Elgg Voices Google

For the third installment of Google Voice user stories, we heard from Grant Barrett, the co-host of A Way with Words, a radio show about words and language.

Tell us about your organization
A Way with Words is run by a nonprofit with an educational mission: to further understanding of language, to encourage life-long learning, and to promote human understanding through better communication. It airs in 73 different cities and at a lot of different times, so, our toll-free number is a necessity. We can’t be there at all hours to answer.

How are you using Google Voice?
Calls go from the toll-free number to a local number to voicemail — Google Voice — where we archive them and use them to plan future shows. Five of us look at the transcripts and listen to the calls. We use the notes field to indicate which are feedback for follow-ups, which are new questions that we might want to turn into segments, and which are stories from listeners who want to be heard but maybe don’t want to be on the air. We mix those with what we get via email and social media, and in that way put together a show.

Now that we have more than 2800 calls saved on Google Voice we can use it like we already use our email: as a repository of questions and comments from listeners. So if one person asks about, say, why bell peppers are called mangoes in part of the country, we can search through the voicemail transcripts (which, while imperfect, are good enough), and our email, and begin to get an idea of what a lot of people want to know about that topic. It helps tailor each segment of the show.

There is an insatiable need — a hunger, even — to have questions about language answered. People ask us more questions in a given week than we could possibly ever answer in a weekly, hour-long show. But we’re doing more than we were before, and Google Voice is a part of that.

If you or someone you know is using Google Voice in a unique way, we’d love to hear about it! Fill out this short form and your story may get featured on the Google Voice blog.

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

We’re often inspired by the creative and interesting ways that individuals and organizations use Google Voice, so we thought it was time to start sharing some of their stories. In the first of what we hope to be an ongoing series of interviews, we chatted with Todd Stanfield, an Associate Professor from Jackson, TN, who used Google Voice to communicate with his students during the snowpocalypse of 2011.

1. Tell us a little bit about you.
I am Todd Stanfield, PhD. I am an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Union University in Jackson, TN. I teach both undergraduate and graduate social work students.

2. How are you using Google Voice?
I collect phone numbers from students via a Google Docs form, then I text them via Google Voice to let them know when class is cancelled. Google Voice makes it possible to reach them instantly via their phones (which they always have with them) in addition to their email (which they may only check when at a desktop).

Some of them don’t have smart phones, so getting the text message in addition to an email means the difference between finding out about class being canceled during a 2 hour drive vs. arriving at campus only to find out class has been canceled.

I also have them respond with an SMS confirming they got it so I can quickly mark off everyone who has responded, and I have a record that they did so.

3. Sounds effective. How else has Google Voice helped you out?
I also use Google Voice as a second voicemail service that puts a layer of protection between my personal cell phone and my students. They call my Google Voice number, I get a transcript of their message via SMS and email, then I decide whether I need to respond right then. Helps me set boundaries between my personal and professional time.

If you or someone you know is using Google Voice in a unique way, we’d love to hear about it! Fill out this short form and your story may get featured on the Google Voice blog.

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager