Using Amazon Alexa to make open data more interactive, inclusive and accessible

[tom-montgomery]

What problem are you trying to solve?

Municipal open data in its raw form can be hard to access for a lot of people, and for those that may be vision impaired or not have a computer especially so. Using the Amazon Alexa skills kit (and eventually google voice) we have the opportunity to interface with City of Austin's Socrata API to give users an interactive experience of navigating data and local services.

Who will benefit (directly and indirectly) from your project?

Community members who have access to voice tech

What other resources/tools are currently serving the same need? How does your project set itself apart?

By using voice tech to give access to public data and services to vision impaired members of the community.

What help do you need now?

Python coding using the Alexa Skills SDK. I have already gotten some progress you can see in my repo below: https://github.com/tom-montgomery/alexa-opendata

I have started integrating the Austin Resource Recovery (ARR) Socrata data so that people can figure out their garbage/recycle/organics pick up day using their voice.

What are the next steps (validation, research, coding, design)?

I would like to add more functionality outside of ARR data, so people could use their voice to ask about public safety or health related data which can be found on the City Of Austin open data portal: https://data.austintexas.gov/

Most of the data sets available have a SODA API endpoint.

How can we contact you outside of Github(list social media or places you're present)?

[email protected] https://open-austin.slack.com username: tomatx channel: #alexa-opendata

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[mscarey]

Thanks, this is very helpful for people interested in your project.

I'm curious about user research for this project. If it's directed mostly at people with vision impairment, are the intended users already going to have access to screen readers? If so, does the project help to optimize the data portal for screen readers?

When this project gets into problems like helping people find out their garbage pickup day, it sounds like something the city's Design, Technology, and Innovation team would work on. You should coordinate with them to make sure your goals are aligned, and see if they'll commit to using your work in official city resources like the website.

[tom-montgomery]

hey @mscarey, thanks for your interest.

I have not done any user research for this project, and it is not entirely directed at people with vision impairment but I hope they could find it useful. You make a valid point regarding screen readers. How would someone secure the Alexa skill without first having used a screen reader? If they have a screen reader, what is the open data portal experience like? As of now users would have to browse the Amazon Alexa Skills portal to download it and start using. If Alexa skills are integrated with the open data portal this would definitely need to be looked at. As a back end developer these types of questions usually dont occur to me but they are imperative.

Really I think the project could be a useful proof of concept when it comes to voice interactions with public data. I am going to meet with one of the design & innovation team members next week, so hopefully I can get more input.

[tom-montgomery]

Update:

python requests library successfully interfacing with city of austin endpoints and able to relay data into alexa's speech responses. Currently working with City of Austin CTM to get an interface to work with for the following proof of concept functionality:

Return trash day for address Return recycle day for address Return bulk day for address Return brush day for address Return organics day for address