Strange things can happen online. For our project FabSchool, we created an Instructables account, to share manuals under a Creative Commons license. This actually was a kind of a try-out, to see whether we could use the platform for Dutch content.
We re-used a manual that we created earlier for the Dutch TV programme called Zapplive. The idea was to just park it there and see out how people would react.
But within the hour, the 'Draaiend (Valentijns)hart' was elected 'Featured Instructable', meaning it received a prominent spot on the homepage. Its content being in Dutch was obviously no obstacle (and the fine photography probably also contributed, as well as the fact that Valentine's Day is not far away).
The effect was that after two days the page received more than 60.000 visitors. Some of them were wondering what to do with this ("Is this Norwegian?" and "Oops, totally Dutch Instructable!"), making us swiftly add an English translation.
At Instructables, you can find manuals of all sorts, from recipies to DIY electronics. A mecca for every tinkerer, with millions of users. The 'Instructables Restaurant' that Arne Hendriks and Bas van Abel devised earlier made apt use of the site.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if this could be realised somewhere: a place where everything, literally everything, from the furniture to the recipies, comes from Instructables...
