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Open Repair Data Standard Unifies Global Repair Efforts

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Open Repair Data Standard (ORDS) establishes a unified framework for collecting and sharing repair information about small electrical and electronic devices. Developed by the Open Repair Alliance, this initiative enables different organizations to combine their repair datasets, creating opportunities to identify global and regional trends in product failures and fixes. The standard specifically focuses on standardizing data collection across community repair events worldwide.

The ORDS has evolved through multiple versions, with version 0.3 released in December 2021 representing the latest iteration. The standard organizes information into three main modules: Product Related (category, brand, manufacture year), Repair Related (problem, status, barriers), and Session Related (event details, group identifiers). Version 0.2 introduced significant updates including standardized repair status options and the addition of country and repair barrier fields.

Data collected under ORDS is shared under an open Creative Commons license and compiled into a common format. The Open Repair Alliance publishes combined datasets every six months, maintaining a record of all compliant datasets on their website. Current development focuses on defining fault types for key product categories and investigating UNU-keys for product categorization, ensuring the standard remains relevant as repair practices evolve.