Why? Good question. Back in January of 2002, during a rather lively round of discussion surrounding topics such as electric-tentacled penguins, oreo cookie shuriken, and squid catapults, I mentioned on the eCartoonists mailing list, in a rather half-serious tone, that I was going to singlehandedly create an online-accessible map with website links and locations of all the cartoonists I wanted to visit so that I'd know who was where if I ever travelled into their territory. Naturally, I wasn't serious; I lacked the technical knowhow to do something like that.
However, Jim Alexander took me seriously, and chimed in with some support for the idea. Soon, we had a handful of cartoonists who thought it could be fun, and a list of people who wanted to be included. Russ Williams commented that it should be part of the WebComics Awareness 2002 project. Ultimately we agreed to cross-promote the two events, but to keep the projects separate. Thus the ball started rolling....
So, why DOES it exist? Really, it's for fun. I mean it. Let's say you're a cartoonist, or a fan of one. you're about to take a trip to some exotic locale, and you know you'll have some free time once you get there. Why not take a quick gander at the Web Comics Map Project and see if anyone you want to visit lives in the area you're going to be? Follow the link to their website and email them! If you're lucky, you may make a new friend. Or at the very worst, you'll scare a cartoonist. ;D That's gotta be worth something!
What's New? The former WACCO-Maps.net website fell into a sadly unmaintained state when a combination of server errors and user errors (cough cough...) prevented me from gaining access to the site for updates, changes, and so forth. After over a year, I finally decided to do something about it. The first step was to go to 1&1 Hosting, a large corporate hosting service that was running a promotion for their new public-sector services. After setting up the necessary accounts, I enlisted the assistance of web-monkey PHP- and database-guru Jason Peck to help me rebuild the WACCO-Maps backend from the ground up. Some new images, a new user interface, but the same old fun information. And as for the cherry on top, I went to Go Daddy.com and registered the site's newest domain, ComicMaps.com
I got in contact with Howard Tayler, this year's coordinator for Online Comics Day, the 2004 version of the Webcomics Awareness Project, and once again, we are all about cross-promotion!
Who? At first, it was just a silly idea in my silly head. Then, Jim Alexander of Algernon's Dilemma joined in. He collected the first through third round of names and information for the database that drives the map project. Frauke Nonnenmacher of One Clown Short then jumped on board, agreeing to take the databased information and put it into the web page and create the graphical interface. She also drew all the maps and plotted cartoonists' locations on them. I, Aric Campling of HOSERS, created the balance of the graphics, secured the domain name and hosting services. The second (and current) version of this site kept Jim Alexander on board for adminitrative assistance, but we released Frauke from her shackles and allowed her to go have a real life (congratulations, Frauke!). I brought in a friend and colleague, Jason Peck to take care of the new, improved PHP/SQL databse backend to slick-ify the fintionality of the website and make it frames-free. And now you know everyone involed!
How?! WOW! so you'd like to get involved? That's great! We're always in the process of adding new members to the maps. Currently, you must send an email to the Site Administrators. Soon, web-monkey Jason will have a fully-integrated, PHP-based form to sign up, complete with account access to maintain your own entries on the map if you so desire. When you email us, first remember to remove "AT" from the email address and insert the @ symbol (this prevents spam mail robots from reading the email address from the site). We need to know the following information: Your name, your comic, your website URL, and your geographic location. the last item can be as specific or as vague as you like. Some people are listed simply as "North America" while others were willing to give us their street address! We're quite happy with your city; state, commonwealth, or region (if applicable); and country.
The World Atlas of Comic Creators Online, AKA The Web Comics Map Project, and their top-level domain names of www.ComicMaps.com and www.WACCO-Maps.net are © Copyright 2002 to Current by Aric S. Campling. Some content of the site including images and text, are © Copyright 2002 to Current by Aric Campling, Jim Alexander, and Frauke Nonnemacher. The current database backend and PHP code that drives this site is © Copyright 2004 to Current by Jason Peck. Click here for more Legal information.