Encountering the inner face of products: computer repair practice and amateur computer repairers

This study focuses on the interaction between user and product that is characteristic of the amateur computer repair practice, including maintenance, upgrade, part replacement, customization, and repair. Our discussion is based on data provided by semi-structured interviews and think-aloud sessions with participants with diverse levels of repair experience with computers. The data indicates key findings for sustainability studies that aim to contribute to current discussions on design for sustainable behaviour by providing a snapshot of the amateur repair behaviour. The study revealed three important findings. First, since repair is a practice that features particular elements such as skills, settings, implicit and explicit rules, amateur repairers are users who sustain and develop the practice. They have particular identities and a perspective that is characteristic to amateur computer repair practice. Second, repair practice helps to transform product characteristics, both materially and from the point of view of the practitioners, as largely independent from how the product is designed. Third, the implicit and explicit rules are distributed via online and offline networks. Through these networks, knowledge and tools are shared among the practitioners. In conclusion, a comprehensive understanding of amateur computer repair practice might contribute to the Design for Sustainable Behaviour (DfSB) studies and sustainable system design.