摘要：Objectives. We sought to explore the feasibility of using a crowdsourcing study to promote awareness about automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and their locations. Methods. The Defibrillator Design Challenge was an online initiative that asked the public to create educational designs that would enhance AED visibility, which took place over 8 weeks, from February 6, 2014, to April 6, 2014. Participants were encouraged to vote for AED designs and share designs on social media for points. Using a mixed-methods study design, we measured participant demographics and motivations, design characteristics, dissemination, and Web site engagement. Results. Over 8 weeks, there were 13 992 unique Web site visitors; 119 submitted designs and 2140 voted. The designs were shared 48 254 times on Facebook and Twitter. Most designers–voters reported that they participated to contribute to an important cause (44%) rather than to win money (0.8%). Design themes included: empowerment, location awareness, objects (e.g., wings, lightning, batteries, lifebuoys), and others. Conclusions. The Defibrillator Design Challenge engaged a broad audience to generate AED designs and foster awareness. This project provides a framework for using design and contest architecture to promote health messages. In 1999, artists creatively painted cows that were then displayed around Chicago, Illinois. 1 This exhibit, the Cow Parade, has been hailed as the largest and most successful public art event in the world and has been seen by more than 100 million viewers. 1 Similar exhibits have displayed designed elephants, pianos, phone booths, and other inanimate objects. 2 Although none of these exhibits held social significance beyond cultural promotion, they reveal how art can engage the public, 2 and they suggest opportunities for using art to promote health. Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) occurs more than 300 000 times each year and most victims do not survive. 3,4 Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are the only publicly accessible device that can restore an effective rhythm. 5,6 AEDs provide visual and audible instructions about use and can be easily and effectively applied by untrained people. 7–10 However, AEDs are used in only 1% to 5% of OHCAs, 11–13 reflecting missed opportunities to save lives in occurrences when AEDs are available and accessible. Nearby AEDs may be unused because bystanders are unaware of their existence, unable to find them, or unsure of how to use them. 14–17 We sought to assess the feasibility of using a crowdsourcing design contest to create public art for the spaces immediately surrounding AEDs, aiming to raise awareness about AEDs in general, and the memorability of the location of specific AEDs in particular. Crowdsourcing 18–21 involves soliciting the lay public to complete a task—in this case, turning members of the public into “citizen scientists.” 22 The goal of this project was not to install the designs, but to test whether the public would create them, vote on them, and share them.
