The Restart Project Podcast

We actually did talk about some shiny shiny gadgets - two very game-changing projects in the area of modular, repairable design. But first, Restarter Dave Lukes told us about a printer repair, well a deep clean, and what it is like to repair at a "Give and Take" event. Then we discussed the new Fairphone 2 (which will go into production soon, yay) and Runcible, example of "heirloom electronics" still in development. We noted that both of these projects have largely been backed by investment from outside of Silicon Valley, and questioned why even giants like Google were so slow to innovate in similar ways.

This week, we talked with Restarter Dave Lukes about a wind-up radio he recently repaired and about the importance of running Restart Parties in shopping malls, and to podcaster Dave Pickering about people's motivation to keep repairing. Then we discussed Amazon's tablet six-pack and software support for the first Fairphone.

This is the first episode of our live radio show, broadcast every Tuesday at 1:30pm here in London on Resonance 104.4 FM and always online. Our show is about gadgets but it's definitely different. We're not going talk about the shiny shiny new things we want you to buy. We'll focus on the value of the things we already have and how to value them longer. This week, we talked with Restarter Ben Skidmore about some tough mobile and tablet repairs, and to podcaster Dave Pickering about maintenance of his laptop, which he depends on for his livelihood.

Before a smartphone reaches us, most of the greenhouse gas emissions it will ever make have already been made. Podcaster Dave Pickering finds at Restart Party that people struggle to express the impacts of our gadgets in terms that relate to climate change. Then Dave speaks with Craig Jones, an expert in the area of carbon footprinting - modelling environmental impacts of everything from buildings to smartphones.

Podcaster Dave Pickering interviews Adrian Smith, University of Sussex Professor of Technology and Society, who can help us put our fixing into broader perspective. We learn that community repair is embedded in a larger context of bottom-up responses to economic, ecological and technological change. Smith describes the Lucas Plan of the late 1970s (check out this documentary for more) and early tech networks formed in London (early 1980s), as well as how recycling started not as a top-down government or corporate sector, but as a community-driven attempt to prevent waste.

Product designer Barry Waddilove helps explain to Dave why these gadgets frustrate: what goes into their production, how many different pressures and forces determine design decisions, and how new thinking in design could truly transform our relationship with electronics. Barry is adamant that a waste-nothing "circular economy" can be one where careful resource use (and re-use) will lead to future economic growth.

This is the first in a series produced by brilliant podcaster Dave Pickering, based on real fixes, heartbreaks and wisdom shared at our community repair events - called Restart Parties - here in London. This podcast is for you if you would like to fix your relationship with electronics. Let's rethink, restart. We plan to go into real depth about good and bad design, obstacles to repair of electronics, emotional aspects of ownership, environmentally irresponsible business models, and the "end of life" of our gadgets.