Usability Study to Promote Co-Creation Among People With Disabilities, Developers, and Makers With a Focus on the Assistive Technology Open Platform in Korea

Assistive technology plays an important role in facilitating independent living and a high quality of life for older adults and people with disabilities, who depend on the provision of customized assistive devices for various physical functions. Technological advances such as 3D printers have facilitated responses to some of these needs; however, the lack of relevant policies, information, and services makes proper use of these facilities difficult. Therefore, the National Rehabilitation Center established the AT Open Platform—an open-source sharing platform for AT. The AT Open Platform revitalized the customized assistive device industry by using appropriate advanced technologies. In the AT Open Platform, older adults and those with disabilities propose needs, developers develop solutions for these needs and share products as open sources, and manufacturers provide services for older adults and those with disabilities using open sources. Having these various stakeholders interacting on one platform requires high usability. In this study, the usability of open platforms was evaluated by categorizing each stakeholder (idea proposer, developer, and maker); efficiency was evaluated by thematic think-aloud analysis; effectiveness was evaluated by task analysis; and satisfaction was evaluated using the System Usability Scale and the e-government website UI/UX quality evaluation table. Additionally, the functions, content, and visual designs of the open platforms were evaluated. Through this investigation, we suggested ways to improve open-source assistive device websites to meet the needs of each stakeholder. We expect that this open platform with improved usability will improve user accessibility and make it easier to find and use assistive devices that are essential in daily life.