Sounds Like A Game Changer

This collection gathers more than 100 of Jim’s best tech cartoons alongside his written thoughts on his experiences communicating about technology as it’s evolved over the last crazy, game-changing decade. Get it before it’s all obsolete!

Within the relative anonymity that came with that nom de plume, Jim’s cartoonist brain has frequently intermingled with his PR consultant brain and baked up cartoons about technology… or more specifically, the human obsession with technology.

Computers, software, hardware, tablets, phablets, smartphones, game consoles, websites, social media, the Internet, fibre-networks, robotics, big data, servers, 3D printing, the cloud, ‘green’ tech, apps, memes, BYOD, data security, space travel, time-travel, innovation, collaboration… If it’s anything to do with technology, Jim has probably cartooned about it (or will soon.)

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“Technology has changed our lives. Permanently.

As software improves, hardware gets smaller and autonomous vehicles get smarter, we will always look back on yesterday’s craze as a clumsy, slower version of the obsolete gadget we are using today.

This is where the incredible talents of technologist, communicator and cartoonist Brendan Boughen (a.k.a. Jim) come in.

Over his decade-long career in communications working with some of the world’s biggest tech brands, and with a unique ability to craft images which highlight the humour behind some of the technology that we believed at the time was ‘game changing,’ Jim has created screenshots of life in the digital age which get to the heart of our obsession with technology.

My own first personal experience of Jim’s tech cartoons came when a notification popped up on my Twitter feed saying @cartoonsbyjim had mentioned me in a tweet.

It was Arthur C Clarke who wrote that, “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” and if we think back to where technology was at just ten years ago, it’s understandable that our reactions to the new, sometimes game-changing technology that has appeared around us every year since, are often reactions of such bedazzlement.

So, as Jim holds your hand in his inky one and takes you for a walk down memory lane through this collection of insightful sketches about life with technology, you’ll laugh out loud, ponder deeply and maybe even shed a tear at its reminders of the familiar technology that has touched your life as it wanders amidst the magical gadgets, pop culture moments, viral trends and even the tough times in our world’s recent history.

This book isn’t just a fun jibe at how technology rules our lives; it’s a deep historical collection and thought-provoking prediction of humanity’s relationships in the digital age.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.”

From the Foreword by Dr Michelle Dickinson (Nanogirl) - Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Auckland

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About the author

Brendan Boughen’s (Jim’s) cartoons have featured in magazines and websites in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the USA.

He has drawn cartoons for businesses, hospitals, community organisations and churches, and is an associate member of the Australian Cartoonist's Association.

Jim draws black and white gags, full-colour cartoons, single panel or comic strips that aim to go a little deeper than most and work on multiple levels.

In December 2006, Jim published his first book, titled Gone Astray: A Collection of (Sac)Religious Cartoons by Jim.

These days, Jim's cartoons can be seen monthly in the editorial pages of the New Zealand Methodist Church’s Touchstone magazine and randomly in a variety of publications around the world.