1 of 15

2 of 15

3 of 15

4 of 15

5 of 15

Kelvin Smith Library

6 of 15

7 of 15

8 of 15

How does it work?

User

question?

Drupal Alexa Contrib Module

Your repository!

Alexa Skill

Chat bot output

9 of 15

Recipe

  • Drupal 8
  • Islandora 8
  • Drupal Alexa Module
  • Islandora Oral Histories Module
  • Custom Alexa Skill
  • Custom Search
  • Love

10 of 15

Steps

  1. Create an Amazon Skill
    1. Log in https://developer.amazon.com go to Alexa > Skills Kit > add new skill
    2. Pick an Invocation Name (CwruBot is a bad one, so is Spartie)
    3. Configure SSL etc (Tutorial: https://www.drupal.org/docs/8/modules/alexa/tutorial)
    4. Save config, write down the Application ID on the Skill Information Tab!
  2. Integrate with Drupal
    • Install the Alexa module using Composer: composer require "drupal/alexa"
    • Enable modules (Alexa, Alexa_Demo)
    • Go to Config > Alexa Configuration and put in the Application ID.
  3. Test with one question and answer (“Clawbster, say Hello world?” “Hello World!”) Now you can add as many questions and answers as your unpaid interns can type!

​

​

​

​

11 of 15

Alexa Means Accessible!

​

Lyrasis Catalyst Fund Award - UNC Charlotte - J. Murrey Atkins Library - Ex Libris Atkins Library Search Skill

$$$

12 of 15

Use Case: Quickly Creating a Collaborative Exhibit Accessible via Alexa

Alexa can retrieve web resources

All our objects and metadata are on the web!

Use Alexa Skill to create meaningful intent and utterance pairs to help Alexa user navigate the collections, link data to questions. Alexa can prompt!

​

Would you like to know more about Betty Leola Smith?

Would you like to hear an oral history?

13 of 15

Feed Your Skill Code Magic or Tedious Data Entry

14 of 15

Cool Stuff I’m Almost Certain This Could Do

  • Send Citations, metadata, whatever we want to the user if they’ve set up their email (could also text!)
  • Play audio and video objects, read transcripts
  • Tell user search data (like how many objects match the subject in the repositories)
  • Answer specific questions about the object (“Invocation Name, when was this recorded?”)
  • Interact with other applications or modules (got a print ordering system? Want to add event calendar items to your exhibit?)
  • Be accessed via web page, Alexa device, or phone app

​

​

15 of 15

In a sense, your skill becomes an exhibit

Add and remove references to items

Reference items from multiple public repositories (with permission of course)

Wow, I just set up a collaborative project with another university and neither of us had to buy a new website!

And it’s accessible!

Which we totally aren’t doing for the money.