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We adore iFixit. The site is dedicated to providing free repair manuals to every gadget on Earth, and therefore put the skills and confidence back in consumer to take real ownership of their electronics. This is at the heart of sustainability in technology, and the folks at iFixit do a phenomenal job at making DIY repair of electronics possible for everyone.

 

But now the site is taking the next step. Alongside iFixit.com will now be iFixit.org, a site dedicated to telling the stories of the repair gurus around the world — those people who are often overlooked until you need them to please, please, please make my cellphone work again, or make my car run again, or make my computer monitor light up again.

 

 

Kyle Wiens, the founder of iFixit, recently lead a team of journalists on a documentary trip in Africa. The goal was to meet electronics technicians who repair the countless devices that are shipped out of first world countries as soon as the latest shiny new models are released onto the market. The trip will eventually become a film about the repair community and what building it up and respecting it means to our planet and the human race.

 

 

And iFixit.org will be home to many of the stories discovered here and on additional trips. You will get to read about the fixers who are, one gadget at a time, sparing the planet from mountains of e-waste.

 

So go, check out the site and the wonderful stories it has to offer, and get depressed about the state of e-waste, get inspired about repair culture around the world, and get creative about what we in the U.S. can be doing to make things work better. If you want to learn more, you should start with these three posts:

 

Read about other innovators and ideas at The Leaderboard. If you have a story suggestion for this year-long project, please contact us.

 

Related story on MNN: Disposing of e-waste