Benjamin Woo

@geekworlds

Assoc. Professor of Communication and Media Studies, Carleton University. Studying comic cons and festivals as interfaces between media industries and fan communities. Reading comics, playing TTRPGs, cooking Chinese food. #CatDad

262 Folgt267 Follower302 Posts

YouTube Bluesky

gamer

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir geekworlds.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· 14d

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· 16d

Behold! The very first completed page from the revived Ottawa Comics Jam! Panels by me, Craig, and Hannah.

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Jul 1

I thought this was going to be about the Prime Minister of Canada.

Screencap from an episode of the Simpsons with a modified caption. Homer and Marge are in their attic, surrounded by detritus from past storylines. Marge is holding up a t-shirt that says, “Ayatollah --saholla,” as Homer says, “But, Marge, it works on any Carney.”

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Jun 24

So many of us have been returning to the pleasures of making as a response to AI, but it’s also good to remember that—as James Kochalka (www.tcj.com/blood-and-th...) said—craft, or at least the social expectations around “craft,” can be the enemy.

Text screenshot: “I just felt suddenly like I had to write and say craft is the enemy! You could labor your whole life perfecting your "craft," struggling to draw better, hoping one day to have the skills to produce a truly great comic. If this is how you're thinking, you will never produce this great comic, this powerful work of art, that you dream of. There's nothing wrong with trying to draw well, but that is not of primary importance.”

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Jun 24

This came to me in a dream. #MakeATerribleComicDay2026

Bad scan of a four-panel comic drawn in pencil. In panel 1, Cyclops from the X-Men proudly says, "Check it out, Jean! I got a new visor, and it comes with an app!" In panel 2, Cyclops is fiddling with his phone and says, "Let's see…" In panel 3, he shouts "AAH!" as he fires an optic blast straight down where he's holding his phone in his hands. In the fourth and final panel, he holds up the fried, smoking phone and says, "Oh man…"

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Jun 20

Eyes on Gatineau

A glassed in walkway above street level. An art installation of four pairs of cartoony eyes, in different stages of blinking or perhaps sleepiness have been installed.

Another glassed in walkway above street level. An art installation of four different pairs of cartoony eyes, in different stages of squinting have been installed.

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Jun 6

Obligatory haul pic

Graphic novels, minicomics, zines, prints, and pins piled up on a birch veneer tabletop.

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Jun 6

Happy TCAF!

Comics publishers, cartoonists, and zinesters taking over the ice rink at Maple Leaf Gardens. Photo taken from overhead.

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Jun 1

(As an aside, lol.)

Additionally, Canada will "advance work" on AI transparency, including watermarking AI-generated content so Canadians are better aware when they interact with the technology.

It does not say how the government plans to get AI companies to watermark the content.

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Jun 1

The whiplash from “this is so dangerous you can’t be trusted to use it” to “you have to use it all the time” is wild!

However, it doesn't specify what those modernizations will look like. The federal government has previously said it's "very seriously" considering age restrictions for social media and AI chatbots, but no official decision has been made.

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Jun 1

Will we get industry-friendly vocational training or real critical engagement with this technology, which, as others have pointed out, must include the opportunity to refuse it? Just look at how they’re framing the problem.

It cites a KPMG-University of Melbourne global trust study which found Canada ranked very low among 47 countries on AI training and literacy as well as trust in AI systems.

To overcome that gap, the federal government proposes a national AI literacy initiative that will offer entry-level AI training for all Canadians, which includes empowering libraries and community organizations to bring AI literacy into every community.

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· May 20

Noodles with shallots and picked mustard greens, celtuce / AA choy salad, and soft tofu and century egg with chili oil and cilantro.

A teal plate on a wooden table. The plate has a small bowl of noodles on it, along with a pile of shredded green vegetables and a pile of sliced tofu and eggs.

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· May 19

Had a great time at CanGames (“the world’s greatest gaming con that is around the corner from my house”) and played a bunch of cool games with lovely folks. But the standout experience had to be @kurtrefling.bsky.social’s Sock Puppets, a game where the crafting mechanic is literal!

A puppet made out of a brown paper bag with big googly eyes.

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· May 16

“Digital tools,” you say? Whatever could they mean… www.thestar.com/news/canada/...

Article screenshot: “Tao said he has been told by people within IRCC that efforts to resolve communications issues have been complicated by a staff shortage and an increase in the use of digital tools in decision making.”

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· May 8

My students @kathrynfedchun.bsky.social and @shanicebernicky.bsky.social took over the RoCCET Lab’s annual mini-course on comics and zines this year, but they very kindly invited me to the final mini-con. What a treat to visit with these young artists and makers—and add their work to my collection!

A pile of black and white minicomics produced by students in the comics and zines mini-course.

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· May 1

Imagine me saying this with the cadence of “office … SUBMARINE”

The side of a historic stone building at street level, with two plaques attached to the walls for the businesses in adjoining units. They’re the same shape and everything, but the first one is black and says “DEATH METAL” in a grotesque lettering style, and the second is white and says “CHAMPAGNE” in sedate Romanesque capitals. Anyway, did you know that imagination is a dying animal?

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· May 1

I’m never going to remember these keyboard shortcuts.

Wayfinding sign in a park that reads “Den Lille Havfrue” next to the “point of interest” icon that is also the Command key symbol on Macs.

Wayfinding sign on the side of a road that reads “Frihedmuseet” next to the “point of interest” icon that is also the Command key symbol on Macs.

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Apr 24

The Object//Project Art Book Fair is back again this year! I'll be moderating the opening panel with folks from Pulping, PhotoED Magazine, and Ottawa Design Club on Friday, May 8. Free and open to the public at the Carleton Dominion–Chalmers Centre.

Poster: Possible Worlds presents, Ottawa, May 8 to 9, Object//Project 2026 Art Book Fair, Carleton Domion-Chalmers Centre, objectprojectartbookfair.com

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Apr 19

SpongeBob having a real one, with the caption, “It’S iNeViTaBl3”

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Apr 18

Art is for everyone, even turkeys. @gallery.ca

A wild turkey prowling around the exterior of the glassed-in lobby of the National Gallery of Canada.

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Apr 15

On lit « Paul à la pêche » ce soir.

Pippin, un très beau chat, est sur une bande dessinée.

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Apr 11

Well well well look who’s come crawling back

Artemis II mission capsule floating in the ocean

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Apr 6

Pronouncing it “lin-kuh-din” from now on.

Photo of a passage from a book. Hand-drawn squiggly underline draws attention that the typesetter hyphenated “LinkedIn” as “Linke-din” like a maniac.

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Apr 3

Good morning Ottawa. Bonjour Ottawa.

A field of dirty granita-like ice covering the multi-use pathway near the Hartwell Locks. It transitions into half-rotted leaves, but a large tree branch hangs down, partially broken off from its trunk to the right and alighting on the other side of the path. Behind, a grey, cloudy sky and the red-brick phallus of Dunton Tower.

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Mar 19

Making my first commitment on the new machine.

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Mar 19

Replacing my laptop means getting rid of the stickers I’ve collected over the past 6 years. But it also means getting to dip into the strategic sticker reserve for the new computer…

The case of a Silver Macbook festooned with fun stickers

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Feb 17

Happy new year to everyone celebrating today! 🐎 Since it’s both CNY and Shrove Tuesday, I made cong you bing.

A stack of wedges of laminated pastry perched on the edge of a plate amongst dumplings and fried noodles.

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Feb 16

Thanks to everyone who took part in the Convention Cultures Workshop this weekend—what a thrill to spend a day and a half thinking alongside colleagues and emerging scholars.

A classroom with three panelists seated up front. The bit we can see of the audience show a bit of a chaotic, DIY set up with tangles of cords and a couple of signs printed out for timekeeping purposes.

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Feb 9

Good night!

Four panels in a 2 by 2 grid. First, a man from behind sitting at a laptop under the caption, “TRANSCRIBE MY (PROSE) JOURNAL ENTRIES INTO OBSIDIAN.” Second, over the shoulder shot of drawing in a notebook with a cat crouching on the desk beside. Caption reads, “DRAW ONE LAST COMIC BEFORE GETTING READY FOR BED.” Third, an iPad propped up on a cushion sitting on someone’s chest in bed: “READING MY LIBRARY BOOK.” Fourth, just the word “fin.”

Benjamin Woo@geekworlds· Feb 9