The vCon - Conversation Data Container - Overview

This is the working area for the IETF VCON Working Group Internet-Draft, "The vCon - Conversation Data Container - Overview".

What is vCon?

A vCon (Conversation Data Container) is a standardized JSON container for conversational data, analogous to how vCard standardizes contact information. It provides a unified format for capturing, storing, and exchanging conversation data across multiple communication channels including:

• Voice calls (PSTN, SIP, WebRTC)
• Video conferences
• Text messaging (SMS, MMS, web chat)
• Email threads
• And other communication modes

Key Components

A vCon contains four major categories of data:

1. Parties - Identification of conversation participants
2. Dialog - The actual conversation content (audio, video, text)
3. Analysis - Derived insights (transcripts, translations, sentiment analysis)
4. Attachments - Supporting files and context (documents, consent records)

Why vCon?

vCons solve critical challenges in conversation data management:

• Interoperability: Standardized format enables seamless data exchange between systems and service providers
• Privacy & Compliance: Built-in support for data minimization, consent management, and regulatory compliance (GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA)
• Data Integrity: Cryptographic signing and encryption capabilities ensure authenticity and tamper detection
• Flexibility: Supports inline or externally referenced media, versioning through redaction and appending

Use Cases

• Contact Centers: Unified customer journey tracking across all communication channels
• Healthcare: HIPAA-compliant patient communication records with privacy controls
• Emergency Services: Comprehensive situational awareness and multi-agency coordination
• Legal & Compliance: Tamper-evident conversation records with chain of custody

Document Links

• Editor's Copy
• Datatracker Page
• Working Group Draft
• Compare Editor's Copy to Working Group Draft

Related Resources

• VCON Working Group Page
• Mailing List
• vCon Core Specification
• Python vCon Implementation

Contributing

See the guidelines for contributions.

Contributions can be made by creating pull requests. The GitHub interface supports creating pull requests using the Edit (✏) button.

Building the Draft

Formatted text and HTML versions of the draft can be built using make:

$ make

This will generate:

• draft-ietf-vcon-overview.txt - Plain text version
• draft-ietf-vcon-overview.html - HTML version

Requirements

Building the draft requires specific tools to be installed. See the setup instructions for details.

Common requirements include:

• xml2rfc - Primary RFC formatting tool
• kramdown-rfc - Markdown to XML converter
• Python 3.x with required packages

Quick Start for Contributors

1. Fork and clone this repository
2. Make your changes to draft-ietf-vcon-overview.md
3. Run make to verify the document builds correctly
4. Submit a pull request with a clear description of your changes

License

See LICENSE.md for licensing information.