DANIEL MYERS: Welcome to "Assistant on Air,"
where we have conversations with people
who build for Google Assistant.
I'm Dan, and I'll be your host today.
I'm a developer advocate for Actions on Google.
Today, we'll be chatting with Eliza,
who is a Google Developer Expert for Google Assistant.
And we'll be talking all about app actions.
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Welcome.
Thank you for coming in.
So tell me a little bit about yourself
and your role as a GDE.
ELIZA CAMBEROGIANNIS: I'm an Android developer, actually.
And I very recently joined the GDE family.
I've been an organizer for the GDGs and the Women Techmakers.
And I fell quite in love with the Actions on Google.
As a developer, it's just a very different mindset
that you have with a conversational design
versus the graphic user experience.
So this is why I started developing more
and I entered the GDE family.
DANIEL MYERS: Can you explain a little bit,
just from a high level, what are App Actions,
and why would developers want to specifically integrate a voice
action with a mobile phone application?
ELIZA CAMBEROGIANNIS: So the App Actions
is the way how you can connect the Android
platform with the actions in Google or the Google Assistant
platform.
And how it works is that you just
put a bit of the code inside your Android application.
And it's basically like a schema that the Google Assistant can
understand, and say like, OK, so this is what the user needs.
And the cool thing with that is that it doesn't just
match intents and fulfills that intent,
but you can also say, like, OK, so book me a ride for San
Francisco airport at 4:00 PM.
And instead of going to the Android application
and making all the steps, like where are you,
where are you going, what time is
the pickup, which rideshare do you want,
and all of the steps, which are like seven, eight steps,
then you can just reduce it to just telling
your Google Assistant where you want to go
and which app to use.
And then it will just app this application.
And the only thing that you have to do is just confirm.
DANIEL MYERS: So it really deep-links directly
with all of the context of what they just said to some state
in your application.
What would be an example of an action that
deep-links into an Android app?
ELIZA CAMBEROGIANNIS: All right, so let's say
that you want to buy something.
And you say, OK, I want to buy headphones
from my headphone application.
So this is just going to deep-link, and search already
for the headphones for you, and show you a list of headphones
where you can select.
If you have a specific one, then it will just open this one.
And then you can just pay and continue with the checkout.
DANIEL MYERS: With Actions on Google today,
right, a lot of it is voice-based.
But with App Actions, it's about integrating a mobile phone
application with that.
Tell me a little bit about that.
ELIZA CAMBEROGIANNIS: Exactly.
I was very excited when they announced it,
because I think that both of the platforms-- first of all,
they have some millions and billions of users.
And they are so powerful, both of them.
So being able to combine your applications to both
of those platforms, I think that it has endless possibilities.
DANIEL MYERS: And what would you say,
with some of the different developers
that you work with, are some common understandings
or considerations that they should have when developing
an action for Google?
ELIZA CAMBEROGIANNIS: If it's just for a conversation design,
you have to make sure that it can actually
have a conversation design.
So for an app, it's more easy--
like the user can just click on the buttons.
But when you have a conversation,
then you have to go step back and say,
would I have a conversation with a person about this?
So I think that this is like the first step for getting
an Action on Google.
DANIEL MYERS: That makes a lot of sense.
And so if a developer today has a Android application, what
are some of those top gotchas when
trying to develop their first voice
action for Google Assistant?
ELIZA CAMBEROGIANNIS: Do you mean
by having the app actions as their--
or just having, separately, the Android application
or the actions on Google?
DANIEL MYERS: Really both, right.
What are some of those biggest lessons learned and things
to watch out for as a developer who might have both,
and for the first time getting into Actions on Google?
ELIZA CAMBEROGIANNIS: OK, as a developer, for me,
the most difficult part was just to rewire my brain not
to think with an IF and ELSE.
I think that that was the most difficult part for me.
It still is sometimes.
I really cannot figure out how to do stuff.
And I'm like, OK so when I talk, how do I actually do that?
And it's not trivial to actually find out.
It's the first thing that we learn to do.
And yet it's so hard to do.
So as a developer, I think the most important thing
is to just go back to the whiteboard
and just say, OK, this is not an IF and ELSE.
I really have to think about how I would talk if that
was a person and not a machine.
Like, if I was talking directly to the user,
how would I reach out to them.
DANIEL MYERS: That makes a lot of sense.
So what are some resources that our viewers can go and look at
to really learn more about App Actions and some of the things
that you talked about?
ELIZA CAMBEROGIANNIS: So for Android developers,
it's a bit easier, because we are already
very familiar with the deep linking in the applications.
And it's really basically the same thing that you have to do.
It's just some extra steps.
There is a real nice code lab that you can actually
follow to find out more about the App Actions.
There is documentation that you can just follow as well,
and just check, OK, what is the schema that I have
to put in my application should look like,
and what are some built-in intents that I
can use to make my life easier.
And then, besides this, there are
some great talks, and YouTube videos,
and resources from our JDEs and also from Googlers
that you can just refer to and move forward.
DANIEL MYERS: Thank you so much, Eliza, for coming on today.
ELIZA CAMBEROGIANNIS: Thanks, Dan.
It's my pleasure.
DANIEL MYERS: Thank you.
We hope you liked today's show.
If you want to hear the full interview,
check out "Assistant on Air" podcast
on your favorite podcast platform.
I've been Dan.
Chat with you next time.
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