Keeling Curve

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Name of Project:

Year Project Originated:

Project Summary / Description:

Through the iFixit Technical Writing Project, we partner with universities to integrate repair documentation projects into their curriculum. Student teams create step-by-step repair guides that are published on iFixit's free online repair platform. Through this innovative service-learning model, students gain hands-on experience with technical writing and device repair while creating valuable documentation that helps people around the world fix their devices instead of replacing them. We provide necessary resources for the project, including devices for documentation, specialized toolkits, and support from iFixit's technical writing staff. Since the project's inception, over 30,000 students have participated, creating 54,000+ repair guides that have been viewed more than 142 million times.

How Project Affects Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions:

['Reduces GHGs (e.g., projects that reduce sources of GHGs, such as through efficiency or other changes in consumption)']

Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

The iFixit Technical Writing Project empowers youth, women, and the economically disadvantaged to become active participants in climate solutions.

We engage students at a critical point in their professional development. Through our program, young people gain practical experience with repair and sustainability while developing technical communication skills essential for professional success in a broad array of industries. This hands-on exposure helps students see themselves as capable of making meaningful environmental impact, whether through direct repair activities or by influencing future engineering, product design, and manufacturing practices.

With women representing 58% of undergraduate enrollment, our program provides important opportunities for female students to gain confidence and experience working with technology. Through our program, women participants gain hands-on experience with project management, tool use, device disassembly, and documentation, which can be particularly valuable in preparation for entering technical fields where women have been historically underrepresented.

Additionally, the repair knowledge created through our program helps reduce the financial burden of device replacement, particularly important for economically disadvantaged communities. In this way, the freely-accessible corpus of repair documentation produced by students involved in our program helps preserve access to essential technology while reducing environmental impact in communities often most affected by climate change.