We want to create a culture on the site that explains the engineering and industrial design concepts behind the items on the site. How to inculcate that imperative isn't clear, but we're starting with community outreach and then hope to lead by example (the Roku guide is a step in that direction).

We were at the World Maker Faire in New York last fall, and we'll be at the Bay Area Maker Faire in San Mateo this weekend [come visit us! :-) ]. At each Maker Faire we brought a supply of e-waste items that faire goers could take apart themselves. As they turned screws and pried access panels we explained what components do, and some of the design decisions that went in to the products. The reception was phenomenal, particularly among school kids (with a roughly even breakdown of interest between the genders). We are also reaching out to Makerspaces to spread awareness.

We're hoping that the site will evolve to provide a similar virtual experience to the one Faire goers experienced at the Maker Faires. Essentially, we want the site to show that it is okay to take things apart, whether to repair, to salvage components, or to learn. The hope is that the guides on the site, submitted by users, will allow anyone to "take something apart" without having to pick up a screwdriver.

Creating a new guide is as easy as uploading a bulk selection of images, and clicking "Continue" a few times. Basic image editing like rotation and cropping can be done on the site, and it's easy to include image annotations and tool lists.

My quora question relates to this, please answer if you can:

http://www.quora.com/What-are-some-good-books-or-classes-abo...