Too Much Free Time

Too Much Free Time

by Dennis Yang


Filed Under:
awards, openwebawards



Call For Open Web Awards Nominations

from the it's-award-time dept

The Open Web Awards have been created to recognize the best online communities on the web. In the spirit of collaboration, instead of building a central site to handle nominations and voting, Techdirt and its readers, along with 30 other blog communities, have been invited to be part of the nomination process. It sounded like a fun idea, so we decided to give it a try.

The contest recognizes sites in 13 different categories:

  • Mainstream and Large Scale Networks
  • Applications and Widgets
  • Social News and Social Bookmarking
  • Social Search
  • Sports and Fitness
  • Photo Sharing
  • Video Sharing
  • Start Pages
  • Places and Events
  • Music
  • Social Shopping
  • Mobile
  • Niche and Miscellaneous Social Networks
If you would like to nominate a site for an award, please do so in the comments with a subject in the form of "NOMINATE: [category name]: [site name]" -- nominations will be compiled the evening of Tuesday, December 4th, after which a few rounds of voting will commence.

39 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

  1. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 1:50pm

    NOMINATE:Niche:boingboing.net

    by Rich Kulawiec

    It's in the niche marked "essential reading'; I have thousands
    of sites bookmarked, but it's on the short list that I check nearly
    every day.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  2. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 1:58pm

    NOMINATE: Music: MP3Sparks

    by JJ

    Because that's where you can get quality, DRM-free music, for what it should be priced at.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  3. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 2:19pm

    NOMINATE: [Niche and Miscellaneous Social Networks

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  4. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 2:21pm

    NOMINATE: [Niche and Miscellaneous Social Networks

    by Seiven

    NOMINATE: [Niche and Miscellaneous Social Networks][www.kotaku.com]


    doesn't fit in subject line. Gaming and tech community associated with Gawker media and Gizmodo.com

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  5. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 2:31pm

    NOMINATE: Niche: Billmonk.com

    by KillerRoo

    Billmonk is a great way for roommates & friends to painlessly track debts between them. I've been using it for about 2 years now, with no complaints! Features include SMS adding of debts (for when you're out at happy hour), comments, reminders, etc.

    Randomly and equitably assigns pennies, allows you to shuffle debts if everyone is settling up at once.

    www.billmonk.com

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  6. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 2:32pm

    NOMINATE: [Niche and Miscellaneous Social Networks

    Trust Your Techno Lust!!!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  7. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 2:33pm

    www.hak5.org

    NOMINATE: [Niche and Miscellaneous Social Networks] www.hak5.org

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  8. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 2:42pm

    NOMINATE: Sports and Fitness: www.rosstraining.com

    by tahuti

    For those who need real conditioning and those who are not fans of fancy gyms.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  9. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 2:50pm

    NOMINATE: Niche and Miscellaneous Social Networks:

    http://www.randi.org
    http://forums.randi.org

    Techdirt posted a story from Randi about him calling bullshit on an audiophile's $7k audio cable. Thought he should get some recognition. Wasn't sure which catagory his site should fall under, though.

    From the site:
    The James Randi Educational Foundation is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1996. Its aim is to promote critical thinking by reaching out to the public and media with reliable information about paranormal and supernatural ideas so widespread in our society today.

    The Foundation's goals include:

    * Creating a new generation of critical thinkers through lively classroom demonstrations and by reaching out to the next generation in the form of scholarships and awards.
    * Demonstrating to the public and the media, through educational seminars, the consequences of accepting paranormal and supernatural claims without questioning.
    * Supporting and conducting research into paranormal claims through well-designed experiments utilizing "the scientific method" and by publishing the findings in the JREF official newsletter, Swift, and other periodicals. Also providing reliable information on paranormal and pseudoscientific claims by maintaining a comprehensive library of books, videos, journals, and archival resources open to the public.
    * Assisting those who are being attacked as a result of their investigations and criticism of people who make paranormal claims, by maintaining a legal defense fund available to assist these individuals.

    To raise public awareness of these issues, the Foundation offers a $1,000,000 prize to any person or persons who can demonstrate any psychic, supernatural or paranormal ability of any kind under mutually agreed upon scientific conditions. This prize money is held in a special account which cannot be accessed for any purpose other than the awarding of the prize.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  10. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 2:52pm

    NOMINATE: Sports and Fitness: www.sparkpeople.com

    by Acts

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  11. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 2:55pm

    NOMINATE: music: Peel

    by Marcy

    This is a really cool blog reader and player in one. It collects mp3s from your favorite blogs and puts them in an itunes'esque player and lets you download into itunes. $14.95 fee is worth it.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  12. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 3:01pm

    NOMINATE: Mainstream: Usenet

    by Petréa Mitchell

    No, it's not a Web site, but all the description says is "online communities".

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  13. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 3:03pm

    NOMINATE: Niche: www.zefrank.org

    Now invite-only social network for sharing art & creativity in most of its forms.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  14. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 3:05pm

    NOMINATE: Social News and Social Bookmarking: feed

    by Udi

    http://feedeachother.com

    Fantastic feed reader with a social twist.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  15. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 3:23pm

    NOMINATE: Social Boomarking: FeedEachOther

    http://feedeachother.com

    feed reader but includes ability to share content with friends and see what other people subscribe too. a great way to find interesting content/sites (in other words, you can waste a lot of time here :)

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  16. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 3:34pm

    Online Rants & Raves

    by Jim

    This site has thousands of rants and raves organized by city and country. Some really random stuff and some pretty funny stuff.
    Rants & Raves

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  17. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 4:03pm
    by Sonja

    Deki Wiki http://www.mindtouch.com

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  18. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 4:04pm

    NOMINATE: Social News and Social Bookmarking : Far

    Behold... the power of Fark!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  19. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 4:07pm

    Petréa Mitchell

    by NOMINATE: Niche: LambdaMOO

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  20. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 4:09pm

    NOMINATE: Applications & Widgets: MindTouch Deki W

    by Amanda Wheatcroft

    http://wiki.opengarden.org/Deki_Wiki/Release/Hayes

    MindTouch Deki Wiki is the most popular vendor backed wiki. It is free open source software (FOSS) and is commonly used for online communities, collaboration, or for building collaborative web applications. It’s built completely on open standards (XHTML, JSON or PHP). It was the first OSI-approved commercially supported open source wiki (released under GPL 2), and is now the only open wiki platform. It has the most complete API that features 99 REST based methods and a web-service extension model that makes it possible to create mashups with many other applications, widgets, and/or data stores such as: third party services like Google Maps, Digg, Flickr, YouTube, MySQL, widgets from WidgetBox, etc.

    Deki Wiki is language-agnostic, allowing developers to write code in whatever programming language they choose, and runs on .NET or Mono, making it PLATFORM-independent as well. You can see it here on Microsoft’s Open Source community & partnership page: http://www.microsoft.com/opensource/community.mspx

    Deki Wiki has a thriving community of about 2,000 ‘Gardeners’ who have translated Deki Wiki into seven languages, submitted code patches, and created numerous extensions for popular third party applications and services. It is the most popular commercially-supported open wiki in the market by a big margin. MindTouch has an install base over 100,000 and continues to gain momentum. Year-to-year growth has been an astounding 2300%.

    You can validate these numbers by consulting the following sources:
    • Gartner Report: Magic Quadrant for Team Collaboration and Social Software, 2007
    • Sourceforge.Net statistics: http://www.mindtouch.com/blog/2007/10/17/comparative-downloads-on-sourceforgenet

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  21. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 5:10pm

    NOMINATE - YourTeam Online

    by Chris

    NOMINATE: YourTeam Online (http://www.yourteamonline.ca) - A global sports communication network that connects teams, players, coaches and fans. A monthly SportsWire Live show that is produced from content provided by the users - http://yourteamonline.ca/your team/sw_episode1.jsp

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  22. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 5:22pm

    NOMINATE : Niche and Miscellaneous Social Networks

    www.tripntale.com

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  23. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 5:39pm

    Nominate: Mobile: Wirenode

    www.wirenode.com

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  24. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 5:42pm

    NOMINATE: Applications and Widgets: Flempo

    flempo.com

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  25. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 8:15pm

    NOMINATE: TheFunded.com

    by don

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  26. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 8:18pm

    NOMINATE: Niche: accursed-lands.com

    by Rijn

    This MUD has been active for 11 years, is run by volunteers, and allows everyone to create and add content to the game. It's constantly in development, and its custom
    web interface allows anyone to add items or post ideas.

    It's also terribly addictive. Be warned.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  27. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 8:43pm

    NOMINATE: Music: www.FizzKicks.com

    by Ryan

    Great music site for bands and fans.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  28. Dec 3rd, 2007 @ 10:07pm

    NOMINATE: Start Pages: www.google.com/ig

    by Mythos

    Highly customizable and in many cases community oriented.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  29. Dec 4th, 2007 @ 3:03am

    Nominate: Mobile: justanothermobilemonday.com

    Great site that tries to highlight mobile innovation, review latest software, and opinionated contributors, collected from various other mobile sites. News and reviews.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  30. Dec 4th, 2007 @ 4:21am

    NOMINATE:Niche:www.chiffandfipple.com

    by Brent

    This website started off as a comprehensive guide to the tin whistle. The Forums have blossomed into a rich diverse community. Life long relationships have been built through these forums.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  31. Dec 4th, 2007 @ 5:37am

    NOMINATE - Niche and Miscellaneous Social Networks

    by AJ Barnes

    best high school alumni web site www.lqaa.org

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  32. Dec 4th, 2007 @ 5:41am

    NOMINATE: Niche and Miscellaneous Social Networks:

    by Mike

    CafeMom.com: a social site for moms

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  33. Dec 4th, 2007 @ 7:08am

    NOMINATE: Niche : www.librarything.com

    by gaullaura

    Social Network connecting people through their books. Completely addiciting.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  34. Dec 4th, 2007 @ 7:13am

    Hmmm....

    by Brian

    Can you say open invitation for SPAM? Why do so many of the "Nominates" read like ads?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  35. Dec 4th, 2007 @ 9:14am

    Please Nominate

    by kp

    NOMINATE www.sportme.de / www.sportme.org for the sports and fitness web award

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  36. Dec 4th, 2007 @ 12:48pm

    Nominate: Mobile: MocoSpace

    A cool mobile social community for young, hip people looking for new friends - www.mocospace.com

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  37. Dec 4th, 2007 @ 2:41pm

    Nominate: Video Sharing: Metacafe

    by elroy

    Metacafe's videomaker program is the most lucrative of all of the video sharing sites and it's equal opportunity.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  38. Dec 5th, 2007 @ 9:43am

    NOMINATE: Music: LyricWiki.org

    by Sean

    LyricWiki.org has lyrics to over 500,000 songs, a thriving community and a completely free and open API which is used by many other projects including Amarok, FoxyTunes, CantoPod, GimmeSomeTune, and literally dozens more.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  39. Dec 5th, 2007 @ 2:54pm

    NOMINATE: Music: gloriousnoise.com

    by Wayne

    Been around since 2001. Lots of great articles, reviews, links and mp3s.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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