[cisco-voip] Cisco Spark API

Ryan Huff ryanhuff at outlook.com
Tue Jan 19 15:40:03 EST 2016 

** I know Cisco has assets on this list, so all my statements are in and of my own opinion and do not reflect the views of Cisco, et al. **


SoapBox:

Cisco Spark, is actually, the newest iteration of Cisco's older, Project Squared. As a concept; Cisco Spark (and competitors like Slack, Flowdock, Jostle), is nothing new .... predates BBSs. I mean if we got real technical, some definitions of Chat Rooms can take us back to ARPANET. So these sort of applications; while the concept isn't new, bring about a newer capability using REST principles for their APIs.


ChatBots:

The interest in part, comes from the ability to mashup. Using the Restful API from these types of services, I can extract and inject the I/O of a "Chat Room" in near real-time and port it over to a server side application where I could do just about anything with it. Again, a similar capability has been around for a VERY long time. Did you ever create an IRC script to auto kick/ban people ... cause I sure did ... (sorry KitKat4u99 and BigBoy455)


What HAS NOT been around very long is IoT (Internet of Things). 20 years ago I would have been limited to interactions within the room itself. In today's ever-increasing amount of Internet aware devices, the game changes substantially because I can take internal room interactions and make external impacts. Introduce to that, something like a RaspberryPi, and now you really have a new platform on your hands, the digitization of real-world objects. Here is an example: http://ryanthomashuff.com/2015/12/doorbell-for-cisco-spark/


So while the current buzz word is, chatbot, we're really talking about something substantially different than a chatbot; we're talking about what could arguably be an early precursor to more advance AI. Its making it much easier and more standardized for the digital and physical world to collaborate. Consequently, I also think this is what finally pushes IPv6 into everyone's home.

Does it bend the purpose of Spark:

I don't believe it does. Right now, the Spark API is limited -so message notifications are the basis of what it can do, which lends to tendencies to create a chatbot. It is also a great way to demo the API in its infancy. As the Spark API matures, newer API capabilities will cannibalize the desire and practicality of something that only acts as a chatbot. Even in its limited state, we can make it do much more than be a chatbot. Jixator Prime<http://ryanthomashuff.com/2016/01/public-chatbot-for-cisco-spark/> which is a public room bot I made can already do things like inject real-time AMBER ALERTs into a room, configure Cisco Access Points and will soon allow real-world faxing into a room [&#X1f609] .

Now all of this doesn't really even scratch the surface of the video and voice capabilities of Spark; however using a theme from above, imagine a mashup ... You are sitting at home with a video endpoint and your team is in a spark room with video, a simple script uses the API to auto invite your endpoint .... no websites to sign into, no laptops to fire up .... nope ... just magic. That is where I think we're headed folks [&#X1f609] . Who knows though, Cisco Spark might not be what gets us there -but I do think where Spark wants to go is where we will ultimately be.

Am I doing this for my Engineering Deathmatch:

HA! No, not really; although it might not hurt to have a bot on standby [&#X1f609] . I honestly believe these sort of platforms are an early glimpse into the future of collaboration and I want to be on board now. I will be the first to admit, I was sceptical and resistant at first ... I really was; but I see it playing out differently than I originally imagined.

Thanks,

= Ryan =



Email: ryanthomashuff at outlook.com<mailto:ryanthomashuff at outlook.com>

Spark: ryanthomashuff at outlook.com<mailto:ryanthomashuff at outlook.com>

Twitter: @ryanthomashuff<http://twitter.com/ryanthomashuff>

LinkedIn: ryanthomashuff<http://linkedin.com/in/ryanthomashuff>

Web ryanthomashuff.com<http://ryanthomashuff.com>


________________________________
From: avholloway at gmail.com <avholloway at gmail.com> on behalf of Anthony Holloway <avholloway+cisco-voip at gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 2:07 PM
To: Ryan Huff
Cc: cisco voip
Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] Cisco Spark API

Thanks for sharing this Ryan.  It's really cool stuff.  Why do you think there is this surge in chat bot interest all of the sudden, when chat bots have been around for ages?  And, do you think this is bending the purpose of Spark, a collaborative software platform, into becoming a notification platform?  Just curious on your thoughts.  Either way, you PHP is clean, and you're awesome for sharing it with the public.  Keep up the awesome work.

Actually, one last question: are you only doing this to prepare for your upcoming Engineering Deathmatch?

On Mon, Jan 18, 2016 at 11:07 AM, Ryan Huff <ryanhuff at outlook.com<mailto:ryanhuff at outlook.com>> wrote:

Hello everyone,


I'm not sure of this audience who is, a.) Aware of what Cisco Spark is, and/or b.) cares what it is so I am sending this multicast in hopes that it finds all who do know/care on the list.


For those interested in using the Spark API and learning what you can do with it; I have written a basic library (in PHP) that you can use. I also have a publicly available ChatBot that you can invite to your room, to demonstrate some of the things you can do with the Spark API.


The PHP Library:

http://ryanthomashuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/sparkInterfaceV1_class.tar


The ChatBot:

http://ryanthomashuff.com/2016/01/public-chatbot-for-cisco-spark/


The command reference for the bot is in the post too; the bot can give you AMBER / Center for Missing and Exploited Children alerts, NPR Tech Feed and sentiment analysis right now. As I have time, I will further develop.


Thanks,


= Ryan =



Email: ryanthomashuff at outlook.com<mailto:ryanthomashuff at outlook.com>

Spark: ryanthomashuff at outlook.com<mailto:ryanthomashuff at outlook.com>

Twitter: @ryanthomashuff<http://twitter.com/ryanthomashuff>

LinkedIn: ryanthomashuff<http://linkedin.com/in/ryanthomashuff>

Web ryanthomashuff.com<http://ryanthomashuff.com>

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