Season 4
Season 4 of Cybercultural is publishing across 2025. Its theme is 'the birth of digital culture' and covers the dot-com period.
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2001: The Internet Gets a Memory With the Wayback Machine
In October 2001, Brewster Kahle demonstrates a new time machine from the Internet Archive called the Wayback Machine. It will become a vital link between the Web's past and its present.
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2001: Steve Jobs Launches iTunes and Apple’s Digital Hub
With the announcement of iTunes in January 2001, Apple CEO Steve Jobs ushers in the legal digital music era. It also marks the beginning of Apple's renaissance as a Silicon Valley pioneer.
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2000: The Napster Monster and Apple’s Heavenly Jukebox
Napster's legal woes intensify in 2000, even as creator Shawn Fanning is celebrated on MTV and on magazine covers. Meanwhile, Apple acquires a startup called SoundJam and turns it into iTunes.
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Social Karma in 2000 With Slashdot and BowieNet Version 2.0
By 2000, Slashdot's pioneering karma system is helping other online communities — like BowieNet — moderate user contributed content. Meanwhile, Google and Amazon enjoy good karma over 2000.
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2000: Bloggers Make Friends, but RSS Format Wars Kick Off
In 2000, the blogroll becomes a trend as bloggers increasingly link to each other. Meanwhile, RSS bifurcates into two opposing formats: Dave Winer's RSS 0.92 and the RDF-based RSS 1.0.
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The Dot-Com Crash of 2000 and Marc Andreessen’s Act 2
The AOL-Time Warner merger in January 2000 triggers a slow deflation of the dot-com bubble, starting in March. Meanwhile, the Web's golden boy Marc Andreessen returns with a new startup.
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1999: Blogs Burst Onto the Scene, but RSS Is Slow To Settle
The launch of Blogger in August 1999 signals the arrival of weblogs into mainstream web culture. At the same time, web syndication formats are being worked out — starting with Netscape's RSS 0.90.
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The Emergence of Napster and P2P File Sharing in 1999
Napster launches in May 1999 and soon there are millions of pirated songs online. Not even David Bowie, who releases an album via digital download that year, can foresee Napster's future influence.
