Add Twilio direct-call feature

[ChimeraCoder]

The previous Twilio integration was temporarily deactivated after the Comedy Hack Day while we worked out a more permanent use for the call feature that doesn't rely on an inside-joke for the CHD (that is, a feature other than reading them the Clint Eastwood speech!).

To me, it seems we have two options:

1. allow the user to enter their own phone number, and then it will automatically call the user and connect them. That's not such a useful approach, though, because
   • It saves the user a bit of effort, but not much
   • The caller ID will be our current Twilio number (area code 646, NYC), which will cause constituents outside New York City to appear to be calling from the wrong district.
2. Send the user SMS updates whenever events are added to the list, so they can be sure to tweet about them. This is more useful, but it requires a bit more work, namely:
   • Creating a database to store users' phone numbers (currently we're operating without a persistent database, as we don't need one.
   • Create a separate thread to refresh the event listings periodically and send updates for any new event. (The logic for this is fairly straightforward; it just requires a bit of effort).

I'm in favor of option 2, but before we start splitting up the tasks, it would be great to hear others' thoughts!

[larrybuch]

Number 2 sounds reasonable & good to me.

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 28, 2012, at 2:16 PM, Aditya Mukerjee notifications@github.com wrote:

The previous Twilio integration was temporarily deactivated after the Comedy Hack Day while we worked out a more permanent use for the call feature that doesn't rely on an inside-joke for the CHD (that is, a feature other than reading them the Clint Eastwood speech!).

To me, it seems we have two options:

allow the user to enter their own phone number, and then it will automatically call the user and connect them. That's not such a useful approach, though, because

• It saves the user a bit of effort, but not much
• The caller ID will be our current Twilio number (area code 646, NYC), which will cause constituents outside New York City to appear to be calling from the wrong district. Send the user SMS updates whenever events are added to the list, so they can be sure to tweet about them. This is more useful, but it requires a bit more work, namely: Creating a database to store users' phone numbers (currently we're operating without a persistent database, as we don't need one.

Create a separate thread to refresh the event listings periodically and send updates for any new event. (The logic for this is fairly straightforward; it just requires a bit of effort).

I'm in favor of option #2, but before we start splitting up the tasks, it would be great to hear others' thoughts.

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