Mapping Phonespace: Exposing the hidden structure of the PSTN

Scientists tell us 96% of the universe is composed of “dark matter”, stuff that is invisible to their instruments. What is the dark matter of the phone network?

Today, if you want to reach a large company by phone, it is a fairly simple matter to find the phone number. But dialing that number is just the beginning. What comes next is an experience we are all too familiar with: touch-tone menus and voice response systems.

As companies seek to reduce time spent by their human agents, their IVR phone systems are getting more and more complex. Yet the content and structure of these systems is hidden behind the phone numbers and hence inaccessible to the power of the web.

*FonCloud fixes this problem by making phone menus discoverable, searchable and linkable. Our “map of phonespace” will change the way you work with the phone system. *

In this presentation, I will discuss how we created a “spider” for the PSTN and what we have learned in the process. I will also demonstrate some of the applications we are building on top of that database.