Get Started Developing with Alexa and Drupal

Amber Matz and Blake Hall

The Internet of Things revolution has ushered in a wave of “Smart Home” devices and gadgets, and with it, new opportunities for creative hacking and software development. The Amazon Echo suite of devices, using the Internet-connected conversational interface commonly known as “Alexa”, is backed by a developer-friendly ecosystem with open source tools, documentation, tutorials, code examples, and a free (as in no-cost) open invitation to developers to create “Alexa Custom Skills” that anyone can download and use with their Echo devices.

In this session, you will learn:

- What to consider when designing a voice user interface
- The various components of an Alexa custom skill
- How to proceed through the custom skill development process
- 3 implementation methods including 2 ways to integrate Drupal data into your skill

To get the most out of this presentation, you should be an intermediate coder, and comfortable tinkering with code. But you don’t have to be a Node expert, a Drupal expert, or a Web Services expert to create a custom Alexa skill. It’s a pretty accessible development experience.

Learning Objectives & Outcomes:
By the end of this presentation, you should feel empowered and ready to create your own custom Alexa skill, with or without Drupal integration.

http://2017.tcdrupal.org/session/get-started-developing-alexa-and-drupal

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