Autism Ontario Facebook Assistant

Challenge

Challenge 2: Create a solution that enables Autism Ontario to direct specific information to specific users.

Background

Autism Ontario (formerly Autism Society Ontario) is the leading source of information and referral on autism and one of the largest collective voices representing the autism community. Members are connected through a volunteer network of Chapters throughout the Province of Ontario.

Autism Ontario is dedicated to increasing public awareness about autism and the day-to-day issues faced by individuals with autism, their families, and the professionals with whom they interact.

This challenge was formed as part of their effort to improve the access to information and outreach.

Solution

We created a Facebook Messenger bot that interacts with visitors on the Autism Ontario Facebook page. The bot provides information on a variety of topics related to autism in a way that follows like a conversation for parents.

The parent can look up resources on topics such as symptoms or diagnosis and be given relevant information in the bot.

Prerequisites

• Facebook account with Messenger application
• Dialogflow account

Installation

• Install Node.js
• Install required packages with npm:

npm install

• Start endpoint server

npm start

Setup Instructions

Steps

1. Use the Dialogflow Console to add a new agent with a name of your choosing.

2. Click Save to save the project.

3. Click on the gear icon to see the project settings.

4. Select Export and Import.

5. Select Restore from zip. Follow the directions to restore from the AutismOntarioBot.zip file in this repo.

6. Go to the Dialogflow console and select Fulfillment from the left navigation menu. Enable Webhook, set the value of URL to the backend server, then click Save.

7. Select Integrations from the left navigation menu and open the Settings menu for Facebook Messenger.

8. Create your own Verify Token that will later be used when setting up the Facebook Messenger webhooks.

9. Enter the Page Access Token from the Facebook Messenger application.

10. Click Start.

11. Go to Settings for the Facebook Messenger application.

12. Click Setup Webhooks.

13. Enter the Callback URL from Dialogflow and the Verify Token.

14. Check all the Subscription Fields.

15. Click Verify and Save.

Contributors

• Raphael Z.
• Aleks S.
• Abhilash K.
• Ashley B.
• Ashley W.
• Kaylin L.