Editing Project FAQ

• You are making the world a better place.

• You are getting real-world experience that can go on your résumé. Students often tell us that having the project on their résumé helped them land a great job.

• Your guides will be used by real people all throughout the world. Past student guides have received well over 100,000 views.

• You are contributing to an open-source repair manual that people can use for free.

• E-waste is not a joke; it's a real problem.

• It beats writing a huge paper that will eventually end up in a recycle bin.

We want this project to be a fun, meaningful learning experience. We want you to get a taste of industry and have a good time getting your feet wet in technical writing. If you feel that this project isn't your cup of tea, send us an email or talk to your instructor—we're always interested in feedback so we can make the program better!

We can explain all of the ins and outs of this project a hundred times, but nothing will benefit you and your group as much as seeing firsthand what makes a great student project. Here are a few of our staff favorites from past terms:

• Lenovo Essential G560

• Toshiba Excite 10 AT300

• GoPro Hero3+ Black Edition

• Xbox One Wireless Controller

• Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX100

All of the projects above received "A" grades because they are clear, thorough, and comprehensive. If you are interested in looking at more projects, check out our Featured Student Guides page.

All of the work you do on your project is hosted on our main website, www.ifixit.com. This website, edu.ifixit.com, is a separate place for us to keep all of the documentation pertaining to the iFixit Technical Writing Project.

Absolutely! While it might seem like most people trade in their smartphones every time the latest model is released, that simply isn't the reality. Many people can’t—or prefer not to—spend money on a brand-new device. Not only is repair typically cheaper, sometimes it’s the only option.

Often, people in lower-income communities—and even in areas outside of the United States—repair older or budget-friendly devices as an affordable way to keep technology in their community.

When a device reaches the end of its life, electronics recyclers use iFixit guides to disassemble devices into their constituent parts before recycling. For example, many devices with batteries pose safety hazards if recycled improperly.

By creating guides for all devices, old and new, you’re helping people save money—and save their stuff.

Click through the Student Resources. This FAQ, and other resources, may have the answer you need. No luck? Send us an email at techwriting[at]ifixit[dot]com. To answer your question quickly, without a lot of back and forth, you’ll want to do the following:

Be specific. Let us know exactly what you need. If you have an issue, be as descriptive as possible. What symptoms are you experiencing? How have you attempted to solve the problem? The more detailed the question, the easier it will be for us to help you!

Provide context. What part of the project are you working on? What were you doing when the issue arose? What specific pages are you on? What specific guide or part are you working with? Any relevant context will help us troubleshoot the issue quickly.

Provide visuals. Photos and screenshots of the issues are helpful.

Keep in mind that iFixit staff may take up to two business days to respond to your email, so it’s best if you ask us specific questions from the get-go to meet your project deadlines.

In short, often. We have full-time staff dedicated to working with students in the iFixit Technical Writing Project, and we’re here to help. You should email us whenever you’re ready for our input on a portion of your project. At a minimum, you should email when you’ve written your proposal, after you've made guide edits, and when you've finished your project.

If you used "Sign up with Google/Facebook" when setting up your iFixit account, then you will need to dissociate your iFixit account from within your Google or Facebook account. Further instructions can be found on this help page: How do I edit my iFixit account information?

No worries—leaving a team is easy. Go to iFixit.com/student, click “Leave my team” at the bottom of the page, and try again. Make sure to use the information from your correct team tag when selecting from the drop-down menus.

We've set up an email alias just for you. Please send an email to techwriting[at]ifixit[dot]com, and one of us will respond (we have multiple people manning the email alias). Keep in mind that we have weekends off, and it can take up to two business days for us to respond.

The iFixit Technical Writing Project does not offer phone support, so we ask that you avoid calling iFixit’s Customer Support line.

We welcome and admire your skepticism! Here at iFixit, we have a big goal: to teach everyone to fix every thing. Repairing the world requires lots of know-how, repair documentation, and advocacy on why repair is so important. Our mission is to use repair to save resources and end the e-waste crisis, not to be a slimebucket company going for the bottom line. Teaching people how to fix all the things they own is a monumental task to accomplish—which is why we are a community‚ not just a tech company.

We don’t host third party ads, so we don't make money by hosting your guides. We do sell parts and tools to help users complete their repairs, and these resources are linked through the guides—but they're a recommendation, not a requirement. People don't have to buy anything to use the guides. The guides you create as part of this project are protected by this Creative Commons license forever, and people all around the world will also be able to edit them, like Wikipedia. Your guides become part of a growing database of repair knowledge.

Our education staff and programs function outside of our operations and were created for the benefit of students and our repair community. Not only will you have the opportunity to take apart a device and learn some repair skills, but you’ll also gain professional and technical communication skills as well as project management experience with a real company. Many of our former students have told us this project helped them to get hired by some awesome companies. In fact, we’ll be more than happy to write you a letter of recommendation if your content is featured on the site.

Ultimately, we hope you find that, by participating in this project, you’ll not only be gaining valuable skills but also impacting the world by helping real people repair their devices. If you still don’t think this project is for you, reach out to your instructor as soon as possible to discuss an alternative project. If you have any further questions or concerns, feel free to email our program director at education[at]ifixit[dot]com. We look forward to working with you!