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xkcd

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xkcd
Panel from "Philosophy"[‡ 1]
Author(s)Randall Munroe
Websitexkcd.com
Current status/scheduleMondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
Launch dateSeptember 2005;19 years ago(2005-09)[1]
Genre(s)Comedy,geekhumor

xkcd,sometimes styledXKCD,[‡ 2]is a serialwebcomiccreated in 2005 by American authorRandall Munroe.[1]The comic'staglinedescribes it as "a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language".[‡ 3][2]Munroe states on the comic's website that the name of the comic is not aninitialismbut "just a word with no phonetic pronunciation".

The subject matter of the comic varies from statements on life and love tomathematical,programming,andscientificin-jokes.Some strips feature simple humor orpop-culturereferences. It has a cast ofstick figures,[3][4]and the comic occasionally features landscapes, graphs,charts,and intricate mathematical patterns such asfractals.[5]New cartoons are added three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.[‡ 2][6]

Munroe has released fivespinoffbooks from the comic. The first book, published in 2010 and entitledxkcd: volume 0,was a series of select comics from his website. His 2014 bookWhat If?is based on his blog of the same name that answers unusual science questions from readers in a light-hearted way that is scientifically grounded.[‡ 4][‡ 5][7]TheWhat If?column on the site is updated with new articles from time to time. His 2015 bookThing Explainerexplains scientific concepts using only the one thousandmost commonly used words in English.[‡ 6][8]A fourth book,How To,which is described as "a profoundly unhelpful self-help book", was released on September 3, 2019.[‡ 7]A fifth book,What If? 2,was released on September 13, 2022.[9]A sixth book, titledWhat If? 10th Anniversary Edition,is scheduled to be released on November 26, 2024.[10]

On August 31, 2023, a spinoff YouTube channel named xkcd's What If? was created, dedicated to adapting the "What If?" books into video format, narrated by Munroe and produced by Neptune Studios LLC.[11]It started posting videos on November 29, 2023.

History

[edit]
Randall Munroein 2016

As a student, Munroe often drew charts, maps, and "stick figure battles" in the margins of his school notebooks, besides solving mathematical problems unrelated to his classes. By the time he graduated from college, Munroe's "piles of notebooks" became too large and he startedscanningthe images.[12]

xkcdbegan in September 2005, when Munroe decided to scan his doodles and put them on hispersonal website.According to Munroe, the comic's name has no particular significance and is simply a four-letter word without a phonetic pronunciation, something he describes as "a treasured and carefully guarded point in the space of four-characterstrings".In January 2006, the comic was split off into its own website, created in collaboration with Derek Radtke.[13]

In May 2007, the comic garnered widespread attention by depicting online communities in geographic form. Various websites were drawn as continents, each sized according to their relative popularity and located according to their general subject matter.[‡ 8][14]This putxkcdat number two on theSyracusePost-Standard's "The new hotness" list.[15]By 2008,xkcdwas able to financially support Munroe and Radtke "reasonably well" through the sale of thousands of T-shirts per month.[13]

On September 19, 2012, "Click and Drag" was published, which featured a panel which can be explored via clicking and dragging its insides.[‡ 9]It immediately triggered positive response on social websites and forums.[16]The large image nested in the panel measures 165,888 pixels wide by 79,872 pixels high.[17]Munroe later described it as "probably the most popular one I ever put on the Internet" and considered it one of his own favorites.[12]

"Time"began publication at midnightEDTon March 25, 2013, with the comic's image updating every 30 minutes until March 30, when they began to change every hour, lasting for over four months. The images constitutetime lapseframesof a story, with thetooltiporiginally reading "Wait for it.", later changed to "RUN." and changed again to "The end." on July 26. The story began with a male and female character building asandcastlecomplex on a beach who then embark on an adventure to learn the secrets of the sea. On July 26, the comic superimposed a frame (3094) with the phrase "The End". Tasha Robinson ofThe A.V. Clubwrote of the comic: "[...] the kind of nifty experiment that keeps people coming back to XKCD, which at its best isn't a strip comic so much as an idea factory and a shared experience".[18]Cory Doctorowmentioned "Time" in a brief article onBoing Boingon April 7, saying the comic was "coming along nicely". The 3,099-panel "Time" comic ended on July 26, 2013, and was followed by a blog post summarizing the journey.[‡ 10][19]In 2014, it won theHugo Award for Best Graphic Story.

Around 2007, Munroe drew all the comics on paper, then scanned and processed them on a tablet computer (aFujitsu Lifebook).[‡ 11]In 2014, he was using aCintiqgraphics tablet for drawing (like many other cartoonists), alongside a laptop for coding tasks.[20]

Influences

[edit]

Munroe has been a fan ofnewspaper comic stripssince childhood, describingxkcdas an "heir" toCharles M. Schulz'sPeanuts.Despite this influence,xkcd's quirky and technical humor would have been difficult tosyndicate.Inwebcomics,Munroe has said that "one can draw something that appeals to 1 percent of the audience—1 percent of United States, that is three million people, that is more readers than small cartoons can have". Munroe cited the lack of a need for editorial control due to the low bar of access to the Internet as "a salvation".[13]

Recurring themes

[edit]
"Malamanteau", with the tooltip "The article has twenty-three citations, one of which is an obscure manuscript from the 1490s and the other twenty-two are arguments onLanguage Log."[‡ 12]

While there is no specific storyline to the webcomic, there are some recurring themes and characters.[21]Recurring themes ofxkcdinclude "technology, science, mathematics and relationships".[2]xkcdfrequently features jokes related to popular culture, such asGuitar Hero,Facebook,Vanilla Ice,Linux,andWikipedia.

There are many strips opening with the words "My Hobby:", usually depicting the nondescript narrator character describing some type of humorous or quirky behavior. However, not all strips are intended to be humorous.[21]Romance and relationships are frequent themes, and otherxkcdstrips consist of complex depictions of landscapes.[21]Manyxkcdstrips refer to Munroe's "obsession" with potentialVelociraptorattacks.[22]

References to Wikipediaarticles or to Wikipedia as a whole have occurred several times inxkcd.[‡ 13][‡ 12][‡ 14]A facsimile of a made-up Wikipedia entry for "malamanteau" (astunt wordcreated by Munroe to poke fun at Wikipedia's writing style) provoked a controversy within Wikipedia that was picked up by various media.[23][24]Another strip depicted an example of a topic that Wikipedia could not cover neutrally—a fictional donation to eitheranti-abortionorabortion-rightsactivists, determined by the word count in a Wikipedia article on the event where the donation was announced being either odd or even.[‡ 15]Wikipedia is also depicted as an extension of one's mind, allowing them to access far more information than normally.[‡ 16]Another comic depicted the [Citation Needed] feature of Wikipedia.[25]

"Wikipedian Protester", withtooltip"SEMI-PROTECTTHE CONSTITUTION "[‡ 13]

Nearly allxkcdstrips have atooltip,the text of which usually contains a secondary punchline or annotation related to that day's comic.[26]

One of the few recurring characters is a man wearing a flatblack hat,apparently based on Aram, from Men in Hats.[27]He has dedicated his life to causing confusion and harm to others just for his own entertainment. He has no name, though he is commonly referred to as "Black Hat" or "Black Hat Guy" in the community. He gained a girlfriend, commonly named "Danish" by the community, during the course of a small series called "Journal", who is just as cruel as he is.[‡ 17]

Another recurring character is a man with aberet,sometimes simply referred to as "Beret Guy". He seems to be naïve, optimistic, obsessed with bakeries, and completely out of touch with reality. He also has magical abilities,[28]which often manifest in the creation of situations or objects that support his overly optimistic worldview, even when in direct violation of societal norms or the laws of physics; an example is hisstartupmaking incredible amounts of money despite his not even knowing what it does.[29]In one instance, he hiredLin-Manuel Mirandaas an engineer,[30]and in another instance, sprouted literal "endless wings".[‡ 18]

Geographical maps, including their various different formats and creation methods, are a frequently recurring theme in the comic.[‡ 19]On occasion these maps have been mentioned by analysts due to their imaginative or original presentation of figures or statistics. In the comic "2016 Election Map", colored stick figures are used to display how people voted in theUnited States electionaccording to their region. It was praised as being a strong visualization tool for the election outcome.[31]

Inspired activities

[edit]
Hoax attack onRichard Stallmanby students dressed asninjas.
Inspired by "Open Source"[‡ 20]

On several occasions, fans have been motivated by Munroe's comics to carry out the subject of a particular drawing or sketch offline.[21]Some notable examples include:

Cory Doctorowwearing a red cape and a pair of goggles based on his appearance inxkcd.Doctorow later wore the costume again while accepting a Hugo Award on Munroe's behalf.[35]
  • When animatedxkcdstrip "Time" won aHugo Award for Best Graphic Storyin August 2014, it was accepted byCory Doctorowon behalf of Munroe, dressing as Munroe had drawn him in an earlier strip, "1337: Part 5".[35][‡ 22]
  • xkcdreaders began sneakingchessboards onto roller coasters after "Chess Photo" was published.[36][‡ 23]– inspired by "Chess Photo".[‡ 24]
  • The game of "geohashing"[37]has gained more than 1,000 players,[38]who travel to random coordinates calculated by the algorithm described in "Geohashing".[‡ 25]
  • In October 2007, a group of researchers atUniversity of Southern California'sInformation Sciences Instituteconducted a census of the Internet and presented their data using aHilbert curve,which they claimed was inspired by anxkcdcomic that used a similar technique.[39][40][‡ 26]Inspired by the same comic, theCarna botnetused a Hilbert curve to present data in their 2012 Internet Census.[41]
  • Based on "Packages",[‡ 27]programmers have set up programs to automatically find an item for sale on the Internet for $1.00 every day.[42][43]
  • In response to "Password Strength",[‡ 28]Dropboxshows two messages reading "lol" and "Whoa there, don't take advice from a webcomic too literally;)" when attempting to register with the password "correcthorsebatterystaple".[44]ArenaNetrecommended thatGuild Wars 2users createsecure passwordsfollowing the guidelines of the same comic.[45]
  • ThePythonStandard Library module "antigravity", when run, opens the xkcd comic "Python".[‡ 29][46]On the 4th of June 2009, afunctionwas added into the "antigravity" module that implements the geohashing algorithm (which is inspired by the426thxkcdcomic,also titled "Geohashing" ), according to the commit history ofCPython's git repository.[47]
  • Inspired by the xkcd comic "Online Communities 2",[‡ 30]Slovak artistMartin Vargiccreated the "Map of the Internet 1.0."[48]
  • In 2008, Munroe posted a parody of theDiscovery Channel'sI Love the Worldadvertising campaign onxkcd,[‡ 31]which was later reenacted byNeil Gaiman,Wil Wheaton,Cory Doctorow,Hank Green,and others.[49]This reenactment is currently available on the video sharing platformYouTube,and is titled "We Love xkcd".[50]
  • Munroe's 2012 comic "Up-Goer Five" on theSaturn Vrocket inspired the "Up-Goer Five Challenge" for scientists. The original comic described the rocket only using theone thousand most frequent words in contemporary fiction;in the same way, the challenge is for scientists to describe their journal articles and scientific papers with extremely basic language. More generally, even when not adhering to the original strict list, the comic has been cited as an example of the merits in avoiding too muchjargonthat can make scientific papers impenetrable and unread.[‡ 32][51][52]

Academic research

[edit]

In addition, a number of researchers have acknowledged particularxkcdcomics as the source of inspiration for their scientific articles.[53]These academic contributions include:

  • In 2007, two researchers published an article entitled "High Level Internet Scale Traffic Visualization Using Hilbert Curve Mapping".[54]It was inspired by the comic "Map of the Internet".[‡ 26]
  • Three Microsoft Research employees published the paper "Failure is a Four-Letter Word: a Parody in Empirical Research" in 2011.[55]They were inspired by "Significant".[‡ 33]
  • The "Password Strength" comic[‡ 28]has inspired the creation of two scientific articles. The first one is the 2012 article "Correct horse battery staple: exploring the usability of system-assigned passphrases".[56]The second paper was published in 2015, and bears the title "How to Memorize a Random 60-Bit String".[57]
  • The 2019 paper "Stippling of 2D Scalar Fields"[58]was inspired by "2016 Election Map".[‡ 34]
  • "Dependency"[‡ 35]inspired an author to write the article "The Nebraska problem in open source software development".[59]
  • Two scientific publications were inspired by "Movie Narrative Charts".[‡ 36]These articles are named "StoryFlow: Tracking the Evolution of Stories"[60]and "HyperStorylines: Interactively untangling dynamic hypergraphs,"[61]with the latter article citing the former.[61]

Awards and recognition

[edit]

xkcdhas been recognized at various award ceremonies. In the 2008Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards,the webcomic was nominated for "Outstanding Use of the Medium", "Outstanding Short Form Comic", and "Outstanding Comedic Comic", and it won "Outstanding Single Panel Comic".[62]xkcdwas voted "Best Comic Strip" by readers in the 2007 and 2008Weblog Awards.[63][64]The webcomic was nominated for a 2009NewNowNext Awardin the category "OMFG Internet Award".[65][66]

Randall Munroe was nominated for theHugo Award for Best Fan Artistin both 2011 and 2012,[67][68]and he won a Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story in 2014, for "Time".[69]

Books

[edit]

In September 2009, Munroe released a book, entitledxkcd: volume 0,containing selectedxkcdcomics.[‡ 37]The book was published bybreadpig,under aCreative Commons license,CC BY-NC 3.0,[70]with all of the publisher's profits donated toRoom to Readto promote literacy and education in the developing world. Six months after release, the book had sold over 25,000 copies.[71]The book tour in New York City andSilicon Valleywas a fundraiser for Room to Read that raised $32,000 to build a school inSalavan Province,Laos.[72][‡ 38]

Munroe contributed a story titled "?" to the anthology bookMachine of Death,released on October 6, 2010.[73]

In October 2012,xkcd: volume 0was included in theHumble BundleeBookBundle. It was available for download only to those who donated higher than the average donated for the other eBooks. The book was releasedDRM-free, in two different-qualityPDFfiles.[74]

On March 12, 2014, Munroe announced the bookWhat If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions.The book was released on September 2, 2014. The book expands on theWhat If?blogon thexkcdwebsite.[‡ 5][7]On May 13, 2015, Munroe announced a new book entitledThing Explainer.Eventually released on November 24, 2015,Thing Explaineris based on thexkcdstrip "Up Goer Five" and only uses the thousand most commonly used words to explain different scientific devices.[‡ 6]

On February 5, 2019, Munroe announced a fourth book, titledHow To,which uses math and science to find the worst possible solutions to everyday problems. It was released on September 3, 2019.[‡ 7]

On January 31, 2022, Munroe announced the bookWhat If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions,a follow-up title that continued in the same vein as the first volume in attempting to provide scientific answers to hypothetical situations submitted by readers.[75]The book was released on September 13, 2022.[‡ 39]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
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Primary sources

In the text these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):

  1. ^Munroe, Randall (February 7, 2007)."Philosophy".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on March 3, 2016.RetrievedFebruary 26,2016.
  2. ^abMunroe, Randall (September 11, 2010)."About xkcd".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on May 23, 2019.RetrievedDecember 4,2014.
  3. ^Munroe, Randall."xkcd".Archivedfrom the original on October 6, 2014.RetrievedOctober 7,2014.
  4. ^Munroe, Randall."What If? – The Book".whatif.xkcd.com.Archivedfrom the original on December 7, 2015.RetrievedDecember 7,2015.
  5. ^abMunroe, Randall (March 12, 2014)."What if I wrote a book?".blog.xkcd.com.Archivedfrom the original on April 6, 2016.RetrievedOctober 7,2014.
  6. ^abMunroe, Randall (May 13, 2015)."New book: Thing Explainer".blog.xkcd.com.Archivedfrom the original on December 7, 2015.RetrievedDecember 7,2015.
  7. ^abMunroe, Randall (February 5, 2019)."How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems".blog.xkcd.com.Archivedfrom the original on February 27, 2019.RetrievedFebruary 26,2019.
  8. ^Munroe, Randall (May 2, 2007)."Online Communities".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on January 5, 2017.RetrievedJanuary 4,2017.
  9. ^Munroe, Randall (September 19, 2012)."Click and Drag".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on July 10, 2017.RetrievedMay 18,2013.
  10. ^Munroe, Randall (July 29, 2013)."1190: Time".blog.xkcd.com.Archivedfrom the original on February 15, 2014.RetrievedFebruary 18,2014.
  11. ^Munroe, Randall (March 16, 2007)."In which I lose the originals of the last three months of comics and the laptop I create them with".blog.xkcd.com.Archivedfrom the original on April 14, 2017.RetrievedApril 13,2017.
  12. ^abMunroe, Randall (May 12, 2010)."Malamanteau".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on December 25, 2011.RetrievedDecember 21,2011.
  13. ^abMunroe, Randall (July 4, 2007)."Wikipedian Protester".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on December 25, 2011.RetrievedDecember 21,2011.
  14. ^Munroe, Randall (February 18, 2009)."Neutrality Schmeutrality".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on December 23, 2017.RetrievedJanuary 23,2018.
  15. ^Munroe, Randall (May 25, 2011)."Extended Mind".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on November 11, 2020.RetrievedNovember 9,2020.
  16. ^Munroe, Randall (June 6, 2008)."Journal 5".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on September 5, 2017.RetrievedSeptember 22,2017.
  17. ^Munroe, Randall (August 24, 2012)."Tuesdays".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on October 3, 2017.RetrievedOctober 2,2017.
  18. ^
  19. ^abMunroe, Randall (February 19, 2007)."Open Source".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on November 17, 2007.RetrievedNovember 17,2007.
  20. ^Munroe, Randall (March 26, 2007)."Dream Girl".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on March 26, 2010.RetrievedMay 13,2010.
  21. ^Munroe, Randall (November 16, 2007)."1337: Part 5".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on November 16, 2007.RetrievedNovember 17,2007.
  22. ^"People Playing Chess on Roller Coasters".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on August 20, 2007.RetrievedAugust 20,2007.
  23. ^Munroe, Randall (April 16, 2007)."Chess Photo".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on December 21, 2011.RetrievedDecember 21,2011.
  24. ^Munroe, Randall (May 26, 2005)."Geohashing".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on April 15, 2012.RetrievedApril 17,2012.
  25. ^abMunroe, Randall (December 11, 2006)."Map of the Internet".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on October 9, 2007.RetrievedOctober 10,2007.
  26. ^Munroe, Randall (May 1, 2009)."Packages".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on December 25, 2011.RetrievedDecember 21,2011.
  27. ^abMunroe, Randall (August 10, 2011)."Password Strength".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on August 21, 2013.RetrievedAugust 21,2013.
  28. ^Munroe, Randall (December 5, 2007)."Python".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on June 23, 2019.RetrievedJune 20,2019.
  29. ^Munroe, Randall (October 6, 2010)."Online Communities 2".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on December 18, 2015.RetrievedDecember 23,2015.
  30. ^Munroe, Randall (June 27, 2008)."xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel".xkcd.Archivedfrom the original on June 28, 2008.RetrievedJune 27,2008.
  31. ^Munroe, Randall (November 12, 2012)."Up Goer Five".xkcd.RetrievedDecember 30,2022.
  32. ^Munroe, Randall (April 6, 2011)."Significant".xkcd.RetrievedSeptember 23,2023.
  33. ^Munroe, Randall (January 8, 2018)."2016 Election Map".xkcd.RetrievedSeptember 23,2023.
  34. ^Munroe, Randall (August 8, 2020)."Dependency".xkcd.RetrievedSeptember 23,2023.
  35. ^Munroe, Randall (November 2, 2009)."Movie Narrative Charts".xkcd.RetrievedSeptember 23,2023.
  36. ^Munroe, Randall (September 10, 2009)."Book!".blog.xkcd.com.Archivedfrom the original on May 17, 2010.RetrievedMay 13,2010.
  37. ^Munroe, Randall (October 11, 2009)."School".blog.xkcd.com.Archivedfrom the original on January 23, 2013.RetrievedFebruary 10,2013.
  38. ^Munroe, Randall (January 31, 2022)."What If 2".blog.xkcd.com.Archivedfrom the original on May 31, 2022.RetrievedAugust 5,2022.

Further reading

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