In fablabs, makerspaces and other places where people make things, we call documenting the practice of publishing information so that others can remake an object, avoid mistakes or follow a method. This information can be photographs, texts, files, source code, videos, etc.

It is documentation that makes it possible not just to design something, but to allow variants or “forks” to be created, to link people and communities wishing to progress together. In fact, documentation makes it possible to ‘replay’ a pedagogical form, to re-make a complete object from digital files used by distributed manufacturing machines, and even to avoid making mistakes again when the mistakes are documented. Combined with open licences, documentation is the key to legally enabling the replication and improvement of objects and teaching methods in networks, via information sharing, particularly on the Internet.

Documentation portals

Documentation can relate to :

• the manufacture of an object (for example with specialised portals such as wikifab),
• the sharing of files enabling spare parts to be remanufactured to manufacture an object (for example thingiverse),
• the source code (for example Github).

Get inspired by

• Forge d’adaptations Its purpose is precisely to co-produce documentation for running workshops, based on real-life experience and supplemented by instructions for building open objects. The aim is to train people to use online files and documentation to rebuild shared solutions locally.
• Cultivating the skill of documentation & knowledge transfer by Emilio Velis