Comments on: What Do You Think? Most Important Websites of the Decade

By: Ben Morton

Ben Morton — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:28:27 +0000

Finally someone says it. But it also changed our lives. We’ll sacrifice total certainty for the quick reference.

By: Myles McNutt

Myles McNutt — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:36:42 +0000

Since I’ve contributed to the other lists, I’m going to go with The Onion here. Not only did it help capture a particularly fantastic form of satire, but the site has always expanded with The A.V. Club into the world of cultural commentary that need not appear as satire. While the site has adapted over time to include the A.V. Club as well as a viral video component, it has always felt like an almost effortless transition that hasn’t muted their original impact while expanded their reach to reflect changes to how we experience content online.

By: Mike Chopra-Gant

Mike Chopra-Gant — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 23:39:47 +0000

Two candidates, Questia and Spotify. I say Questia as much because of the potential as much for what it represents at the moment. As the library gets larger the degree to which it eases the process of obtaining access to books and journal article, as well as the way that it indexes the texts, making it much easier to home in on exactly what you are after, will revolutionise the process of research. Spotify? Well if you got in early and got the free version, what’s not to like? Paying for it, however, is an idea that…er…what’s the word?…oh yes, sucks!

By: Sreya Mitra

Sreya Mitra — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 01:24:26 +0000

Well, it’s been said before…but definitely Youtube. Where else could I have watch Bollywood superstars on yet-another Indian talk show, or the latest Bollywood flick in eighteen installments?

By: Michael Curtin

Michael Curtin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:59:08 +0000

Wikipedia. It changed my students’ lives.

By: Jason Mittell

Jason Mittell — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 04:13:05 +0000

Not precisely a website, but rather an app/platform: iTunes. When it launched, nobody thought people would actually pay for mp3s that could be downloaded for free. Then nobody thought people would pay for TV eps that they could watch for free. And meanwhile, both industries were transformed by Apple’s success. Plus it invented a new form of audio culture in podcasts. Can’t imagine media without it today.

By: Jonathan Gray

Jonathan Gray — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:31:51 +0000

If I might add another, selfishly, let’s go with Flow. Was it important to the world at large? Probably not. But it did something very important in our field, demanding different types of discussion and presentation of research, becoming a great site for community, launching two successful conferences, inspiring many others to start blogging after they got the taste from writing for Flow, and forcing a lot of us to deliver on promises of open access. Several other aca-blogs preceded it, but Flow went large. Bravo, Avi, Chris, UT, and co.

By: Lindsay H. Garrison

Lindsay H. Garrison — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:10:26 +0000

Great list going here. Something that comes to mind for me in terms of transformative web sites of the aughts are blogging template sites, like Blogspot/Blogger (also owned by Google) or WordPress. Blogger was initially launched in 1999, but exploded after being purchased by Google in 2002. WordPress came along as open-source alternative in 2003, but between the two, they’ve clearly changed the game for web publishing and the ways in which people can/do interact with the internet. Blog template sites offer an easy road to web presence for everyone from mommies and cooks to Wyclef Jean and National Geographic, and power a massive amount of the content we interact with online. WordPress alone has brought us the greatness that is Perez Hilton, Wonkette, TechCruch, Stuff White People Like, Lol Cats, and of course, Antenna.

By: McChris

McChris — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:09:30 +0000

I’d argue that Blogger.com put into motion the mainstreaming the trends in web publishing and social media that most of the previous posts describe. Although blogs or personal publishing weren’t new this decade, I think Blogger was the first to bring the concept to a mainstream user base.

By: Jeffrey Jones

Jeffrey Jones — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:05:50 +0000

How about simply Google? It is a website, and although YouTube is transformative, who owns who?