 | |
Type of site | Blog |
|---|---|
| Owner | Keleops Media |
| URL | gizmodo |
| Launched | January 2, 2008 |
| Current status | Active |
io9 is a sub-blog of the technology blog Gizmodo that focuses on science fiction and fantasy pop culture, with former focuses on science, technology and futurism. It was created as a standalone blog in 2008 by editor Annalee Newitz under Gawker Media. [1] In 2015, io9 became a part of Gizmodo as part of a reorganization under parent company Gawker. [2]
The blog was created in 2008 by Annalee Newitz under Gawker Media. Newitz had been approached by Gawker shortly after another of Newitz's projects, other magazine, ceased print publication—and was asked to start a science and science-fiction blog. [3] Staff at founding included Charlie Jane Anders, Geoff Manaugh (BLDGBLOG), Graeme McMillan (Newsarama), Kevin Kelly (Joystiq, Cinematical) and feminist retro-futuristic writer Lynn Peril (author of Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons). [1] Newitz described the ethos of the site as about looking into the future and science fiction. [1]
In February 2010, it was named one of the top 30 science blogs by Michael Moran of The Times ' Eureka Zone blog, who wrote, "Ostensibly a blog for science fiction enthusiasts, io9 finds space for pieces on cutting-edge technology, the wilder fringes of astronomy and the more worrying implications of grey goo." [4]
After seven years as head editor, in January 2014, Newitz became the new editor at Gizmodo , while co-founder Anders remained as editor at io9—as part of a plan by Gawker to integrate io9 with Gizmodo. io9's 11-member staff joined Gizmodo's 22 person staff, under Newitz's overall supervision. One of the reasons for the merger was to better coordinate content: io9 is a science and science fiction blog, while Gizmodo is a technology blog, which resulted in what Gawker assessed as roughly a 12% rate of overlapping content. [5]
After a nearly eight-year run, Newitz retired from both io9 and Gizmodo on November 30, 2015, explaining that they had grown to disliking managing both sites at once and having taken them away from their passion of writing articles. Newitz moved to take a position as tech culture editor at Ars Technica . Anders remained as head editor of io9. [6] [7] Besides Newitz, several other longtime core staff members left their positions at io9 during this transitional period. [8] [9]
On 26 April 2016, Charlie Jane Anders left the site to focus her attention on her then untitled second novel and Rob Bricken took over as editor. [10]
On July 31, 2018, Rob Bricken stepped down as editor of io9, saying that managing the site was taking up too much time and he would rather spend writing articles for it. [11] His place as editor was filled by Jill Pantozzi, former editor-in-chief of The Mary Sue, who had originally joined io9 as a managing editor [12] and took up the deputy editor position after Bricken's departure. [13] [14]
Following the departure of Pantozzi, who left the site entirely in December 2021, [15] James Whitbrook, who had been an io9 staff writer since 2014, was made the new Deputy Editor in charge of io9. [16]
In 2023 io9 was amongst sites owned by G/O Media that published AI written articles to significant backlash. There was internal dissent to this decision, with James Whitbrook publishing a statement denouncing the decision to publish such material. [17]
| Editor | Tenure | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| Annalee Newitz | 2008 - 2015 | [3] |
| Charlie Jane Anders | 2015 - 2016 | [5] |
| Rob Bricken | 2016 - 2018 | [11] |
| Jill Pantozzi | 2018 - 2021 | [11] [16] |
| James Whitbrook | 2021 - present | [16] |
Gawker was an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers that was based in New York City and focused on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb, the site had over 23 million visits per month in 2015. Founded in 2002, Gawker was the flagship blog for Denton's Gawker Media. Gawker Media also managed other blogs such as Jezebel, io9, Deadspin and Kotaku.
Gawker Media LLC was an American internet media company and blog network. It was founded by Nick Denton in October 2003 as Blogwire, and was based in New York City. Incorporated in the Cayman Islands, as of 2012, Gawker Media was the parent company for seven different weblogs and many subsites under them: Gawker.com, Deadspin, Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Jalopnik, and Jezebel. All Gawker articles are licensed on a Creative Commons attribution-noncommercial license. In 2004, the company renamed from Blogwire, Inc. to Gawker Media, Inc., and to Gawker Media LLC shortly after.
Nicholas Guido Anthony Denton is a British Internet entrepreneur, journalist, and blogger. He is the founder and former proprietor of the blog collective Gawker Media, and he was the managing editor of the New York City–based Gawker until a lawsuit by Terry Bollea bankrupted the company.
Annalee Newitz is an American journalist, editor, and author of both fiction and nonfiction. From 1999 to 2008, Newitz wrote a syndicated weekly column called Techsploitation, and from 2000 to 2004 was the culture editor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian. In 2004, Newitz became a policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. With Charlie Jane Anders, they also co-founded Other magazine, a periodical that ran from 2002 to 2007. From 2008 to 2015, Newitz was editor-in-chief of Gawker-owned media venture io9, and subsequently its direct descendant Gizmodo, Gawker's design and technology blog. They have written for the periodicals Popular Science, Film Quarterly and Wired. As of 2019, Newitz is a contributing opinion writer at The New York Times.
Raju Narisetti is a journalist and former newspaper editor who has been global publishing director at McKinsey & Company since 2020. From July 2018 to December 2019, he was a professor of professional practice and director of the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship Program at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. In October 2017, Narisetti was appointed to the board of trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation. He is one of the Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum.
Charlie Jane Anders is an American writer. She has written several novels as well as shorter fiction, published magazines and websites, and hosted podcasts. In 2005, she received the Lambda Literary Award for work in the transgender category, and in 2009, the Emperor Norton Award. Her 2011 novelette Six Months, Three Days won the 2012 Hugo and was a finalist for the Nebula and Theodore Sturgeon Awards. Her 2016 novel All the Birds in the Sky was listed No. 5 on Time magazine's "Top 10 Novels" of 2016, won the 2017 Nebula Award for Best Novel, the 2017 Crawford Award, and the 2017 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel; it was also a finalist for the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
The 70th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as Chicon 7, was held on 30 August–3 September 2012 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Gizmodo is a design, technology, science, and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton, and runs on the Kinja platform. Gizmodo also includes the sub-blogs io9 and Earther, which focus on pop-culture and environmentalism respectively.
Therefore Repent! is a bestselling Canadian graphic novel written by anarchist freelance writer Jim Munroe and illustrated by Salgood Sam. It is set in a post-apocalyptic Chicago neighbourhood after the predictions of Christian fundamentalists concerning the Rapture have come true, the righteous have risen to Heaven and a society divided between Splitters who believe there will be a second Rapture for those who perform good acts after the first and those who do not. The novel has been called "a progressive, humane rejoinder" to the Christian science fiction novels in the Left Behind series.
Nanopunk refers to an emerging subgenre of science fiction that is still very much in its infancy in comparison to its ancestor-genre, cyberpunk, and some of its other derivatives.
TV Tropes is a wiki that collects and documents descriptions and examples of plot conventions and devices, which it refers to as tropes, within many creative works. Since its establishment in 2004, the site has shifted focus from covering various tropes to those in general media, toys, writings, and their associated fandoms, as well as some non-media subjects such as history, geography, and politics. The nature of the site as a provider of commentary on pop culture and fiction has attracted attention and criticism from several web personalities and blogs. Users of the site's community are called "Tropers", which primarily consist of 18-34 year olds.
Gallifrey Base is an Internet forum dedicated to discussion of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It has been described as "one of the largest Doctor Who fan forums".
Project Hieroglyph is an initiative to create science fiction in order to spur innovation in science and technology founded by Neal Stephenson in 2011.
Ancillary Sword is a science fiction novel by the American writer Ann Leckie, published in October 2014. It is the second novel in Leckie's "Imperial Radch" space opera trilogy, which began with Ancillary Justice (2013) and ended with Ancillary Mercy (2015). The novel was generally well-received by critics, received the BSFA Award for Best Novel and the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, and was nominated for the Nebula and Hugo awards.
Carnival is a 2006 science fiction novel by Elizabeth Bear, published in the US by Bantam Spectra. It was nominated for a Philip K. Dick Award, a Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and a Lambda Literary Award.
Sarah Jeong is an American journalist specializing in information technology law and other technology-related topics. A member of the editorial board of The New York Times from 2018 to 2019, she was formerly a senior writer for The Verge and a contributing editor for Vice Media's Motherboard website. She is the author of The Internet of Garbage, a non-fiction book about online harassment.
Gizmodo Media Group was an online media company and blog network formerly operated by Univision Communications in its Fusion Media Group division. The company was created from assets acquired from Gawker Media during its bankruptcy in 2016. In April 2019, Gizmodo and The Onion were sold to private equity firm Great Hill Partners, which combined them into a new company named G/O Media.
Crooked is a novel by author Austin Grossman, published in 2015 by Mulholland Books. It is a cosmic horror fantasy and secret history of the Cold War and the Watergate scandal, narrated by a fictionalized Richard Nixon.
The 80th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as Chicon 8, was held on 1–5 September 2022 in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Autonomous is a 2017 science fiction novel by Annalee Newitz. It is Newitz's debut novel and was published by Tor Books on September 19, 2017. Set in a near future Earth, the book describes a world where both humans and intelligent robots can be owned as property. The events of the novel follow Jack, a "drug pirate" who manufactures illegal versions of patented drugs, and Paladin, a combat robot who is owned by the law enforcement agency searching for Jack after one of the drugs she reverse-engineered turns out to have dangerous side effects.
