Consumer Information – Illini Gadget Garage

February 3, 2019

Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning Begins IGG Coordination

Starting in January 2019, the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CITL) began coordination of the Illini Gadget Garage (IGG) project). CITL is a hub of innovation and hands-on support for those who want to discuss and work with higher education trends, models, projects, and resources. They hope to incorporate the IGG into their efforts to collaborate with campus units and other thought leaders to spark new ideas, strategies, and knowledge to shape 21st century teaching and learning. In Spring 2019, our workshop manager, Amanda Elzbieciak will continue to work with CITL to engage UI students in volunteering, coordinate workshops to learn skills relevant to device repair and maintenance, and explore new opportunities to incorporate the collaborative repair at the heart of the IGG project into unique experiential learning activities on campus.

The IGG was launched with funding from the UI Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) in collaboration with the School of Art + Design and the iSchool. We’re grateful to ISTC’s Sustainability Specialist Joy Scrogum, Professor William Bullock of Art + Design and Professor Martin Wolske of the iSchool for their efforts to establish the IGG project, as well as to the SSC and other corporate and individual sponsors for their support.

But most of all, we’re grateful to all the individuals who have worked with our staff and volunteers to troubleshoot and repair their devices, keeping them in working order and out of the waste stream! We’re looking forward to continuing to save resources through collaborative repair, fighting waste one device at a time! According to our records, as of December 2018, we’ve diverted an all-time total of 905.2 lbs. of materials from the waste stream through repair and recycling! Together we’ll make that statistic grow even more this year.

Check this web site site and our social media accounts for more information on upcoming events; the first pop-up of the semester is Tuesday, Feb. 5th!

If you have questions about your devices, stop by one of our upcoming pop-ups at CITL’s Innovation Studio (172 Armory Building, 505 East Armory Avenue, in Champaign), or send us an email at illinigadgetgarage@gmail.com.

November 2, 2018February 3, 2019

Last Day of Service for Fall 2018: Nov. 9 Plus a Note About the Future

The last day of service for the Illini Gadget Garage for Fall 2018 will be November 9. Whether you need some guidance with troubleshooting, know that you’ll need a new part for your device, but aren’t sure which one or how to find out, or if you need access to tools and moral support to make a repair, get your appointments made or email your questions!

We’re entering the time of year when interest in appointments slows down due to students concentrating on final projects and the general distraction of impending holidays for everyone in the community. Given that, we thought it would be a good time to close down.

Also, an important transition is ahead of the Illini Gadget Garage. The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC), which helped launch the project and has coordinated it for the last few years, will not continue its coordination after this semester, in order to focus resources on other projects. The possibility of the project being “adopted” by another unit on campus is being investigated, and hopefully that will mean the IGG will reopen again sometime in the near future. However, if another unit does not assume coordination, the project will sadly end.

On behalf of myself, Amanda Elzbieciak (our fabulous workshop manager), past staff and volunteers, and co-founders Martin Wolske and William Bullock, we have greatly appreciated the opportunity to assist the campus and surrounding community with collaborative repair. Earlier this week, I spoke about sustainable electronics and electronic product stewardship for a group of employees of one of ISTC’s clients. In that presentation, I asserted my belief (backed by the evidence of the myriad social and environmental impacts of electronics covered elsewhere in my talk) that because of all the natural and human resources invested in the manufacture of electronics, the most important thing you can do as an individual to reduce the negative impacts of the electronic devices is to keep devices that already exist in service for as long as possible. Having been able, through the Illini Gadget Garage project, to assist members of the UI and broader Champaign-Urbana area to realize that repair, rather than replacement, of devices with minor damage or performance issues is a feasible option regardless of income or tech savvy, has been a sincere honor. I truly hope that whatever becomes of this particular project, that spirit of repair and reuse continues to thrive and grow in our community.

So keep your fingers crossed that the project continues without me or ISTC. If you represent a campus unit that might be interested in the project, contact me (but keep in mind you will not be the first unit to express interest). And as always, if you represent a group or company interested in starting your own project focused on reuse and repair, don’t hesitate to reach out to me for assistance. That remains part of what I do as a member of ISTC’s Technical Assistance team. Watch this space and our social media for updates. Keep fixing, Illini! In the meantime, take some inspiration from the iFixit Repair Manifesto:

Opinions are those of the author alone and mention of businesses or organizations are for information purposes only and should not be construed as an endorsement by ISTC or the University of Illinois.

July 10, 2018June 19, 2018

Illini Gadget Garage Pop-up Repair Clinic at Champaign Public Library, July 12

On Thursday, July 12, come to the Champaign Public Library from 1-3 PM for assistance with troubleshooting or repairing your electronic devices. Staff will be set up in the Busey Bank Conference room on the library’s second floor. Feel free to stop by even if you just have questions, or if you want to schedule an appointment to come into our campus workshop at a later date to work on your device.

See the Facebook event for details. We’ll be at the CPL once a month during the summer for pop-ups. For additional information on pop-ups, see our Facebook page or our Upcoming Events page.

July 3, 2018June 19, 2018

Illini Gadget Garage Info Booth at Sustainable Student Farm Stand, 7/5/18

Have questions about your broken electronic device or our variety of services? Ask us at our info booth right next to the UI Sustainable Student Farm Stand on the Quad where you can find a variety of tasty fruits, vegetables, and herbs. We’ll be there outside the Illini Union from 11AM-2PM. You can learn about volunteer opportunities or set up an appointment to come into our campus workshop at a later date to work on your device.

See the Facebook event for details. We’ll be at the farmstand once a month during the summer. For additional information on pop-ups, see our Facebook page or our Upcoming Events page.

June 28, 2018

Prevent Battery Fires with Proper Recycling Techniques

This post was written by IGG staff member Yab Demisie.

Batteries play a major role in many of our lives. They power a wide range of everyday objects that we use day to day from small children’s toys to handheld devices like phones and wearables to fully electric cars like the Tesla Model S. While some batteries are rechargeable, no battery lasts forever. According to an everyday green article, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has stated that over 3 billion batteries are thrown away yearly in just America alone. Due to various heavy metals contained in batteries, simply throwing away a battery can pose many harmful risks to the environment and landfills.

A majority of batteries contain metals such as (but not limited to): lead, copper, mercury, zinc, cadmium, manganese, lithium, and potassium. When batteries enter landfills, the casings could eventually corrode and metals could leak out into the soil, seeping into our water supply and then the ocean. This poses a great danger to human health and the environment.

Water contamination is not the only hazard that occurs when a battery is improperly disposed of. Landfill fires caused by batteries have gone up in recent years. The main perpetrators of this are lithium-ion batteries (which are most commonly found in smartphones). This is due to them being very energy dense and high voltage, paired with the fact that most of them use highly flammable organic based electrolytes in their chemical makeup. When lithium batteries are thrown away and put into landfills, they are put under heavy stress and have a high risk of being punctured. This makes it extremely important to properly recycle your batteries. A case of this happening was at the Aquatera landfill in the Grand Prairie region. According to a Daily Herald Tribune post, a lithium-ion battery most likely short-circuited or was crushed under a compactor causing it to ignite.

There are a few short and simple steps you can take to prevent any of these from happening. First, it is always best to cut back on battery waste. This could be done by using rechargeable batteries instead of single-use Alkaline. While this poses more upfront costs, it will reduce the number of batteries you have to throw away each year. Second, you should never throw batteries away into the trashcan. While it is legal to throw away alkaline batteries, it is still better to recycle them than to simply toss them into the trash. That said, fires can also be an issue at recycling facilities.

There are many locations to recycle your used batteries, the Illini Gadget Garage is one such place! When dropping off batteries, there are a few things to keep in mind to prevent fires at recycling facilities. If you are recycling ANY lithium-ion battery, alkaline battery greater than 9 volts, or a rechargeable battery with a voltage greater than 12, you must either bag them separately or tape the terminals before dropping them off. This is to prevent terminals from touching, leading them to ignite.

To find places close to you, visit either the city of Urbana website or the city of Champaign’s recycling page. Click here for a map of university locations. Another source to find drop off locations for non-Champaign Urbana residents is the Call2recycle website.

June 26, 2018June 19, 2018

Pop-up at UGL Media Commons, Thursday, June 28

Have questions about your broken or damaged electronic devices? Stop in at our next pop-up repair clinic and we can assist you with troubleshooting and repairing your devices.

We’ll be at the UIUC Undergraduate Library Media Commons on Thursday, June 28 from 1-3 PM. Feel free to stop by even if you just have questions, or if you want to schedule an appointment to come into our campus workshop at a later date to work on your device.

Fill out our Diagnostic Form ahead of time to provide some information on the device and the issue you’re having. That will allow us to a do a little research on the problem so your one-on-one time is used more efficiently.

See the Facebook Event for details. We’ll be at the Media Commons once a month during the summer for pop-ups. For additional information on pop-ups, see our Facebook page or our Upcoming Events page.

June 22, 2018June 22, 2018

News on the ‘Right to Repair’ Front–Apple US Fined $6.6 Million by Australian Government

As Rachel Clun writes in the June 19, 2018 Sydney Morning Herald, Apple US has been find for making false or misleading representations to Australian consumers about their consumer rights. Note that $9 million Australian is equal to $6.6 million USD.

‘Apple has been fined $9 million by the Federal Court for telling some Australian iPad and iPhone owners they could not have devices fixed as they had been previously repaired by a third party. The court action was started by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) after it received complaints about ‘error 53’, which disabled some Apple devices after an operating system update was downloaded. “[The customers said] they were being refused a remedy of any kind by Apple on the basis that their device had had unauthorised repairs, and those repairs could be as minor as just having a cracked screen replaced on an iPhone or iPad, which all of us need to do from time to time,” ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court said. “So these consumers were being told, ‘because you’ve had this third party repair, you are not entitled to any remedy’.” Ms Court said that is not the case under Australian Consumer Law. ” Customers and consumers are free to have screens and other repairs done on their devices by third-party repairers, so long as that repair doesn’t damage the underlying system of the phone,” she said.’

ACCC has found that 5000 consumers may have been affected by the company’s false or misleading statements.

This outcome is surely encouraging for those who advocate for the consumer ‘Right to Repair’ here in the US. To learn more about the ‘right to repair,’ see https://illini-gadget-garage.istc.illinois.edu/proposed-right-to-repair-legislation-in-illinois/ and https://repair.org/association/.

June 19, 2018

Pop-up at CPL Douglass Branch, Thursday, June 21

Have questions about your broken or damaged electronic devices? Own a small appliance with minor performance issues? Stop by the Champaign Public Library’s Douglass Branch on Thursday June 21, from 1-3 pm for troubleshooting and repair assistance from the Illini Gadget Garage crew! Feel free to stop by even if you just have questions, or if you want to schedule an appointment to come into our campus workshop at a later date to work on your device.

See the Facebook event for details. We’ll be at the CPL Douglass Branch once a month during the summer for pop-ups. For additional information on pop-ups, see our Facebook page or our Upcoming Events page.

June 8, 2018

Illini Gadget Garage Clean Those Gizmos Pop-Up This Saturday

Join the Illini Gadget Garage at the Champaign Public Library (Foundation meeting room, 2nd floor) this Saturday, June 9th from 1:30-3:30 PM to learn how to bring new life into old electronics just with a bit of cleaning and TLC. A short presentation will demonstrate some of the simple ways that cleaning your devices can keep them functioning well and in use longer. After the presentation, there will be a workshop session where you can try out some of your newly learned cleaning processes on devices that you bring in. The Illini Gadget Garage staff will provide some useful household cleaning products to help scrub up those dingy devices.

See the Facebook event at https://www.facebook.com/events/2279158958780787/.

April 14, 2018June 12, 2018

Celebrate Earth Day with the Illini Gadget Garage

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The most sustainable device you will ever own is the one you currently have.

Learn what you and others can do to help keep your devices working by learning to troubleshoot and repair them. Yes, YOU can do it. No, you don’t need experience, we’re here to help walk you through the troubleshooting process to figure out what’s wrong, what parts might need to be replaced, and how to replace them. If you can solve puzzles and read recipes, then you’re about 80 percent of the way ready to jump into repairing a phone or a laptop. The other 20 percent is a combination of patience, practice, and a willingness to learn.

At the Gadget Garage, we want to keep as many devices out of landfills as we can and that all starts with YOU.

Find us at the Champaign Public Library (Friends meeting room, second floor) on Saturday, April 21st from 1:30-4:00 PM for our (day-early) Earth Day event. Find out more from us about: battery, CD/DVD, and CD case recycling; where to take working electronics you no longer want; where to recycle non-functioning electronics in the CU area; where to find local repair shops for those of you who do not want to work on your own devices; etc. We have a lot of information to offer! Stop in and help us help the Earth.

And help you of course.

Because you love it when technology works like it’s supposed to. We all do.