Xkcd

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xkcd
Image:xkcd philosophy.png
Panel from "Philosophy"
Author(s) Randall Munroe
Website http://www.xkcd.com/
RSS web feed
Atom web feed
Current status / schedule Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
Launch date September 2005
Genre(s) Geek humor
Men's romance

xkcd1 is a webcomic created by Randall Munroe, a former contractor for NASA.2 He describes it as "a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language."3 xkcd is a widely read webcomic; In November 2007, for example, it tallied between 60 and 70 million page views. 4

Munroe states there is no particular meaning to the name and it is simply a "treasured and carefully-guarded point in the space of four-character strings."3The subjects of the comics themselves vary. Some are statements on life and love (some love strips are simply art with poetry), and some are mathematical or scientific in-jokes. Some strips feature simple humor or pop-culture references. Although it has a cast of stick figures,56 the comic occasionally features landscapes, intricate mathematical patterns such as fractals (for example, strip #17 "What If" shows an Apollonian gasket7), or imitations of the style of other cartoonists (as during "parody week"). Occasionally, realism is featured.8910

The comic is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.11 New comics are added three times a week, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday,2 at midnight EST12 although on four occasions so far they have been updated every weekday: parody week, the "Choices" series, the "1337" series, and the "Secretary" series.

Contents

History

Randall Munroe, creator of xkcd

The comic began in September 2005 when Munroe decided to scan doodles from his school notebooks and put them on his webpage. Eventually the comic was changed into a standalone website, where Munroe started selling t-shirts based on the comic. He currently "works on the comic full time,"3 making xkcd a self-sufficient webcomic.

In May 2007, the comic caught the attention of many by depicting online communities in geographic form.13 Various websites were drawn as continents, each sized according to their relative popularity and located according to their general subject matter.13 This put xkcd at number two on The Post-Standard's "The new hotness" list.14

xkcd is not an initialism, and Munroe attaches no meaning to the name, except in a joking manner within the comic.15 He claims that the name was originally a screen name, which he selected as a combination of letters that would be meaningless, as well as phonetically unpronounceable.32 Some people have, however, inferred other potential meanings for the term xkcd: the Short Minds webcomic, for example, makes light of the fact that the ordinal values of the letters X, K, C and D add up to 42, Douglas Adams' celebrated Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.16 Most readers have discounted this explanation as mere coincidence, however.17

On September 23, 2007, hundreds of people gathered at coordinates mentioned in a strip: 42.39561 -71.13051. Fans converged on a park in North Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the strip's author appeared; among his comments: "Maybe wanting something does make it real," reversing the conclusion in the last frame of the same strip.1819

On April Fool's Day 2008, xkcd was part of a three-webcomic prank involving Dinosaur Comics and Questionable Content wherein each comic's URL displayed another comic's web page: questionablecontent.net displayed the Dinosaur Comics website, qwantz.com (the Dinosaur Comics website) displayed xkcd, and xkcd.com displayed the Questionable Content website. The prank was orchestrated by Randall Munroe, as Jeph Jacques announced on his website on April 2nd:citation needed

For those of you still baffled/alarmed by yesterday's little switcheroo, I remind you that it was April 1st. Thank you for all the well-intentioned "I think your site has been hacked!" emails. I can't take credit for the prank as it was Randall's idea, but it was too good not to take part in (also thanks Ryan for playing along and bearing the brunt of my readers' confusion).

Recurring items

While there is no specific storyline to the comic, there are some recurring themes20 and characters, many of which are touched on in an xkcd parody of the Discovery Channel's I Love the World commercial.21

Themes

"Wikipedian Protester", with title-text "SEMI-PROTECT THE CONSTITUTION"

A large number of the strips are mathematics or computer science jokes. These jokes often feature university-level subjects, although many are written in such a way that a clear understanding of the subject is not usually required to get the punch line. Romance is another subject often visited in the comic, with many strips not intended to be humorous.20 There are also many strips opening with "My Hobby:" and usually depicting the non-descript narrator character describing some type of humorous or quirky behavior often involving language games.22 References to Wikipedia articles or to Wikipedia as a whole are an occasional theme in xkcd.23 xkcd also frequently makes reference to Munroe's "obsession" with potential raptor attacks,2425 electric skateboards,26 the game Guitar Hero,27 and many "your mom" jokes.28 There have also been several strips featuring "Red Spiders", Joss Whedon's short-lived series Firefly, and the 1985 novel Ender's Game. 29

Each comic also has a tooltip, specified using the title attribute in HTML. The text usually contains an afterthought or annotation related to that day's comic.30

Characters

 This section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (August 2008)

Although the artist does not maintain a list of characters, some recurring characters can be identified by their visual features (for example, hats) and mannerisms.

  • A man who looks like a normal stick-figure xkcd character, but for the addition of his trademark black hat. The man's hat is a reference to Aram from the now-defunct webcomic Men in Hats. 31 The character refers to himself as a "Classhole" (a portmanteau of "classy" and "asshole").32 He does not shy from pointing out the foibles in others and has at times used extreme violence in order to emphasize a point.3334 In the January 30, 2008 comic, his hat was taken by a woman, who is, to date, the only person ever to foil one of his schemes. As of June 6, 2008, the two have entered a "relationship." The character is one of the most frequently occuring in the comic, though he remains unnamed (he was referred to in the tooltip for comic #493 as "hat guy").35 In the recent "Secretary" story arc, he was nominated for the post of Secretary of the Internet when the Internet started to collapse, but, after a variety of hijinks involving Ron Paul, Cory Doctorow, and the Auto-Troll Shuffle, ended up by being sentenced to death, filling the Capitol rotunda with plastic ball pit-style balls, and finally escaping on Doctorow's hot-air balloon.
  • A boy in a barrel has appeared in five strips. Unlike most other characters, he is not a stick figure. He was repeatedly seen inside a barrel, floating in a large body of water. The boy in the barrel was one of many doodles in the older comics, but has not been seen since comic #31.36
  • Another set of recurring characters is the nihilist and the existentialist; while the existentialist wears a beret, the nihilist wears no hat at all.citation needed Until comic #291, they had only been seen together, never separately. They are first seen in the "Nihilism" comic,37 and again in "Kayak",38 "Hypotheticals"39, and "Dark Flow."39
  • Mrs. Roberts was a main character in the "1337"43 series, and has appeared in other comics along with her children, Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;-- aka "Little Bobby Tables," (a reference to SQL injection) and Help I'm Trapped In A Driver's License Factory Elaine Roberts, the protagonist of the "1337" series.44

Life imitates xkcd

"Wikipedian Protester" in Cambridge, 23 September 2007

On at least ten occasions, fans have been motivated by Munroe's comics to carry out, in real life, the subject of a particular drawing or sketch. Some notable examples include:

  • Richard Stallman was sent a katana45 and was confronted by students dressed as ninjas before speaking at the Yale Political Union4647 – inspired by "Open Source"
  • When Cory Doctorow won the 2007 EFF Pioneer Award, the presenters gave him a red cape, goggles and a balloon48 – inspired by "Blagofaire"
  • xkcd readers sneaking chess boards onto roller coasters4950 – inspired by "Chess Photo"
  • An xkcd reader created a "MBR Love Note" installation program51 – inspired by "Fight"
  • Munroe himself solicited contributions from his readers of people playing electric guitars while in the shower on wetriffs.com52 after posting the comic "Rule 34", in which a character registers that domain.
  • A subgroup of "geohashing" XKCD readers has emerged, members of which travel to random nearby latitude/longitude locations calculated by the geohashing algorithm described in "Geohashing".
  • Munroe, the creator, has mentioned in two of his blog entries, that he has a ball pit set up in his apartment, much like in the strip Grownups.5354
  • In October 2007, a group of researchers at University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute conducted a census of the internet and presented their data using a Hilbert curve, which they claimed was inspired by an xkcd comic that used a similar technique.555657
  • YouTube has placed a feature on comments that plays back the comment aloud on "Audio Preview", based on the strip Listen to Yourself.5859 YouTube has not acknowledged the introduction of the feature on its official blog or help pages.

Richard Stallman is "attacked" by ninjas
Inspired by "Open Source"

Cory Doctorow wears a red cape, goggles and a balloon as he receives the 2007 EFF Pioneer Award
Inspired by "Blagofaire"

In other languages

Many xkcd comics have been translated into Spanish by one reader.60 The comics available are the ones that, according to the translator, can be translated without losing their humor.61 Some comics have also been translated into Russian by a community of readers.62

References

  1. ^ "The preferred form is "xkcd", all lower-case. In formal contexts where a lowercase word shouldn't start a sentence, "XKCD" is an okay alternative. "Xkcd" is frowned upon." xkcd - A webcomic
  2. ^ a b c Fernandez, Rebecca (2006-11-25). "xkcd: A comic strip for the computer geek". Red Hat Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-03-06.
  3. ^ a b c d "About xkcd". xkcd. Retrieved on 2007-03-06.
  4. ^ So, Adrienne (2007-11-03). "Real Geek Heart Beats in Xkcd's Stick Figures". Wired. Retrieved on 2008-09-17.
  5. ^ Kalamazoo Gazette (August 17, 2006) Ad lib. Section: Ticket.
  6. ^ Guzmán, Mónica (2007-05-11). "What's Online". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved on 2008-05-30. "Created by math and programming geek Randall Munroe, the xkcd comic updates every Monday with a new adventure for its cast of oddball stick figures."
  7. ^ "What If (#17)". xkcd. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
  8. ^ "The Cure (#56)". xkcd. Retrieved on 2007-09-10.
  9. ^ "Girl sleeping (Sketch -- 11th grade Spanish class) (#7)". xkcd. Retrieved on 2007-09-10.
  10. ^ "The Raven (#133)". xkcd. Retrieved on 2008-07-31.
  11. ^ "License". xkcd. Retrieved on 2007-06-25.
  12. ^ xkcd » Blog Archive » Ghost
  13. ^ a b Tossell, Ivor. (May 18, 2007) Globe and Mail We're looking at each other, and it's not a pretty sight. Section: The Globe Review 7; Page R24
  14. ^ Cubbison, Brian; Thompson, Keith. (May 6, 2007) The Post-Standard. Get each of these links at the news tracker blog at blog.syracuse.com/Newstracker and remember, our blogs don't need www. our blogs start with blog. Section: News; Page A2.(Compiled from news services and online research by the authors)
  15. ^ "What xkcd Means (#207)". xkcd. Retrieved on 2007-03-06.
  16. ^ "x+k+c+d=42". Short Minds. Retrieved on 2008-09-06.
  17. ^ As evidenced by this thread on the Official xkcd forum.
  18. ^ Dream Girl (#240)
  19. ^ Cohen, Georgiana (September 26, 2007). "The wisdom of crowds". The Phoenix. Retrieved on 2007-09-27.
  20. ^ a b Moses, Andrew (2007-11-21). "Former NASA staffer creates comics for geeks", The Gazette, University of Western Ontario. Retrieved on 22 November 2007. 
  21. ^ "xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel (#442)". xkcd. Retrieved on 2008-06-27.
  22. ^ See, for example, xkcd comics #37, #53, #60, #75, #79, #148, #168, #174, #236, #259, #287, #296, #326, #331, #389, #437, and #451.
  23. ^ See, for example, xkcd comics #214, #285, #333, and #446.
  24. ^ O'Kane, Erin (2007-04-05). "Geek humor: Nothing to be ashamed of". The Whit Online. Retrieved on 2007-04-23.
  25. ^ See, for example, xkcd comics #87, #135, #155, and #292.
  26. ^ "Electric Skateboard(double comic)(#409)". xkcd. Retrieved on 2007-07-20.
  27. ^ See for example: Guitar Hero (#70) and Music Knowledge (#132)
  28. ^ See, for example, xkcd comics #116, #176, #320, and #366.
  29. ^ #304, #241
  30. ^ Peter Trinh (2007-09-14). "A comic you can’t pronounce". Imprint Online. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
  31. ^ Zelinsky, Joshua (2008-03-04). "Randall Munroe, writer of xkcd, talks about the comic, politics and the internet" (Interview), Wikinews. Retrieved on 22 September 2008. 
  32. ^ Munroe, Randall (2006-03-06). "Classhole (#72)". xkcd. Retrieved on 2008-10-03.
  33. ^ "Words that End in GRY (#169)". xkcd. Retrieved on 2007-03-06.
  34. ^ "Join Myspace (#146)". xkcd. Retrieved on 2007-03-06.
  35. ^ "Actuarial (#493)". xkcd. Retrieved on 2008-07-31.
  36. ^ The boy appears in comics #1, #11, #22, #25, and #31
  37. ^ "Nihilism (#167)". xkcd. Retrieved on 2007-10-04.
  38. ^ "Kayak (#209)". xkcd. Retrieved on 2007-11-01.
  39. ^ a b "Hypotheticals (#248)". xkcd. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
  40. ^ "Open Source (#225)". xkcd. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
  41. ^ a b "1337 Part 5 (#345)". xkcd. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
  42. ^ "Blagofaire (#239)". xkcd. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
  43. ^ "1337: Part 1". Retrieved on 2008-09-05.
  44. ^ "Exploits of a Mom". Retrieved on 2008-01-10. Help I'm Trapped In A Driver's License Factory Elain Roberts' name is given in the tooltip for this comic.
  45. ^ "Life Imitates xkcd, Part II: Richard Stallman". xkcd (2007-04-19). Retrieved on 2007-08-20.
  46. ^ "Stallman trumpets free software", The Yale Daily News. Retrieved on 19 October 2007. 
  47. ^ "Richard Stallman Debate". Blog of the YPU (2007-10-18). Retrieved on 2007-10-21.
  48. ^ "Cory Doctorow, Part II". xkcd (2007-03-28). Retrieved on 2007-09-05.
  49. ^ Chun Yu (November 12, 2007). "The man [hiding] behind the raptor", The Tartan. Retrieved on 12 November 2007. 
  50. ^ "People Playing Chess on Roller Coasters". Retrieved on 2007-08-20.
  51. ^ Spicuzza, Dustin (2007-11-11). "Inspired by XKCD: MBR Love Note". Virtualroadside.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-15.
  52. ^ "wetriffs.com". Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
  53. ^ Xkcd Blag - Phase II (ball pit)
  54. ^ Xkcd Blag - Growing up (ball pit)
  55. ^ Paul McNamara (October 9, 2007). "Researchers ping through first full 'Internet census' in 25 years". Buzzblog. Networkworld.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-10.
  56. ^ "62 Days + Almost 3 Billion Pings + New Visualization Scheme = the First Internet Census Since 1982". Information Science Institute (October 8, 2007 (Last modified October 9, 2007)). Retrieved on 2007-10-10.
  57. ^ "Map of the Internet (#195)". xkcd. Retrieved on 2007-10-10.
  58. ^ Moore, Matthew (2008-10-10). "YouTube 'play back' feature to humiliate inane commenters". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved on 2008-10-10.
  59. ^ McNamara, Paul (2008-10-09). "YouTube Takes a Page From xkcd". PC World. Retrieved on 2008-10-10.
  60. ^ http://es.xkcd.com/xkcd-es/
  61. ^ "xkcd-es". Retrieved on 30 August 2008.
  62. ^ "ru_xkcd". Retrieved on 7 November 2008.

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