3052: Archive Request

2025-02-18T07:18:06Z

Hnau: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3052
| date = February 17, 2025
| title = Archive Request
| image = archive_request_2x.png
| imagesize = 346x481px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = They just want researchers in the enclosure to feel enriched and stimulated. ('The Enclosure' is what archivists call the shadowy world outside their archives in which so many people are trapped.)
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Archived by a CONFUSED RESEARCHER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Research sometimes involves looking up old data in an archive, and old data is often not stored in a modern, standard file format. If the archive's computers or procedures are out of date, they might not be able to provide the data the researcher needs in a convenient way. The comic shows [[Cueball]] facing several issues that can happen with archived data:
* The data is stored as paper records, which will have to be scanned into a digital format.
* The data is being sent as a CD-ROM instead of being emailed or shared online, so it will take time to arrive. Also, not every computer has a CD drive, so the researcher might need to use another computer, or buy an external CD drive, to read it.
* It will take 10 business days (about 2 weeks) to process the request.
* The data is not being sent in a common format for scanned documents, such as PDF, but a proprietary format that needs special software to decode.
* The decoder software only runs on Windows 98 or XP, versions of Windows which are no longer supported by Microsoft, and can not even be installed on most modern computers, requiring a very old computer or the installation of a virtual machine. This often happens when old software is no longer supported by the manufacturer, so it cannot be updated to work on new versions of Windows. This will make it difficult for the researcher to decode the data when they get it.

In zoos, captive animals need {{w|behavioral enrichment}} to promote physiological and psychological well-being - to keep them active and reduce behaviors such as pacing back and forth in a cage. Zookeepers provide this by putting toys in their enclosure or putting food in hard-to-open containers so that the animals have to work for it. The comic humorously suggests that archivists are doing the same thing as zookeepers - providing intellectual stimulation for the researcher by forcing them to jump through hoops in order to get their data. The title text suggests that archivists live in their world of archives and see the rest of the universe outside it as a cage that's trapping the rest of us.

In libraries and archives, catalog enrichment means adding useful data to the catalog, including scans of the table of contents or the whole book.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A side view of Cueball, sitting on a wheeled office chair, at a desk with a laptop on it and his hands on the laptop. A jagged line comes from the laptop screen presumably representing text on the computer screen.]
:Computer: To request data from the archives, fill out <u>this</u> form. The pages will be scanned, encoded to CD-ROM, and mailed to you within 10 business days.
:Computer: Download the decoder for our proprietary format <u>here</u> (Requires Windows 98® or XP®)
:Cueball: ''Ugh, fine...''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Archivists actually have everything in digital repos now, but they still do this to provide enrichment for researchers, the way zoos hide food for animals in hard-to-open boxes.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Animals]]

2199: Cryptic Wifi Networks

2019-09-07T08:57:29Z

Hnau: maximum SSID length

{{comic
| number = 2199
| date = September 6, 2019
| title = Cryptic Wifi Networks
| image = cryptic_wifi_networks.png
| titletext = They actually showed up on the first scan by the first WiFi-capable device.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Toshiba-U2187-OfficeLink-Net46UHZ. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

There are in many places cryptic {{w|Wi-Fi}} networks that pop up in strange places and it may not be obvious where the router is located. In this comic, [[Randall]] is joking that those networks are an unexplained phenomenon (as opposed to the more probable explanation that they come from widespread servers or wireless devices).

In the picture, a character with a knit cap is on top of a high mountain. Checking his phone, he sees a WiFi network in this remote location.

The name of the network (or {{w|Service set (802.11 network)|SSID}}) is Toshiba-U2187-OfficeLink-Net46UHZ. {{w|Toshiba}} is a multinational electronics conglomerate. Toshiba makes many products, including large office printers. It's very common for devices to have embedded wireless access points that include the manufacturer name on the SSID. Many network names contain words like Net, Office or Link. The maximum length of an SSID is 32, Randall's has 33 characters.

Network names are used to track locations of mobile devices ({{w|Wi-Fi positioning system}}), for instance Google street view equipment records locations of networks. War-drivers also collect network location information, which can be searched in tools like https://wigle.net/.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A human with a knit cap and a backpack is checking his phone at the highest mountain in a mountainous landscape.]

:Phone: Available WiFi Networks
:Phone: Toshiba-U2187-OfficeLink-Net46UHZ
:Phone: [in gray] Join other network

:[Caption below the comic:]
:Tech Trivia: No one actually knows what devices produce those cryptic WiFi networks. They just appear at random across the Earth's surface.

{{comic discussion}}

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3052: Archive Request

2199: Cryptic Wifi Networks