I just finished looking through the documentation for the Zapier API, and for the Alex Voice Service, trying to understand the approach these platforms are taking to incorporate API driven resources into their services. How do you translate a single API call into a Zapier trigger or action? How do you build a rich index of resources for Alexa to search via voice commands? Learning how APIs are being consumed, or can be consume, is an infinitely fascinating journey for me, and something I enjoy researching.
All of my research into reciprocity, bots, and voice enablement via APIs, makes me think more about experience based API design, trumping much of the resource based dogma that has domnated much of the conversation. How will my APIs enable meaningful interoperability via Zapier, voice searches via Alexa, and stimulate interesting bot interactions? I am not just focusing on how my resources are defined, I am now also forced to think about how they will be searched, consumed, and put to use in these new client experiences.
Just like mobile significantly shaped how we craft our APis, automation, voice, bots, and increasingly Internet connected devices will continue to define our API strategies. Users, and developers will increasingly small, meaningful resources that they can use to orchestrate their personal and business lives, that will respond to simple voice commands at home, in the car, and via our mobile devices. When we are designing our APIs, are we thinking about these bite-size resources that will be needed in this emerging bot and voice driven evolution in the API space.
