Update: This Indiegogo store will close down sometime in the evening of 31 December 2019. (Indiegogo is no longer available in South Africa.) I'm doing final orders for 2019, and will dispatch all parcels from the US and UK by 10 January 2020.
The backstory
For years as a digital rights campaigner, I’ve been talking to grown-ups about data privacy. But I wanted a playful, engaging way to start a discussion with the kids in my life about these issues.
So I wrote and illustrated Boris the BabyBot, the world’s first (?) children’s book about corporate surveillance.
Data collection may seem like a scary topic for adults, but kids are smart and curious and resilient – especially when it comes to the frolics and follies of a beeping, booping, baby-tracking robot.
Boris the BabyBot is written for ages 3-5, and grown-ups of all ages.
Through its whimsical illustration and playful repetition, this book aims to amuse and delight young minds, and maybe help spark an important conversation about the world around them.
The response to this book has been incredible -- we met our funding goal on Indiegogo in less than a week, and it's been featured on the BBC and Reuters, to name a few.
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What it took to get Boris published
Boris the BabyBot is a 40-page, full-color picture book. (Its page count and dimensions have been upgraded due to the early success of the crowdfunding campaign.)
After the campaign's massive success, we've published it as a hardcover, with high-quality gloss-art paper inside, at a print-run of 2500 books.
Funds raised went directly to completing, printing, and distributing this book:
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Donating books
I'm a supporter of Nal’ibali (South Africa’s awesome national reading campaign), which promotes the power of stories to spark kids’ imaginations and curiosity about the world. We donated 10% of the print run to reading clubs through our friends at Nal'ibali.
What you got for backing Boris
Some of the perks for those who supported the publishing of Boris the BabyBot:
- Vinyl stickers - for laptops, fridges, lunchboxes, etc
- The book, in glorious hardcover
- Boris lapel buttons, assembled with love
- A Boris-branded anti-spying webcam shield
- Limited-edition hand-printed lino art by activist-mama-sociologist Natasha Vally.
- Limited edition hand-crafted onesie/toddler t-shirt
- Limited edition hand-crafted tree ornaments
Why this book matters
Why a story book about surveillance? Well - why not?
The main goal of Boris the BabyBot is to delight young readers.
The future of privacy is a really important issue, and if this book opens up a conversation between kids and grown-ups, great!
But I didn't want to be prescriptive or try to hammer home a lesson.
And yet, amid the silliness and mischief, Boris the BabyBot does offer some basic visual references for invisible and abstract concepts of ‘data collection’, which could help shape a child's awareness of these processes as they grow and develop.
And if not, at least we had fun!
Deliveries
For the final orders on Indiegogo, I'll be sending out books via the US Postal Service (Priority Mail) and UK Royal Mail. All parcels will be sent by 10 January 2020 and should arrive within 5 days (UK and US) and 2 weeks (everywhere else).
Other ways you can help
Of course, the single best thing you can do to help this project is to put a few coins in the bucket. But you can also really help by spreading the word on social media.
Connect with the BabyBot on social media:
Acknowledgements:
Privacy statement:
If you'd like to back the campaign or pre-order the book – see this on how to keep your contribution anonymous on Indiegogo. Please note that your details will still be visible to me, unless you provide a fake name and email. (If you do that, fair enough – although it means I can't write to say thanks.) For what it's worth: I'll only use your contact details to (a) write a letter of thanks; (b) keep you updated about the completion of the project; (c) deliver your book and other perks.
