Boing Boing

Crappy parking app design fiction

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 22 May 2012 05:38:17 +0000

The Village presents a video design fiction (?) for "Parking Douche," an app that lets you photograph the number plates of crappily parked cars in your neighborhood (in Russia) and submit them to a database. The app then buys hyper-geo-targeted ads that block the text on the websites being read by people in the same neighbourhood as the badly parked cars. The ads can't be dismissed until you share them on social media. Basically: if you park like a dick, then everyone who lives or works nearby will not be able to read the Web until they've seen and shared a picture of your dickishness.

Parking Douche (via Kottke)

SAP exec arrested for stealing $1K worth of LEGO with DIY bar code scam

Xeni Jardin — Tue, 22 May 2012 04:47:07 +0000

Well this is rich. NBC Bay Area reports that Thomas Langenbach, identified as a VP at SAP's Palo Alto Integration and Certification Center, has been charged with four felony counts of burglary over ill-gotten LEGOs.

Authorities say the German software engineer generated his own fake bar codes, printed stickers with them, then slapped those cheaper bar codes over more expensive kits. And then, it is alleged, he sold that hugely-discounted LEGO loot on eBay for a profit.

Stealing and reselling LEGO on eBay is a thing! Back in 2005, Mark blogged about a guy from Reno, Nevada who pulled the same scam with phony DIY bar codes, and made off with $200K worth of stuff. Back in 2008, Boing Boing covered the story of a man in West Palm Beach, Florida who ripped off $42K worth with an even simpler method. And there are more similar cases.

From the NBC Bay Area report on the Silicon Valley SAP executive's alleged crimes:

[Liz] Wylie, of Mountain View police, said Target security had captured Langenbach performing the "ticket switch" on camera, and had been onto him because the company pays very close attention to LEGO sales. "LEGOs are very popular and expensive," Wylie said.
Langenbach was formally charged with four counts of burglary totaling seven boxes of LEGOs worth about $1,000.
When police searched his home, however, Hendrickson said they found "hundreds and hundreds" of LEGO boxes inside. They also discovered that since last April, he had allegedly sold 2,100 LEGO items totaling about $30,000 on eBay using the handle "tomsbrickyard." Inside Langenbach's car, Hendrickson said, were 32 pre-made barcode stickers.

A quick search on eBay shows that the "tomsbrickyard" account said to be Langenbach's was a "Top Seller" with 99.9% positive reviews from buyers, and an eBay Feedback score of 1179.

Whatever the court ends up deciding about the man, his customers loved him.

Said one, "Excellent seller! Would definitely buy from again! A+++++"

My favorite part of the report:

NBC Bay Area went to Langenbach's multimillion dollar San Carlos home on Monday, but no one answered the door, despite people being home.

More: VP of Palo Alto's SAP Arrested in LEGO Bar Code Scam.

(nbcbayarea.com via Andy Orin)

Multiple dancing Bowies in bonkers 1978 Italian TV clip (video)

Xeni Jardin — Tue, 22 May 2012 02:07:04 +0000

Richard Metzger says:

This 1978 clip features the eternally popular Raffaella Carrà (now pushing 70) singing Cole Porter’s “Night and Day” as bald. mustachioed eye-patch wearing sci-fi weirdos, um, assist her..
That’s only the “night” part, just wait until the troupe of caped, dancing “Aladdin Sane” clones show up near the end!

Watch the video at Dangerous Minds.

Second attempt for SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon launch: Tue. May 22, 3:44am ET

Xeni Jardin — Tue, 22 May 2012 01:57:26 +0000

A second launch attempt for the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is scheduled for 3:44am EDT, Tuesday May 22. Weather is currently 80% go. Watch it live here. For background, watch Miles O'Brien's PBS NewsHour feature, and SpaceFlightNow's QA with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. SpaceFlightNow will also have live coverage from Mission Control, with streaming video. (Image: SpaceFlightNow)

Hot Chip: "Night And Day" (music video, dir. Peter Serafinowicz)

Xeni Jardin — Tue, 22 May 2012 01:26:55 +0000

[Video Link]

Above: "Night and Day," from Hot Chip's forthcoming album "In Our Heads" (June 11th, Domino).

This music video was directed by Peter Serafinowicz, best known to most Boing Boing readers as an actor/funnyman in The Peter Serafinowicz Show, Look Around You, and a number of other TV series and films we've blogged about here before.

He has also performed as 3 Darths: Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Darth Chef in South Park, and a Darth Vader parody in The Peter Serafinowicz Show.

"Many animals were harmed during the making of this video," he explains. "Regrettably, none of them made the final edit."

I loved this earlier video he directed for Hot Chip: "I Feel Better."

Sexy typewriter postcards of yore

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 22 May 2012 00:39:25 +0000

On How to Be a Retronaut, an invigorating, 1910s-1920s gallery of winsome, partially unclothed lasses posed with typewriters. Hummina. 23 and/or skiddoo! They're ganked from marvellous Virtual Antique Typewriter Museum.

Typewriter Erotica c. 1920s (via Making Light)

Ring of Fire: 2012 annular eclipse video made from 700 individual photo frames

Xeni Jardin — Tue, 22 May 2012 00:32:07 +0000

[Video Link]

Boing Boing reader Cory Poole is a 33-year-old math and science teacher at University Preparatory School in Redding, CA. He sends in this beautiful video of yesterday's annular solar eclipse, and says:

This is a 60 second time-lapse video made from 700 individual frames through a Coronado Solar Max 60 Double Stacked Hydrogen Alpha Solar Telescope. The pictures were shot in Redding, CA, which was directly in the annular eclipse path. The filter on the telescope allows you to see the chromosphere which is a layer that contains solar prominences. The filter only allows light that is created when hydrogen atoms go from the 2nd excited state to the 1st excited state.

Annular solar eclipse this weekend: where to see it in the skies+online

Short documentary about Cosplay at New York Comic Con

Mark Frauenfelder — Tue, 22 May 2012 00:23:26 +0000

Todd Bieber says: "I directed a video for Nerdist and Broadway Video. It's a fun series that takes you inside the world of Cos Play. There were so many videos out there poking fun at Cos Players that we wanted to create something that celebrated the culture."

WTF is Cosplay? - Just Cos NYCC: Episode 1

Star Wars supercut: Owen Lars

David Pescovitz — Tue, 22 May 2012 00:22:05 +0000

Phil Brown was the real protagonist in Star Wars. Thecussingchannel has a bunch more new Star Wars super cuts. (via Wired)

The Culture Maker: An Interview with Mark Frauenfelder Of Boing Boing

Mark Frauenfelder — Tue, 22 May 2012 00:19:10 +0000

Kyle of the website Los Angeles I'm Yours profiled me and took a bunch of photos of my office. I had a great time chatting with him.

Mark is based in Studio City, where he lives with his family in the hills neighboring Laurel Canyon. He grew up in Colorado for the most part, his father’s time in the Coast Guard landing him and his family in various locations from Hawaii back to returning to Colorado. “I basically grew up in Boulder,” he said, noting his father eventually worked at IBM as an engineer. “I actually studied engineering in school -- I have a degree in mechanical engineering. But, when I got out of school, instead of going to work as an engineer, I was in a band. We moved to London and played there for a while. We didn’t get a record deal or anything like that. But, it was fun. After a while of living in poverty in London, I moved back to the United States, to California, and got a job at Memorex as a disk drive design engineer, designing disk drives. I did that off and on for five years.”

The Culture Maker: An Interview with Mark Frauenfelder Of Boing Boing

The Bald Princess (a 4-year-old's drawing of Xeni, for women with cancer in chemo)

Xeni Jardin — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:36:31 +0000

I've been blogging and tweeting about my experience in treatment for breast cancer, including what it's like to go through chemotherapy. The chemo drugs I received made all my hair fall out (not all kinds do, but mine did). I've been going around "commando," as people with cancer say—bald, no wigs. Scarves or hats only when it's too cold or sunny to go bare.

You do whatever works for you to get through this. Going around bare-headed is what works for me.

Julie Zwillich just tweeted me this fantastic drawing made for me by her four-year-old daughter. It's me. She calls it "The Bald Princess."

If you know a woman or girl receiving chemotherapy, maybe you'd like to share this with them, too. Good days always follow the bad.

People of Law & Order, eating

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:00:21 +0000

Law & Order & Food is a Tumblr with nothing but stills of the Law & Order cast eating, which is something they seem to do a lot of, because they're in NYC, which has some pretty badass takeout. Also: it's characterization.

Law & Order & Food (via MeFi)

HGich.T: Tutenchamun (music video)

Xeni Jardin — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:50:03 +0000

[Video Link] What is this I don't even. The artist is HGich.T, the song "Tutenchamun." Original video sans subtitles and explanations are here. It's several years old, but new to me. (HT: @treyka)

“Freeware” compilation of LA Post-Punk and Indie-Wave music, 1977-1987

Xeni Jardin — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:49:30 +0000

My friend Sean Bonner just pointed me to a wonderful music history project, put together by Brian Stefans: at lapostpunk.blogspot.com, an MP3 compilation of post-punk and experimental pop music in the Los Angeles area from the mid-seventies through the mid-eighties.

I kind of think of this as a portrait of the city at the time more than a collection of tracks that will change the world (though more than a handful I think are unfairly neglected). I’m wondering if someone like Rhino Records would want to do a Nuggets-type collection from the period? They already have one of Los Angeles from 1965-1968 called Where The Action Is.

Incredibly comprehensive. What a labor of love. There's a Volume one, and a Volume two.

Creepy book cover (can you spot why?)

Xeni Jardin — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:07:11 +0000

Larger size here. And, Amazon link, if you're so inclined. (Thanks, Joe Sabia, via Reddit)

Fool-the-eye van paintjob

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:00:15 +0000

This is the ultimate in aspirational automotive paintjobs, surely. It's more unsourced net.stuff -- anyone know where it originated?

(Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

Sickening profile of Canada's weapons-grade patent trolls

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 21 May 2012 20:21:44 +0000

In Wired, Robert McMillan profiles Rockstar, a world-class patent troll based in Canada, which was capitalized to buy up Nortel's "defensive" patent portfolio for billions of dollars and now does nothing but look for companies that make stuff that people like and use, so it can send them legal threats. Rockstar itself has no products, aside from legal threats. Reading this left me with the taste of sick in my mouth, and a sense that the patent system has to be reformed or taken down altogether, before it turns parasitism and lawsuits into the only viable technology business-models.

But Widdowson is a specialist. He’s one of 10 reverse-engineers working full time for a stealthy company funded by some of the biggest names in technology: Apple, Microsoft, Research In Motion, Sony, and Ericsson. Called the Rockstar Consortium, the 32-person outfit has a single-minded mission: It examines successful products, like routers and smartphones, and it tries to find proof that these products infringe on a portfolio of over 4,000 technology patents once owned by one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies.
When a Rockstar engineer uncovers evidence of infringement, the company documents it, contacts the manufacturer, and demands licensing fees for the patents in question. The demand is backed by the implicit threat of a patent lawsuit in federal court. Eight of the company’s staff are lawyers. In the last two months, Rockstar has started negotiations with as many as 100 potential licensees. And with control of a patent portfolio covering core wireless communications technologies such as LTE (Long Term Evolution) and 3G, there is literally no end in sight.
“Pretty much anybody out there is infringing,” says John Veschi, Rockstar’s CEO. “It would be hard for me to envision that there are high-tech companies out there that don’t use some of the patents in our portfolio.”

How Apple and Microsoft Armed 4,000 Patent Warheads

AT&T vision video from 1961

David Pescovitz — Mon, 21 May 2012 19:05:32 +0000

Remember AT&T's "You Will" campaign from the early 1990s? Here's its predecessor, from 1961. Starring:

* The wireless Bellboy Pager, which was introduced commercially in 1962
* The Data-phone, which was supposed to revolutionize business communications
* The videophone—shown as a credit-card-reading vertical two-way television
* The card-reading phone or automatic dialer, which would dial a number from small plastic punch cards, introduced in 1961
* Oh, and package delivery via rocket (which had just been tested in 1959).

"AT&T Archives: Seeing the Digital Future (1961)"

Neil Gaiman commencement address explains the artist's life

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 21 May 2012 19:00:40 +0000

Here's Neil Gaiman's commencement address to Philadelphia's University of the Arts, who awarded him an honorary doctorate. It's a wonderful talk on being an artists and pursuing a career in the arts.

I'm getting an honorary doctorate in Computer Science from the Open University next month, and I've been boiling my brain to come up with my own speech -- this has really raised the bar.

Gaiman addresses the graduating class

Children's book about ghosts (and zombies)

David Pescovitz — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:43:14 +0000

There Are No Ghosts is a delightful and creepy children's book written by my niece Amanda Pescovitz, a high school senior, and illustrated by her classmate Ellen Wang. The book was born from an award-winning poem that inspired the fantastic (and fantastical) art. The illustrations landed a silver key in a Scholastic Art competition. While I admit I can't be entirely objective, I honestly do think it's a terrific book. My kids (6 and 3) got a real kick out of the surprise ending. (SPOILER ALERT) It's true, there may be no such thing as ghosts. But the title doesn't say anything about zombies!

"There Are No Ghosts"

BBC radiophonic sound experiment from 1957

David Pescovitz — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:24:36 +0000

From 1957, "Private Dreams and Public Nightmares," an incredibly weird and fantastic BBC sound experiment by writer Frederick Bradnum, pioneering electronic music composer Daphne Oram, and producer Donald McWhinnie. Oram went on to co-found the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, the massively influential sound effects and music studio. From McWhinnie's narration introducing the piece:

This programme is an experiment. An exploration. It's been put together with enormous enthusiasm and equipment designed for other purposes. The basis of it is an unlimited supply of magnetic tape, recording machine, razor blade, and some thing to stick the bits together with. And a group of technicians who think that nothing is too much trouble - provided that it works.
"You take a sound. Any sound. Record it and then change its nature by a multiplicity of operations. Record it at different speeds. Play it backwards. Add it to itself over and over again. You adjust filters, echoes, acoustic qualities. You combine segments of magnetic tape. By these means and many others you can create sounds which no one has ever heard before. Sounds which have indefinable and unique qualities of their own. A vast and subtle symphony can be composed from the noise of a pin dropping. In fact one of the most vibrant and elemental sounding noises in tonight's program me started life as an extremely tinny cowbell.
"It's a sort of modern magic…"

"Early BBC radio phonics: Private Dreams and Public Nightmares (1957)" (via @chris_carter_)

Help Wanted ads for Torturer, Abuser, Kidnapper

David Pescovitz — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:07:38 +0000

Above, an ad that recently ran in The Guardian newspaper. “The government of a Middle Eastern state is recruiting a senior torturer to work in a well-equipped prison. Our ideal candidate would be prepared to inflict extreme pain and suffering… Candidates will be expected to inspire a small but enthusiastic team." The ad is part of a new awareness campaign for the Freedom From Torture medical foundation. Other positions they are advertising for include Abuser and Kidnapper. Both of those pay much more than Torturer. "Career Prospects in the Pain Business" (Design Observer)

Slime computes freeways systems

David Pescovitz — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:55:05 +0000

We've posted before about researchers exploring slime molds as a kind of bio-computer capable of some amazing accomplishments in information processing. Recently, computer scientist Andrew Adamtzky of the University of the West of England in Bristol and his colleagues used a slime mold to devise optimal interstate highway systems for the United States, Britain, Mexico, Brazil, the Netherlands, and Canada (above). He will detail his latest slime systems in a forthcoming issue of the scientific journal Complex Systems, "devoted to the science, mathematics, and engineering of systems with simple components but complex overall behavior." For a teaser, check out Adamatzky's recent op-ed in the New York Times, titled "The Wisdom of Slime."

Former Warner Music CTO: Of course leaked albums drive sales!

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:45:23 +0000

On Twitter, former Warner Music CTO Ethan Kaplan greets the "surprising" news that file sharing of pre-release albums drives demand with acerbic and admirable sarcasm: "Let me simplify this answer: YES IT LEADS TO MORE SALES. DEMAND = DEMAND W/ $$$$$$ IF PRODUCT GOOD."

Simplified further: MUSIC BUSINESS (RECORDED): your product isn't diamonds mined from a secret mythical land.
And beyond broadband/napster/whatever, what hurt you the most is PEOPLE FIGURED THAT OUT. Cynicism caught up with you.

Ethan's one of the good'uns.

Former Record Label Exec Ethan Kaplan: Duh, Of Course More File Sharing Leads To More Sales

Exhibition of invisible art

David Pescovitz — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:36:47 +0000

London's Hayward Gallery is mounting an exhibition of Invisible Art. The exhibition includes pieces such as Andy Warhol's Invisible Sculpture, essentially an empty pedestal, and, seen above, Tom Friedman's "1000 Hours of Staring," a large blank sheet of paper that he looked at repeatedly over five years. They should play John Cage's 4'33" as the exhibit soundtrack. From The Telegraph:

Ralph Rugoff, director of the Hayward Gallery, said: ''I think visitors will find that there is plenty to see and experience in this exhibition of invisible art. From the amusing to the philosophical, you will be able to explore an invisible labyrinth that only materializes as you move around it, see an artwork that has been created by the artist staring at it for 1000 hours, walk through an installation designed to evoke the afterlife, and be in the presence of Andy Warhol's celebrity aura.
''This exhibition highlights that art isn't about material objects, it's about setting our imaginations alight, and that's what the artists in this show do in many varied ways.''

"Empty plinth and blank piece of paper to feature in exhibition of invisible art" (The Telegraph) Invisible (Hayward Gallery)

"Brass knuckles" iPhone case

David Pescovitz — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:24:18 +0000

OK, they're not brass, they're aluminum. Knuckle Case for iPhone (Thanks, Kelly Sparks!)

Toronto neighbours turn their laneway into a garage-door art-gallery

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:00:37 +0000

A pair of Toronto neighbours, Elly Dowson and Christine Liber, set out to cover the coach-house doors in their laneway with awesome murals. This was in the context of an edict from Toronto's dipshit mayor, Rob Ford, who has instituted fines for property owners who don't remove graffiti from their premises. Dowson and Liber figured taggers would be less likely to go after murals, and that their project would also beautify their neighbourhood.

Elly and Christine delivered flyers along their street – they offered to paint resident’s garages with art. The service was offered free of charge, and the paint was generously donated by Maple Paints on St. Clair Avenue West. Responding to the flyer, residents who share the laneway between Kenwood Avenue and Wychwood Avenue began to grant permission to have their garages turned into ‘urban art’. Elly and Christine got to work.
Some of the art was created through stencils, some of the paintings were inspired by artists like Miro, Keith Haring and Mark Rothko, and some were original creations. Soon, the ‘urban art’ initiative started to gain momentum – with good weather on their side, Elly and Christine painted 21 garages in 21 days. Some of the residents had a ton of graffiti, and some had none at all – but everyone agreed that the art might be a great way to minimize future graffiti.
The Kenwood/Wychwood laneway has become a living art gallery. The new art quickly became a destination within the neighbourhood – there was a noticeable increase in foot and bicycle traffic, making for a safer laneway. The initiative not only galvanized the street, but the laneway became a source of pride and has helped build a sense of community.

Elly was once my babysitter -- this is so cool.

The Kenwood Lane Art Initiative: 21 Garages in 21 Days

Flickr slideshow

(via Torontoist, thanks Mom!)

Conclusions from studying 20 file-sharing papers

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:18:46 +0000

Zeropaid's Drew Wilson has wrapped up his series examining 20 studies that looked at the impact of filesharing on the sales of entertainment products (previously). He's summed up his conclusions based on the project, comparing the entire corpus to the notorious "Phoenix study" that was used as "evidence" for SOPA:

Claim: One of the claims the Phoenix study that we picked up was that finding a legal framework to stop infringement online has proven to sell politically.
Fact: After our extensive review, we found that, even though there is fierce opposition towards laws such as SOPA and any form of graduated response, the problem isn’t actually political. The problem is that there is no scientific basis for laws such as a “graduated response” or censorship of the Internet. After we examined the studies, there was a general theme that the best approach to dealing with file-sharing was not legal enforcement, but rather, a change in a business model that’s adapted to today’s digital reality. If you wanted to find debate where there was no real consensus, then it’s exactly how the industry is suppose to adapt their business model to the digital environment. While many pointed to price point, some suggested trying to find other ways of selling music like what iTunes has done. In fact, one study suggested that enforcement does not bring back customers by itself, but rather, building a model that is actually palatable so the customers return to you more voluntarily. Even the most pro-enforcement study we came up with said that if you’re going to actually do something like litigation, build a better business model as well, but simply resorting to legal tactics against file-sharers is not necessarily a good idea.
Claim: Another claim the Phoenix study made was that (in the process of disagreeing that there is a difference between a physical stolen piece of property and an unauthorized download) there is no incentive for producers and artists to make music. In addition, because of the activities of file-sharing, there will be less creative works made available.
Fact: Let’s cut to the chase. Part 8 of our series explicitly debunked the claim that file-sharing causes the decrease in quantity of music. The authors of that study explicitly state that they found no evidence of any kind that linked any decline in the quantity of music and file-sharing. If there was any decline that happened during the existence of file-sharing, the decline was merely a continuing trend since before Napster. In addition, numerous studies point to the trend of an increase in profits for artists both before this series and during this series thanks to the sampling effect. In fact, the only evidence that file-sharing is even hurting artists at all points out that it’s only the super rich and super famous top acts in the entire industry that may suffer any sort of loss at all (as seen in part 19 of our series). Again, as far as our series and the previous studies are concerned, not true at all.
Claim: File-sharing displaces legitimate sales. The evidence points to that.
Fact: This is a classic case of error by omission. What we found in our investigation was that there are numerous reasons why music sales were in decline in the early 2000′s other than the existence of file-sharing. Explanations included an increase in other entertainment sectors, the unbundling of the music album and returning to the singles model (re: the comments of deadweight losses) and an increasing pressure of the consumers bottom line in the face of todays economic realities. So, judging by the evidence we’ve collected, the evidence does not point in the direction that file-sharing, in and of itself, displace sales, but rather, other factors would also play a role in displacement of sales.
Claim: Since people can enjoy music that they downloaded, they are taking away from society and therefore placing a tax on society which means file-sharing must be stopped.
Fact: This model, when compared to all of the models we’ve seen, is completely out to lunch. There’s been plenty of calculations and economic models and non of them say anything like this. The closest we can recall in our series was Part 5 in our series which used the flawed theory of 1 download means one lost sale. While the models suggest that consumers do get something out of downloaded material, the losses still only account for less than $2 per album.

There's lots more, and it's all worth reading. A great companion piece to TechDirt's The Sky is Rising.

What Filesharing Studies Really Say – Conclusions and Links

Proposed US law makes domestic propaganda legal

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:00:25 +0000

Buzzfeed's Michael Hastings reports on a revision to the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 and Foreign Relations Authorization Act in 1987, which prohibit the use of government disinformation and propaganda campaigns within the USA. The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Mac Thornberry from Texas and Rep. Adam Smith from Washington State, would allow the US government to knowingly tell lies to its people in order to promote the government's own policies.

The new law would give sweeping powers to the State Department and Pentagon to push television, radio, newspaper, and social media onto the U.S. public. “It removes the protection for Americans,” says a Pentagon official who is concerned about the law. “It removes oversight from the people who want to put out this information. There are no checks and balances. No one knows if the information is accurate, partially accurate, or entirely false.”
According to this official, “senior public affairs” officers within the Department of Defense want to “get rid” of Smith-Mundt and other restrictions because it prevents information activities designed to prop up unpopular policies—like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Critics of the bill point out that there was rigorous debate when Smith Mundt passed, and the fact that this is so “under the radar,” as the Pentagon official puts it, is troubling.
The Pentagon spends some $4 billion a year to sway public opinion already, and it was recently revealed by USA Today the DoD spent $202 million on information operations in Iraq and Afghanistan last year.

Congressmen Seek To Lift Propaganda Ban (Thanks, Owlswan!)

(Image: stalin - chinese propaganda booklet, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from uair01's photostream)

Upside Comics: UK charity that uses comics to promote literacy

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:14:40 +0000

This weekend, I took my daughter to the Kapow! comics fair in Islington, London, and happened on the Upside Comics booth. Upside is a charitable trust that promotes literacy using comics. They run comics-creation workshops for kids, produce pro-literacy comics, and bibliographies of great kids' comics. They're looking for donations of comics and graphic novels, as well as cash, time and expertise.

Upside Comics use comics and graphic novels to promote literacy for children and young people. We support reading, creative writing, design and illustration.
Upside Comics is a small charity with support from the Big Lottery. The organisation was started by people working in schools and youth charities who love comics. We believe that literacy is the key to childrens' future success and happiness.

Upside Comics