vCon
charter-ietf-vcon-00-00

[https://github.com/dgpetrie/draft-petrie-vcon/blob/main/vcon_charter.md]

VCON BOF Charter Proposal

Introduction and Group Overview

The generation of conversational data, contained in transcripts and multi-media
files, is common in business, especially in customer facing organizations.
However, the storage, analysis and sharing of the data they contain is not
currently a standard. Standardizing a container for conversation data (vCon)
has numerous advantages, and enables the management of the conversation's
content. For instance, a standard allows for tools to determine the contents of
the conversation, such that privacy guarantees and duties can be accurately
performed. Having a standard container for conversation data also allows for
easier management of conversation data, privacy concerns and management of
party related data.

The VCON working group will define a standard container for conversation data
and specify mechanisms to ensure the integrity and privacy of the data in the
container.

Use Case 1: Privacy and Customer Data Protection Scenarios

Having a cohesive, well defined container for conversation data, makes it
easier to solve, track or answer the following:

* One company sent my customer recording to another for analysis.

  * How is the recipient assured of the integrity of the communication?

  * How are they sure of the privacy?

  * Where did this customer information come from?

* What information does a company have about me, and how can they express it
when it's in analog form?

  * In what machine learning models was my data used for training or testing?

  * Does this recorded conversation contain personal information? Can they
  guarantee that it doesn't?

  * How can I measure the effectiveness of customer redaction tools?

  * I want to switch carriers. How is my conversation data moved between them?

  * I want to consolidate the conversation data across all modes of
  communication which are spread across silos for different product support
  teams and communication modes (e.g. text, web chat, email, VoIP).

Use Case 2: Integration of Conversation Analysis Services

Various services exist in the cloud and enterprise to perform generation,
analysis and storage of conversational data. Without a standard, these
proprietary means of describing conversation data create information silos. In
turn, these data silos create security and compliance issues, lower
collaboration and less choice in the marketplace. A standard container that
tracks data sharing, analysis and usage enables data orchestration and
eliminates walled gardens of capability.

* Define a standard for containing all conversation related data to ease
integration of services which consume or output conversation data and analysis

* Define a standard that describes the analysis that was performed on the
contained conversation, to establish a relationship between the conversations
and which systems accessed it.

* Define a standard by which I can modify a conversation, and indicate the
original conversation, without exposing the contents of the original
conversation.

* I want to definitively answer what customer data exists in a recorded
conversation, and assure its redaction or deletion in compliance with
"Right to be Forgotten" Laws.

* I want to express the source of the conversation, and the express the path by
which it has travelled across security boundaries.

* I want to express the parties in the conversation, so I can relate identity
to the data that's been collected, across security boundaries.

* My enterprise has multiple call centers (in house and hosted). The call data
has different formats for each of them. I want to be able to feed the data into
any hosted transcription server.

* I want to feed email, web chat, SMS and phone conversations for a given
customer into machine learning based analysis to derive customer satisfaction
over time or at specific points.

* I want to be able to easily switch from one call transcription service to
another.

* My enterprise needs to label (or perform some analysis on) all email, web
chat, SMS and phone conversations with the product(s) to which they reference.

In Scope

The scope of the VCON working group is:

* Define a JSON based standard container and Media type to contain and/or
reference conversational data including: call style meta data, recordings, data
exchanged or presented in the conversations, conversation analysis,
transcriptions, translations and annotations

* Define/specify a mechanism for proving integrity of the conversation data

* Define/specify a mechanism for encrypting conversation data protect the
privacy of conversation parties

* Determine if there is need for defining media types and standard containers
for some small set of analysis, annotation or transcription data

Out of Scope

The following are out of scope:

* Algorithms or methodologies for transcription, translation, redaction,
analysis or annotation of call data

* Real-time streaming or updating of conversational data

* Transport mechanisms

* Storage or databases specifications

Milestones

* Specification for a JSON based container for conversation data

* Recommendations or analysis of missing (not defined) data containers and
media types for components of the conversation data