![Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz 2011](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Charlie_Jane_Anders_and_Annalee_Newitz_2011.jpg)
''io9'' is part of
Gizmodo
''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 subsite ''io9'', whic ...
media since 2015,
and it began as
blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
launched in 2008 by
Gawker Media
Gawker Media LLC (formerly Blogwire, Inc. and Gawker Media, Inc.) was an American Online and offline, online Mass media, media company and Link farm#Blog network, blog network. It was founded by Nick Denton in October 2003 as Blogwire, and was ba ...
.
The site initially focused on the subjects of
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
,
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
,
futurism
Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such ...
,
science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
,
technology
Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...
and related areas but over the years has shifted to more of a focus on science-fiction/fantasy-based pop-culture including movies, television, video games comic books, and related toys. It was founded by
Annalee Newitz
Annalee Newitz (born May 7, 1969) is an American journalist, editor, and author of both fiction and nonfiction, who has written for the periodicals ''Popular Science'' and ''Wired''. From 1999 to 2008 Newitz wrote a syndicated weekly column call ...
, a former policy analyst for the
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet ci ...
and contributor to ''
Popular Science
''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...
'', ''
Wired
''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...
'', and ''
New Scientist
''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publishe ...
''. Other contributors included co-founding editors
Charlie Jane Anders
Charlie Jane Anders is an American writer and commentator. She has written several novels, published magazines and websites, and hosted podcasts. In 2005, she received the Lambda Literary Award for work in the transgender category, and in 2009, t ...
and Kevin Kelly, in addition to Geoff Manaugh (
BLDGBLOG
BLDGBLOG is an architecture blog authored by futurist Geoff Manaugh, former editor at '' Dwell'' magazine, former Editor-in-Chief at Gizmodo, and a contributing editor at Wired UK. It is acclaimed by ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The Atlantic ...
), Graeme McMillan (
Newsarama
Newsarama is an American website that publishes news, interviews, and essays about the American comic book industry. It is owned by Future US. In June 2020, Newsarama was merged with the website GamesRadar+, also owned by FutureUS.
History
N ...
), Meredith Woerner, Alasdair Wilkins, Cyriaque Lamar, Tim Barribeau, Esther Inglis-Arkell, Lauren Davis, Robbie Gonzalez, Keith Veronese,
George Dvorsky
George P. Dvorsky (born May 11, 1970) is a Canadian bioethicist, transhumanist and futurist. He is a contributing editor at io9 and producer of the ''Sentient Developments'' blog and podcast. He was chair of the board for the Institute for Et ...
, and Lynn Peril.
[ Between October 2010 and January 2012 ''io9'' hosted the '']Geek's Guide to the Galaxy
''Geek's Guide to the Galaxy'' is a science fiction book podcast.
History
The show is produced for Wired.com and hosted by author David Barr Kirtley. It was created by Kirtley and John Joseph Adams, who served as co-host for the first hundre ...
'' podcast, produced by John Joseph Adams
John Joseph Adams (born 1976) is an American science fiction and fantasy editor, critic, and publisher.
Career Editor
Adams worked as Assistant Editor at ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' from May 2001 to December 2009. In January 20 ...
and David Barr Kirtley
David Barr Kirtley (born 1977) is an American short story writer and the host of the ''Geek's Guide to the Galaxy'' podcast.
Writing
His short fiction appears in magazines such as ''Realms of Fantasy'' and ''Weird Tales'', in online magazines ...
.
In 2015 ''io9'' became a part of Gizmodo, as part of a reorganization under parent company Gawker.
History
Annalee Newitz (2008–2015)
In 2008, shortly after Newitz's project, ''other magazine'', ceased print publication, Gawker
''Gawker'' is an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers and based in New York City focusing on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb, the site had over 23 million visits per month as of 2015. Founded in ...
media asked them to start a science and sci-fi blog. In an interview, Newitz explained the significance of the name "io9": "Well, io9s are input-output devices that let you see into the future. They're brain implants that were outlawed because they drove anyone who used one insane. We totally made that (device) up to name the blog. The blog is about looking into the future and science fiction, so we wanted to come up with a fictional name, something that was science fiction."[ ''io9s "Explanations" page gives further details on the fictional backstory of these devices.
The blog is indexed by ]Google News
Google News is a news aggregator service developed by Google. It presents a continuous flow of links to articles organized from thousands of publishers and magazines. Google News is available as an app on Android, iOS, and the Web.
Google rel ...
. In February 2010, it was named one of the top 30 science blogs by Michael Moran of ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' 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
Gray goo (also spelled as grey goo) is a hypothetical global catastrophic scenario involving molecular nanotechnology in which out-of-control self-replicating machines consume all biomass on Earth while building many more of themselves, a sce ...
."
In 2012, ''io9'' created a video series called "io9: We Come From The Future". It had 32 shows from April 13, 2012 through November 16, 2012. It was hosted by Annalee Newitz and Esther Inglis-Arkell. It was shown on the Internet television network Revision3
Revision3 was a San Francisco-based multi-channel television network that created, produced and distributed streaming television shows on niche topics. Founded in 2005, it operated as a subsidiary of Discovery Digital Networks since 2012.
The ...
and on YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
. The show discussed the latest news in science and science fiction.
''io9'' was referenced in the American television series ''Dollhouse
A dollhouse or doll's house is a toy home made in miniature. Since the early 20th century dollhouses have primarily been the domain of children, but their collection and crafting is also a hobby for many adults. English-speakers in North America ...
''.
Charlie Jane Anders (2015–2016) — Gizmodo merger
After seven years as head editor, in January 2014 Newitz became the new editor at ''Gizmodo
''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 subsite ''io9'', whic ...
'', while co-founder Anders remained as editor at ''io9'', as part of a plan by Gawker to integrate ''io9'' with ''Gizmodo''. ''io9s 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.
Newitz remained as a contributor at ''io9'' in 2014, however they later stated that they grew to dislike managing both sites at once, because it took so much time away from their main passion of writing articles. Therefore, after a nearly eight-year run, Newitz retired from both ''io9'' and Gizmodo on November 30, 2015, to take a position as tech culture editor at ''Ars Technica
''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sci ...
''. Anders remained as head editor of ''io9''.
The resulting combined news site technically uses the domain name "io9.gizmodo.com", though in practice ''io9'' and ''Gizmodo'' are still separate subsections, using their old logos on their own specific content. The old "io9.com" URL automatically links to the main ''io9'' subpage of "io9.gizmodo.com".
Besides Newitz, several other longtime core staff members left their positions at ''io9'' during this transitional time period in 2015. Meredith Woerner departed ''io9'' in May 2015, to write for the ''Los Angeles Times'' "Hero Complex" column. Lauren Davis and Robbie Gonzalez left in August 2015: Davis went back to school to complete her MFA, and Gonzalez left for a position at ''Wired''. By May 2016 none of the original 2008 contributors were left on the site and neither were any of the staff in the 2010–2012 era. Before Newitz's departure, however, many new contributors were added to ''io9'', including Rob Bricken, Cheryl Eddy, George Dvorsky, Andrew Liptak, Germain Lussier, Ria Misra, James Whitbrook, and Katharine Trendacosta.
Rob Bricken (2016–2018)
On 26 April 2016 Charlie Jane Anders confirmed that she was leaving the site to focus her attention on her then untitled second novel and that Rob Bricken would take over as editor.
Jill Pantozzi (2018–2021)
On July 31, 2018, Rob Bricken announced that he was stepping 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. He announced that his place as editor would be filled by Jill Pantozzi, former editor-in-chief of ''The Mary Sue'', who had originally joined ''io9'' as a managing editor and took up the deputy editor position after Bricken's departure.
Pantozzi later left the site entirely in December 2021.
James Whitbrook (2021–present)
James Whitbrook, who had been an ''io9'' staff writer since 2014, was promoted to news editor in July 2019. Following the departure of Pantozzi it was announced that Whitbrook had been made the new Deputy Editor in charge of ''io9.''
References
External links
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{{Charlie Jane Anders
Gawker Media
American blogs
Science fiction organizations
Internet properties established in 2008
Former Univision Communications subsidiaries