Kakao Releases 'Easier KakaoTalk Guide' for Digitally Disadvantaged Groups

Kakao announced on the 16th that it has released the 'Easier KakaoTalk Guide' to help digitally marginalized groups use KakaoTalk in observance of Global Accessibility Awareness Day.

Kakao created the Easier KakaoTalk Guide by enhancing the accessibility of the existing KakaoTalk guide to enable digitally vulnerable groups such as people with developmental disabilities, seniors, and low-vision users to use KakaoTalk. In collaboration with the non-profit educational organization Peach Market, Kakao conducted three rounds of interviews with people with developmental disabilities, their guardians, and educators to reflect the real experiences and voices of digitally marginalized users.

The Easier KakaoTalk Guide is composed using the Easy-Read method, which explains with simple language and illustrations to aid understanding for digitally vulnerable users. The main functions of KakaoTalk are introduced under three themes: 'Getting Started with KakaoTalk,' 'How to Use in Various Situations,' and 'Protecting Yourself Safely,' with specific situational examples added to improve comprehension of when and in what context to use each feature. Unlike the previous KakaoTalk guide, this version includes illustrations depicting situations to help people with developmental disabilities intuitively understand the functions through pictures alone.

Additionally, following Kakao's accessibility design guidelines, features such as ▲text size enlargement ▲sufficient touch area 확보 ▲brightness contrast adjustment were applied to strengthen accessibility. The bottom navigation bar includes menus for screen zoom in/out and high contrast adjustment to support convenient use for low-vision users.

Next month, Kakao plans to use the Easier KakaoTalk Guide as a curriculum to conduct offline training sessions for users with developmental disabilities and seniors to directly teach them how to use KakaoTalk.

Kim Hye-il, Kakao’s Head of Digital Accessibility, said, "The Easier KakaoTalk Guide will help digitally marginalized groups who found it difficult to learn how to use KakaoTalk. We expect that improving convenience for users such as those with developmental disabilities and seniors will enable all users to use the service more comfortably and effectively."

Meanwhile, Kakao publishes KakaoTalk guides as part of the KakaoTalk Easy Project, which aims to inform users about new KakaoTalk features and usage methods and create better services through user feedback. As of April this year, 110 pieces of content have been released, recording about 28 million visitors and 91 million content views in just over a year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.