[grantlmiller]

First, I've loved that Google open sourced Tensor Flow Federated as a way to encourage the rest of the world to adopt this method of decentralized machine learning.

Second, I was a bit disheartened that this concept had to be explained with a comic strip to make it accessible because I hoped the benefits were clear to everyone.

Third, I read the comic strip, learned new things (secure aggregation protocol, wtf, amazing!), kicked myself for being smug and appreciated the huge amount of effort that someone invested to communicate this.

[pm90]

Popular culture is a tool for the education of the masses. Even for people who may be technically inclined, its not always evident what certain technologies really do.

I am a software engineer but mostly work on DevOps-y stuff. This was a very accessible, low-investment way for me to understand exactly what "Federated Learning" really meant.

Some of the best teachers at Univ had a way of explaining things in simple terms. This comic strip has captured that experience in a more permanent form a lot better than a textbook would.

[dmix]

Universities have a captive audience, they can take the time to walk you through incrementally.

Most websites and online communication don't have that luxury. It's interesting how the comic works well in these situations, while still pushing a long-read format. Google did the long-form comic thing with Chrome too and I remember reading it page-to-page back then.

But at the same time, is it a good idea as your primary website homepage as it is here? Which would be unusual if there was anything more to it like documentation, code, etc. Right now this website is clearly in an educate-the-public mode only which is how they can get away with this being the primary content.

[jhanschoo]

The comic strip format helps in that the audience is not just potential developers, but also the general privacy-conscious consumer.