- Randall Munroe
Infobox comics creator
name = Randall Munroe
imagesize =
caption = Randall Munroe speaking atMIT .
birthname = Randall Patrick Munroe
birthdate = birth date and age|1984|10|17
location =Easton, Pennsylvania
deathdate =
deathplace =
nationality = American
area =Pen andpencil
alias =
notable works = "xkcd "
awards =
website = http://www.xkcd.net/Randall Patrick Munroe (born
October 17 1984 ) is a programmer best known for creating thewebcomic "xkcd ". He and the webcomic have developed acult following , and he is one of a very small group of webcomic artists who are self-sufficient.Cite news | id=issn|0362-4331 | last = Cohen | first = Noam | title = This Is Funny Only if You Know Unix | work =The New York Times | accessdate = 2008-09-25 | date = 2008-05-26 | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/26/business/media/26link.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss ]Biography
A native of
Easton, Pennsylvania , Munroe grew up inChesterfield, Virginia and was a fan of thefunny pages from an early age starting off with "Calvin and Hobbes ". [cite video |people=@Google Talks (venue) |date2=2007-12-11 |title=Authors@Google: Randall Munroe |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24 |format=Adobe Flash |medium=Digital video |publisher=Google |location=Mountain View, California |accessdate=2008-09-25 |time=24:13 |quote=...Calvin and Hobbes was the first comic that I discovered.] He graduated fromChristopher Newport University in 2006 with a degree inPhysics . [cite web |url=http://xkcd.com/about/ |title=About |accessdate=2008-09-26 |last=Munroe |first=Randall |authorlink=Randall Munroe |publisher=xkcd] [cite web |url= http://universityrelations.cnu.edu/news/2006/05_17_06grads.html|title= 582 students receive diplomas from Christopher Newport University|accessdate=2008-05-30 |author= |date=2006-05-17 |publisher=Christopher Newport University] Munroe worked as anindependent contractor forNASA at theLangley Research Center [cite web |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24 |title=Authors@Google: Randall Munroe |accessdate=2008-09-25 |date=2007-12-11 |work=@Google Talks |publisher=Google |location=Mountain View, California ] before and after his graduation. In January 2006 his NASA contract lapsed and he began to write "xkcd" full-time. He supported himself by the sale of "xkcd" related merchandise.cite news |first=Rebecca |last=Fernandez |title=xkcd: A comic strip for the computer geek |url=http://www.redhat.com/magazine/025nov06/features/xkcd/ |work=Red Hat Magazine |publisher=Red Hat |location=Raleigh, North Carolina |date=2006-10-12 |accessdate=2008-09-25] The webcomic quickly became very popular, garnering up to 70 million hits a month by October 2007.cite news |first=Adrienne |last=So |title=Real Geek Heart Beats in Xkcd's Stick Figures |url=http://www.wired.com/entertainment/theweb/news/2007/11/xkcd |work=Wired |publisher=Condé Nast Publications |location=San Francisco |id=ISSN|1059-1028 |date=2007-11-13 |accessdate=2008-09-25]He has also toured the
lecture circuit; giving speeches at such places asGoogle 'sGoogleplex inMountain View, California . [cite web |url=http://www.beyondsatire.us/?q=node/272 |title=Randall Munroe's visit to Google (xkcd) |accessdate=2008-09-25 |last=Spertus |first=Ellen |authorlink=Ellen Spertus |date=2007-12-21 |work=Beyond Satire]Munroe currently lives with his roommate Derek Radtke in
Somerville, Massachusetts .The comic
"xkcd" is a
stick figure comic with themes in computer programming, mathematics, and science.He had originally used xkcd as an instant messaging screenname because he wanted a name without a meaning so he wouldn't eventually grow tired of it. He registered the domain name, but left it idle until he started posting his drawings in September 2005. [cite video |people=@Google Talks (venue) |date2=2007-12-11 |title=Authors@Google: Randall Munroe |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24 |format=
Adobe Flash |medium=Digital video |publisher=Google |location=Mountain View, California |accessdate=2008-09-25 |time=48:05 |quote= I'm pretty sure I started in September 2005.] The comic has a very loyal fanbase. Munroe said, "I think the comic that's gotten me the most feedback is actually the one about the [http://xkcd.com/277/ stoplights] ".Munroe licenses his creations under the
Creative Commons stating that it isn't just about thefree culture movement , but that it also makes good business sense. His income derives from the sale ofmerchandise to his fans consisting of thousands oft-shirts a month.Other projects
Munroe is the creator of the websites "BestThing", "The Funniest", "The Fairest",and "The Cutest", which present users with two options and ask them to choose one over the other.cite web |url=http://www.pi-con.org/guests/rmunroe |title=Short biography of Randall Munroe |accessdate=2008-09-25 |publisher=Pi-Con]
The "WetRiffs" website was started as a joke, one month after drawing the " [http://xkcd.com/305/ Rule 34] " comic, "lamenting the lack of guitar-in-the-shower pictures on the internet" [cite web |url=http://wetriffs.com/ |title=Home |accessdate=2008-09-26 |last=Munroe |first=Randall |authorlink=Randall Munroe |date=2008-03-18 |publisher=wetriffs.com]
LimerickDB encourages the creation of new, as well as the collection of old limericks. [cite web |url=http://blag.xkcd.com/2008/02/04/limerickdbcom/ |title=LimerickDB.com |accessdate=2008-09-26 |last=Munroe |first=Randall |authorlink=Randall Munroe |date=2008-02-04 |work=Blag |publisher=xkcd] Most recently he started a Geohashing wiki based on one of his comics which contains an
algorithm that generates pseudo-random coordinates around the world every day. [ [http://wiki.xkcd.com/geohashing/Main_Page xkcd's geohashing wiki] ]Aside from maintaining his websites, Munroe also engages in kite photography, in which cameras are attached to kites and pictures are then taken of the ground or buildings. [Ben Kuchera, " [http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/07/02/the-joys-of-kite-photography The joys of kite photography] ",
Ars Technica ,2007-07-02 ]See also
*
xkcd
*Stick figure
*List of self-sufficient webcomics References
External links
* [http://xkcd.com xkcd] the webcomic's site with links to his web store, forums, and blag (blog).
* Randall's comparison sites
** [http://bestthing.info/ BestThing]
** [http://thefunniest.info/ The Funniest]
** [http://thefairest.info/ The Fairest]
** [http://thecutest.info/ The Cutest]
* [http://wetriffs.com/ WetRiffs]
* [http://limerickdb.com/ LimerickDB]
* [http://wiki.xkcd.com/geohashing/Main_Page Geohashing wiki]
* [http://es.xkcd.com/xkcd-es/ xkcd-es] Spanish version of the webcomic.Persondata
NAME= Munroe, Randall
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=webcomic author
DATE OF BIRTH=October 17 1984
PLACE OF BIRTH=Easton, Pennsylvania ,United States
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
