Sharing is caring: Assistive technology designs on thingiverse

Erin Buehler; Stacy Branham; Abdullah Ali; Jeremy J. Chang; Megan Kelly Hofmann; Amy Hurst; Shaun K. Kane

doi:10.1145/2702123.2702525

Sharing is caring: Assistive technology designs on thingiverse

Erin Buehler, Stacy Branham, Abdullah Ali, Jeremy J. Chang, Megan Kelly Hofmann, Amy Hurst, Shaun K. Kane

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

An increasing number of online communities support the open-source sharing of designs that can be built using rapid prototyping to construct physical objects. In this paper, we examine the designs and motivations for assistive technology found on Thingiverse.com, the largest of these communities at the time of this writing. We present results from a survey of all assistive technology that has been posted to Thingiverse since 2008 and a questionnaire distributed to the designers exploring their relationship with assistive technology and the motivation for creating these designs. The majority of these designs are intended to be manufactured on a 3D printer and include assistive devices and modifications for individuals with disabilities, older adults, and medication management. Many of these designs are created by the end-users themselves or on behalf of friends and loved ones. These designers frequently have no formal training or expertise in the creation of assistive technology. This paper discusses trends within this community as well as future opportunities and challenges.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	CHI 2015 - Proceedings of the 33rd Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Subtitle of host publication	Crossings
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	525-534
Number of pages	10
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450331456
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702525
State	Published - Apr 18 2015
Event	33rd Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2015 - Seoul, Korea, Republic of Duration: Apr 18 2015 → Apr 23 2015

Publication series

Name	Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings
Volume	2015-April

Other

Other	33rd Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2015
Country/Territory	Korea, Republic of
City	Seoul
Period	4/18/15 → 4/23/15

Keywords

3D printing
Assistive technology
Design
Disability
Open-source
Personal-scale fabrication
Prototyping

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Software
Human-Computer Interaction
Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

Access to Document

10.1145/2702123.2702525

Cite this

Buehler, E., Branham, S., Ali, A., Chang, J. J., Hofmann, M. K., Hurst, A., & Kane, S. K. (2015). Sharing is caring: Assistive technology designs on thingiverse. In CHI 2015 - Proceedings of the 33rd Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Crossings (pp. 525-534). (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings; Vol. 2015-April). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702525

Sharing is caring: Assistive technology designs on thingiverse. / Buehler, Erin; Branham, Stacy; Ali, Abdullah et al.
CHI 2015 - Proceedings of the 33rd Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Crossings. Association for Computing Machinery, 2015. p. 525-534 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings; Vol. 2015-April).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Buehler, E, Branham, S, Ali, A, Chang, JJ, Hofmann, MK, Hurst, A & Kane, SK 2015, Sharing is caring: Assistive technology designs on thingiverse. in CHI 2015 - Proceedings of the 33rd Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Crossings. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, vol. 2015-April, Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 525-534, 33rd Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2015, Seoul, Korea, Republic of, 4/18/15. https://doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702525

Buehler E, Branham S, Ali A, Chang JJ, Hofmann MK, Hurst A et al. Sharing is caring: Assistive technology designs on thingiverse. In CHI 2015 - Proceedings of the 33rd Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Crossings. Association for Computing Machinery. 2015. p. 525-534. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). doi: 10.1145/2702123.2702525

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Sharing is caring: Assistive technology designs on thingiverse

Abstract

Publication series

Other

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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