 30 minutes before the show time with which it is associated.
2. Allow DJs to record their own reminder messages that will call listeners 30 minutes before show.
3. Allow DJs to kick out reminder calls through a voice menu. Restrict to their own show only by using long extensions unique to their shows.

 

I observed Heather and Matt do their show, “Lazers With Lasers.”

http://flickr.com/photos/robotim/sets/72157602613584163/

ITP Radio setup:

• Turntable on a raised platform
• Tabletop microphone stand with microphone
• ITP Radio mixer or “board”
• Computer monitor, keyboard, mouse. The computer tower sits on the ground.

Key Observations:

• DJ will use his/her laptop.
• There are too many cables.
• It is hard to use the computer, which sits on the ground. The keyboard does not fit on the tabletop completely.
• The center space is unusable. This has to do with the fact that the ITP Radio stand is also the stand used for the thesis presentations. The stand has a sound two channel sound mixer built into the center, (separate and inferior in quality to the ITP Radio mixer,) creating a square foot of unusable space.

I asked Heather to configure the space however she liked.
She took the raised platform from under the turntable and put it over the unusable center space for her laptop. Matt suggested hanging the microphones to free tabletop space.

 

Version 1.0 Complete!
The voice menu system is complete to my satisfaction for now. I built the voicemail feature: There are three boxes, one for Mike, one for Tom and one for me. When you leave a message it gets emailed to that person as a WAV file. If you press an invalid extension, it plays the “invalid extension” sound file and starts the voicemail over again. If you fail to chose an extension when the greeting is done, after 15 seconds it will thank you for calling ITP Radio and then hangup.

Voice Credits:

• Summer Bedard
• Tim McNerney
• Heather Rasley

 

Changes:

• Rerecorded the voice tracks for improved clarity. Sounds much better, especially on a cell phone.
• Recorded some other sound bites and made a much cooler station ID. The station ID plays before connecting to the DJ on option 1.
• Option 4 and 7 are still not working. Until they work, it plays “This feature is not yet available.” Also, because the station ID is so cool, I’ve put it after the unavailable message.
• Pressing an invalid extension will give the “invalid extension” message and then go back to the main menu.
• I moved option 3 into its own context. This way, I can still make use of invalid extensions in the main menu, and also have the ability to let the caller press any button to return to the main menu when listening to the stream.

Pending

• Setup voice mail system with three mailboxes, one for Mike, Tom and me.
• Create the “advanced features” (option 4.) This will have a sound gallery where callers can listen to the fun sounds like “louise” and the station ID. IT will also have a record/playback tool.

 

Redial Week 2 Homework
So far I have made my dialplan do about 75% of what I want it to do:

1. Plays greeting with description of the options. 1 connects to the DJ; 2 goes to a sound clip with more info about ITP Radio, then loops back to main menu; 3 goes to a live stream, with the ability to press any button during playback to return to main menu; 7 goes to voice mail; 9 is an unlisted “easter egg” extension. plays a clip about Louise. Everyone wants to be Louise.
2. If no extension is pressed, then it plays a sound file that prompts caller to make a selection.
3. If no extension is still pressed, then it says “goodbye” and hangs up.

 

When people call ITP Radio…

(With background music) Thanks for calling I-T-P radio, Streaming at itp.nyu.edu/itpradio.

Press 1 to connect to the D-J. To hear about other ways to connect to I-T-P radio, press 2. To listen to the live stream, press 3. For more options, press 4. Or press 7 to leave a message.

When option 1 is pressed…
I-T-P radio station ID is played, then patched to DJ.

When option 2 is pressed…
(With background music) For more information about us, direct your browser to itp.nyu.edu/itpradio. You can also chat with us using Instant Messenger, our screen name is itpradio2, that’s with the numeral 2. Our e-mail list is itp-radio@lists.nyu.edu. (Then it goes back to the main menu.)

When option 3 is pressed…
You are about to be connected to a live stream of our Internet broadcast. Press any button to return to the main menu. (Play play I-T-P radio sound effect, then connect to stream. Pressing a button will go back to main menu.)

When option 4 is pressed…
(Play high-tech sound effect.) I-T-P Radio advanced features. Press 1 for a record/playback test. Press 2 for the sound gallery.

When option 7 is pressed…
(Play high-tech sound effect.) This is the voice mailbox for I-T-P Radio. I-T-P Radio Fall 2007 is managed by Tim McNerney and Michael Dory. Managing the Jukebox is Tom Jenkins. To leave a message for Tim, press 1. To leave a message for Mike, press 2. To leave a message for Tom, press 3. (If no extension is pressed, plays “thank you for calling” sound file and then hangs up.)

When option 9 is pressed…
(Plays easter egg sound clip, then returns to main menu.)

If after 10 seconds no extension is pressed at the main menu…

Please make a selection. Press 1 to connect to the D-J. Press 2 for more information about I-T-P radio. Press 3 to listen to the broadcast. Or press 7 to leave a message.

If still no selection is made…
(Plays “thank you for calling” sound file then hangs up.)

End of script.

NB: The Option 4 “more features” submenu has not been scripted or programmed yet. The Option 7 “voicemail system” submenu is also not yet functional. Until a feature becomes functional, it will play the “This feature is temporarily unavailable” sound file and then go back to the main menu.