Glossary
VOICE uses a few terms of its own, such as relay, Switchboard, Beacon, and wildcard address, alongside technical terms such as multifactor authentication and VoIP.
- The Alerts site is the website of VOICE Alerts, at alerts.voicestl.org, where people sign up for alerts and where every current alert has its own page.
- Backup codes are single-use codes that a website gives you when you turn on multifactor authentication. Each one lets you back into the account once when a code sent by text message or email cannot reach you. They are also called recovery codes.
- Beacon is a system that volunteers use to share current alerts, custom information they write, and notes from relays on screens and printed sheets in shared spaces, for people who do not have reliable access to the internet. A Beacon screen is a TV, a monitor, or a tablet, and a Beacon sheet is a printed page with the same kind of information.
- A catchall is an email setting that sends email for any address at a domain, including addresses that have no mailbox of their own, to one inbox. VOICE uses a catchall so that a new wildcard address works as soon as it is chosen.
- ID.me and Login.gov are two services that federal and state agencies use to confirm a person's identity online. Both usually ask for a photo ID, a Social Security number, an email address, and a phone number, and ID.me usually also asks for a picture or short video of the person's face.
- Lifeline is a federal program that lowers the cost of phone or internet service for people who have low incomes or who take part in certain benefit programs.
- The message line is the phone number where anyone can leave a message for someone who does not have reliable access to a phone or email, and every call to it goes to voicemail.
- Multifactor authentication is a way of signing in that asks for a password and something more, usually a code sent by text message or email, or a code from an authenticator app. Websites also call it two-step verification, two-step sign-in, or two-factor authentication.
- The National Verifier is the federal system that checks whether a person qualifies for Lifeline.
- An Official Partner is an organization that has itself agreed to lend VOICE its official support and has named a representative.
- A private account is a VOICE email account that only its holder can open, with a password that volunteers do not see.
- The Relay a Message box is the box on every page of this site that contains the form for writing a message and the message line's number.
- A relay is a message left with VOICE for someone who does not have reliable access to a phone or email, or for an organization the sender cannot otherwise reach, along with the record volunteers keep of each step taken to deliver it. Each relay has a short number, such as R7K2Q, which helps a volunteer find the message quickly when it is mentioned in a later message or at an in-person session.
- SMS is the technical name for ordinary text messages, and many websites send verification codes by SMS.
- The Switchboard is the shared system that VOICE volunteers use to record, assign, and keep track of every message until the work on it is finished.
- A transcript is a written version of a voicemail, produced automatically.
- A verification code is a short number that a website sends by text message or email to confirm that you have access to that phone number or email address. Many codes expire within minutes.
- VOICE (Volunteer Operated Integrated Communication Exchange) is a peer-developed, volunteer-run project that works to provide stable means of communication and timely information to people who face systemic barriers to technological access.
- VOICE Alerts is the part of VOICE that sends short alerts to phones and computers about dangerous weather, health and safety warnings, services, and community events.
- A VOICE email address is an address at VOICE's own domain, either a wildcard address or a private account.
- VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is phone service that runs over the internet rather than a cellular or landline network. The message line is a VoIP number, and many banks and government websites will not send verification codes to VoIP numbers.
- A wildcard address is a VOICE email address whose email arrives in the shared inbox that volunteers monitor. Any address at VOICE's domain that has no mailbox of its own works this way as soon as it is chosen.
- A workgroup is a team of VOICE volunteers that shares one part of the work, such as reading new messages or translating alerts and pages.