The Repair Café Foundation have been developing their own tool for collecting repair data at events called the RepairMonitor. It looks like it’s now open for all repair café groups to register and uses the same Open Data Standard we developed with Repair Café as part of the Open Repair Alliance we helped found together.
We don’t have access to this tool ourselves, but would love to learn more about it with a view to exploring how our two platforms (RepairMonitor and the Fixometer) can complement each other in this space. In particular, we’re keen to know what data can be recorded, what impact stats are calculated and what else it can do.
We’re really concerned with data “portability”, and ensuring that you can download and move your data. And as @james suggests, we’re working on a data standard that will make it possible to aggregate all of our data globally.
We discuss this (and more!) here, if you’d like to weigh in, we’re looking for feedback!
We’re on it, but I’ve only entered the data for one session so far, as I haven’t had the time. It takes all our data and also, in theory, gives us a way to actually log people in at the session and manage the process at the event…however, that involves us having a couple of iPads/tablets, which we don’t currently have.
It also takes all the items we get, not just electrical, so gives a larger data set.
Let me know if you want more info.
Obviously for those of us on the ground, we’d love just one system, but appreciate you’re two different organisations, so it’s not quite that simple.
Clare
Thanks @Clare_Seek I understood that from watching the video - great if people can get this to work! We have yet to really find a way to make this work at larger events, and a way to do it without ditching our beloved flipchart waiting list. (Also, we also opted not to assign repairs to individuals on the Fixometer to avoid in worst-case-scenario being dragged into product liability claims.)
Does it work ok for logging data after the event? (And assuming there is no spreadsheet upload mechanism?)
Last question: as far as I know, there is no CO2 emissions prevented calculation, just weight?
That’s great Alex! If you sign up, could you help us understand it a bit more? Like I said, we’d love to know what data can be recorded, what impact stats are calculated and what else it can do.
Hi, I was discussing this with other repairers around Leuven and we also said to take a look to it and see how it compares (or better, differenciate) from the Fixometer.
I have registered yesterday and I am waiting for the admin to accept (or not) my request. I will try it and let you know
Hi Janet,
No spreadsheet upload, I think mainly as it’s designed to be used ‘live’.
But it’s possible to load after the event, but singular items, like with fixometer.
And there is no CO2 emission data calculated. And I don’t think there is anything about weight in the actual loading of the data either. This is what it says in the ‘About Us’ section:
The RepairMonitor is an online tool that enables Repair Cafés to easily monitor which products they receive, what is wrong with them and what has been done - with or without success - to repair the object. With the data we collect in this way, we gain insight into the durability and reparability of the items in our daily lives. With this we approach manufacturers, politicians and consumers. This should lead to better products that fit in with the circular economy.
The RepairMonitor is emphatically intended for collecting and sharing repair data . The tool is not an overall replacement for the visitor administration of local Repair Cafés. Repair Cafés that want to keep track of email addresses, postal codes, ages or other data of their visitors must do so separately.
And in the results section, I’m able to look at the UK’s data, and see types, brands and repairability, or download the dataset.
As promised to @james, here I add here few screenshots to show what can be done with the Repair Monitor, and what @Clare_Seek has already explained by words.
The example is our very first logging using this system
One finds quite a lot of fields, but no information about weight.
At the results section, this is displayed (as you see at the main window, also stats for your own cafe can be displayed, but here I show the actual stats for UK, as apparently we are only 2 repair cafes in Belgium so far, so not a lot of stats )
This is fantastic, thanks so much @Angel! It’s really interesting to understand more about how the Repair Monitor works. It’s great to see it allows people to record lots of data.
From what you’ve posted, it looks like one significant difference between the Repair Monitor and Restarters․net (and its Fixometer database) is the ability to use the system for job management; job management hasn’t not really been a priority for us, though it has been discussed. Does the ‘Outstanding repairs’ button list all items that have the status “Half [repaired] and/or advice given”?
In theory, would the following use case be possible…?
Someone goes to a repair café to fix a broken item. But it needs a spare part
Their item is assigned a reference number (as in your ‘Adding a new repair 1/2’ screenshot)
They go back to that Repair Café (or even a different Repair Café) with the spare part and their reference number. The reference number can be used to update the original record.
That would be pretty useful in theory.
It’s interesting to see that there’s no way to record weight or pictures. It also looks like the impact statistics generated focus entirely on repair details (i.e. no environmental impact stats). This appears to be another differentiating factor.
@james, no, it doesn’t (I have tried now). It’s meant for saving a draft first and then recover it there. I tried that too before (on purpose saved to see how it would appear in the Outstanding button):
I guess the “Half” option would be used to let the user end the repair later at home, provided that advice or alternatively in order not to have pending repairs opened (?) In case a user never comes back? I am not sure of this end.
Definitely possible and indeed useful for your supposition. But once is closed, only searching for it with that number will be possible, as it won’t appear in those Outstanding items. My supposition goes with the fact that a repair can be marked as “Half” but also be closed right after.
A closed repair can be afterwards retrieved and edited again. I guess in case of errors or further discoveries and trials after, or found spare parts:
Reading up, it also sounds like the Repair Monitor is designed for live data entry during events, something we haven’t been able to achieve yet. Is it also easy to upload data after the event? Can you upload a spreadsheet?
@james Yes, it seems so, one does the logging one by one and there’s no way to upload a spreadsheet with the collected data, so if done afterwards, still it will be one by one.
I find it a challenge as it requires more time and patience from both the visitor and the welcoming person to do it fully and properly, thinking that not everybody is so dexterous with pc’s and the limited time on the spot. What do you think?
Citing the text in their website:
“The RepairMonitor is emphatically intended for collecting and sharing repair data. The tool is not an overall replacement for the visitor administration of local Repair Cafés. Repair Cafés that want to keep track of email addresses, postal codes, ages or other data of their visitors must do so separately”
So, suggesting that it’s not a replacement for the visitor administration, I wonder if everything can be logged during the time of the repair café. Other opinions are welcome, but if I recall correctly, this has been discussed in another topic here, which now I haven’t looked up,
I think these are some of the main challenges we’ve encountered too. At a busy event, recording data is often the first thing that is dropped, so it needs to be as simple and quick as possible.
Ultimately, any system for live data entry is competing with the simplicity and accessibility of pen and paper.
That said, some groups do this successfully, so it is possible!
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