Salisbury—Mayor Jake Day is pleased to announce the launch of the free, Amazon Alexa Salisbury City Helper skill, which provides a quick overview of City services, information and events for citizens. By embracing new technology to deliver information and making it available on multiple digital platforms, the City hopes to reach more residents and increase its ability to provide information and answers to citizens for frequently asked questions.
Smartphone or tablet users can enable the Salisbury City Helper skill on their Amazon Alexa device through the Alexa smartphone app. Once the app is open, click the “Menu” icon in the upper left corner of the app and choose “Skills & Games.” Type “Salisbury City Helper” in the search bar and click the “Search” button. Next tap the listing for “Salisbury City Helper” and click “Enable Skill.”
Once enabled, a user can ask an Alexa-enabled device many different questions such as, “Alexa, ask the city helper when bulk pickup is.”, “Alexa, ask the city helper when the city council meets.”, “Alexa, ask the city helper how I pay my property taxes.”, “Alexa, ask the city helper how to apply for a career with the city.” A user can also use the phrase “Alexa, open the city helper” to open the skill and use it interactively for multiple questions at a time.
“Accessibility is a top priority for us and we are so excited to launch the Alexa Salisbury City Helper skill. This add-on feature for Amazon Alexa will aid us in making information about city services and events even more accessible to our citizens,” shared Mayor Jake Day. “This project is made even more special by virtue of the fact that it was coded and built completely by our Information Systems intern, Samuel Barnes, a student at Salisbury University.”
In May of 2019, Amazon announced there are more than 60,000 Alexa-compatible smart home devices in the United States. A 2019 Nielsen survey found a 78 percent increase in smart speaker use in the United States between 2017 and 2018, with continued growth expected. With over 118 million smart speakers in U.S. homes and the average user having 3 devices to connect to them, the City of Salisbury is poised to take strategic advantage of this trend with the new Alexa skill.
To learn more about the Salisbury City Helper skill, visit salisbury.md
