For those who are not familiar with xkcd, it is a webcomic Randall Munroe that started in September of 2005. Self-described as “A webcomic of romance,
sarcasm, math, and language,” xkcd includes humor aimed at the brainy but socially awkward portion of the population. While a small portion of the content is only appropriate for adults or older teens due to its sexual nature; most is adult due to the fact that children would not understand the necessary science, language, or philosophy. Munroe works on the comic full time, making him one of the few webcomic authors who makes a living off his work.
One of the most important aspects of xkcd is the influence that it has had on the outside world. In one comic, the author inserted GPS coordinates and a date. A number of readers realized these coordinates were for a park in Massachusetts, and that the date was, at the time the comic was posted, in the future. A large number of people, including Munroe, went to the spot on the appropriate date and spent the day in the park.
Real-life references to the comic have been made, including a ninja attack on Richard Stallman at a conference after Stallman was attack by ninjas in the comic. Cory Doctorow wore a red cape and goggles at the EFF Pioneer Awards after a reference was made in another xkcd comic. Wikipedia lists even more examples.
Comics have always had influence on the outside world. Many comics have taken political or moral stances, and comics have always had people imitating their ideas. However, xkcd has a couple factors that increase the potential for imitation. First, it uses many pop-culture and inside references. This combined with the power of the Internet allows it to target a niche audience very well. This gives xkcd a smaller but very devoted following.
A later comic proposed an idea that is perhaps the most revolutionary- geohashing. It uses the date and the opening of the stock exchange to create a “random” number. This number in then turned into GPS coordinates. The process creates a point for each degree of longitude and latitude, meaning there will be a point at a maximum of 50 or so miles from your home on any given day. You can then go visit these locations and hopefully meet other fans of xkcd doing the same thing.
This idea is has a great number of interesting implications and possibilities. In the past, the only kind of gatherings for fans of a comic would be conventions. While conventions have their place, they also have their problems. This brings people with common interests together.
This new trend of more real-life interaction with webcomics is likely to continue. For those who are not familiar with xkcd, you can find the website here. You may find that you enjoy reading it, and you can expect to hear more and more about it both online and offline in the future.
