[SIGCIS-Members] Should we aspire to be featured in or write for the New Yorker?

[Brian Randell]

Hi Justin:

On 15 Oct 2014, at 17:25, Justin Sherrill <justin at shiningsilence.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Oct 15, 2014 at 10:59 AM, Lee Vinsel <lee.vinsel at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> My friend, who is a comic artist, and I are dreaming up short graphic novel-esque stories illustrating (pun intended) lessons about the history of technological change, mostly drawing on my work on auto history.
> On a slightly related note to this and to the idea of historic events in popular media, G.T. Labs publishes comics about various scientists, including one online now about Alan Turing.
> 
> http://www.gt-labs.com/
> 
> I don't recall this being mentioned in this thread before, though I may have missed it.  Comic books certainly qualify as popular media, though not as widespread as they used to be.

You might be interested in the Newcastle Science Comic - which was commissioned by Newcastle University in connection with last year's British Science Festival, run by the British Science Association, formerly known as British Association for the Advancement of Science or the BA, (founded 1831 by a group of scientists that included Charles Babbage). Large numbers of the 44-page newsprint comic were distributed by the University to all the local schools. It was written and designed by a group of local cartoonists, mainly amateur and connected with Newcastle University. It was based on ideas and suggestions from a whole set of University scientists. My own involvement came as a surprise to me - one of our CS students turned the Youtube video of a lecture I had given at Bletchley Park about Turing and Colossus into a one page comic, and then asked if I was willing for it to be included in the Newcastle Science Comic! I negotiated some changes in a few of the text bubbles, and then happily gave the go ahead.

You can see the whole comic at:

http://hollowearth.co.uk/comics/asteroid-belter-newcastle-science-comic/Asteroid-Belter/fullsize.html

My lecture is on page 35.

My understanding is that reactions to the Newcastle Comic, from schools and school pupils, have been very positive.

Cheers

Brian Randell
 
--
School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell at ncl.ac.uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
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