e-NABLE: DIY-AT Production in a Multi-Stakeholder System

The e-NABLE community is a distributed collaborative volunteer effort to make upper-limb assistive technology devices available to end users. e-NABLE represents a do-it-yourself (DIY) approach to traditional prosthetic care. In order to learn about the attitudes and challenges of stakeholders working in and around e-NABLE, we conducted interviews with 12 volunteers in the e-NABLE movement and 3 clinicians. We found that volunteers derive a rich set of benefits from this form of altruistic activity; that both volunteers and clinicians recognize that end users benefit from aesthetic customization and personal choice in device selection; and that volunteers and clinicians bring separate, but potentially complementary, skills to bear on the processes of device provision. Based on these findings, we outline potential ways for volunteers and clinicians to optimize their talents and knowledge around the end goal of increased positive patient outcomes

Challenges and Opportunities in DFO-AT: A Study of e-NABLE

In this paper, we present the results of a study of the e‑NABLE community–a distributed, collaborative volunteer effort to design and fabricate upper-limb assistive technology devices for distant strangers. We position e‑NABLE as the prototypical example of “Do-it-yourself For Others Assistive Technology” (DFO‑AT) and describe three key findings: how the project does and does not meet the recipient\u27s nuanced needs for functional and social support; how e‑NABLE volunteers\u27 motivations compare to those of volunteers for other efforts, including open source software projects; and we explore the challenges inherent in the distance between volunteers and recipients. We also describe opportunities for future research into DFO‑AT activities and support tools