I gave this presentation to the Society for Technical Communication New England Chapter event "The Coolest Thing I Do" on April 15, 2015 at the Hilton Garden Inn Boston-Burlington, Burlington, Massachusetts.

1. The Coolest Thing I do in
Tech Comm: Creating a
Procedure on iFixit.com
BY PAUL A. DUARTE, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS DARTMOUTH
STC NEW ENGLAND CHAPTER, APRIL 15, 2015

2. About Me
oGraduate student from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
o Pursuing Master of Arts in Professional Writing.
o Focused studies on technical communication.
o Joined the STC in October 2013 as a student member, participated in Summit ‘14 and InterChange ‘15
oTeaching Fellow at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
o September 2013-Present
o Taught Business Communication in the 2013-2014 academic year.
o Taught Technical Communication in 2014-2015 academic year.
o Participated in experiential learning project called iFixit in fall 2013, and taught it since October 2014.

3. About
oHeadquartered in San Luis Obispo, California.
oWiki-based site that aims to provide users with repair information for devices.
oSoftware as a Service platform Dozuki
oSells tools and components for Apple products, Android phones, and video game consoles.
oPartnered with 40 different U.S. universities since 2009.
owww.ifixit.com. Available as a mobile app on the App Store, Google Play, and the Microsoft
Store.
1Logo courtesy of iFixit.com
1

4. How I Use iFixit to Teach Tech Comm
oStudents are divided into groups of three or four.
oStudents pick from a box of devices sent by iFixit to UMass Dartmouth.
oFacilitate the project by taking students through a series of milestones iFixit prescribes:
1. Presenting a project proposal for the device
2. Creating a troubleshooting page where users can fix common problems.
3. Creating a device page, so users can find the repair information.
4. Five repair guides to replace or fix components.
5. User-testing the repair guides.

5. What Students Learn at Each Stage
Getting Started: Proposal
o Working with classmates to set goals for the team and the project.
o How to write a proposal for a third party to buy an idea. o
o Accepting constructive criticism.

6. What Students Learn at Each Stage
(Continued)
Milestone 1: Troubleshooting Page
o The difference between troubleshooting and repair.
o How to specifically describe problems, their causes, their symptoms, and their fixes.
o Wiki formatting that will be used in the rest of the project.
The basics of writing for a web page.

7. What Students Learn at Each Stage
(Continued)
Milestone 2: Device Page
o How to aggregate their content into a single area for users to read.
o Using SEO to help users find the device.
o Understanding proper photography for devices.
o Summarizing about the device for readers.

8. What Students Learn at Each Stage
(Continued)
Milestone 3: Repair Guides
o Deconstructing and reconstructing their devices.
o Taking photographs of the device, including close-up shots of components.
o Writing succinctly so that the directions are repeatable for users.
o Aggregating the preliminary repair information for the user.

9. What Students Learn at Each Stage
(Continued)
Milestone 4: Usability Testing
o How users interact with their device and instructions.
o How to receive and interpret user feedback to improve the instructions’ usability.
o Revising and proofreading the project before its final submission to iFixit.

10. What Students Learn Overall
oDevices can be repaired and have their useful lives extended.
oBeing part of a project that reduces e-waste.
oCircumventing obstacles like planned obsolescence and devices that are sealed.
oThe practicality of technical communication skills in a tangible product they created.
oEmpowered to repair more devices and be an active contributor to iFixit.
oHow to manage a large-scale project effectively with their teammates.

11. Creating Your Procedure, Step 1: Log Into
iFixit
1) Log into iFixit.com.
o If you don’t have an account already, set one up with an e-mail username and password.
o Alternatively, log in with your Google, Yahoo, or Facebook accounts

12. Creating Your Procedure, Step 2: Create a
Guide Page
2) Add a guide by clicking on the “Create a Guide” button on the Guide page.

13. Creating Your Procedure, Step 3: Choose
a Guide Type
3) Choose the guide type you want to create from the following options:
o Replacement
o Repair
o Disassembly
o Maintenance
o How-To
o Teardown
o Technique

14. Creating Your Procedure, Step 4: Choose
a Device and Write a Summary
4) Describe the device you’re repairing,
the part you want to replace, the
device you want to document, and
write a summary of your procedure.

15. Creating Your Procedure, Step 5: Write
Your Guide’s First Step
5) Begin typing in your procedure. Use bullet
points to write a series of actions the user
must follow to disassemble a component,
following the proper technical writing
conventions.

16. Creating Your Procedure, Step 6: Take
and Add Your Photographs
6) Click on the step you want to add photos to. Then, click the camera icon in the photos panel
to add new photographs of your procedure. You can have up to three photos for one step.

17. Creating Your Procedure, Step 7: Add
Additional Steps
7) After the first step is added to the guide, click the “add step” button to add additional steps.

18. Creating Your Procedure, Step 8: Add
Markup and Special Bullets
8) Hover over the image and click on the
gearwheel in the upper right-hand corner and
select the Markers option. Choose the shape
and color of your marker and drag the cursor
over the selected area to create it.
Click on the bullet that relates to the
marker and change its color to the same
one as the marker. You can also choose to
change the bullet into a special one.

19. Creating Your Procedure, Step 9: Add
Additional Details
9) Click on the “Details” tab and fill in
the specific information for the repair.

20. Creating Your Procedure, Step 10: Export
Your Guide as a PDF
10) Click on the View tab on your guide to return to
the main page. Set your guide to either Public
or Private. Then click on the PDF link on your
guide, and download it to your computer or
mobile device from your default PDF viewer.

21. Collecting User Feedback
iFixit tracks the following user feedback:
o How many views your guide receives,
o Flags by users
o The number of completions for one guide
Which guides are added to users’ favorites
o Comments users write for the guide.

22. Final Thoughts
oiFixit is a good way to supplement technical writing skills.
oAnyone can join and start contributing knowledge, and it’s free.
oIt’s a good way to interact with actual users of a particular device.
oAn alternative source to buy components and tools to repair certain devices.