A new magazine is on the block: The AvaStar. It is a product if Bild.T-Online.de which is the online edition of BILD, a large tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer.
You can download the first issue now from it’s website as a PDF file. People who know this blog know that I am no fan of PDF files as they are cumbersome to read on a monitor. I’d prefer an in-world version or a blog style approach as this is easier (even the in-world version as zooming is more natural there). Moreover a blog-like format will have the ability to start a conversation which PDFs do not have and even linking to some article is impossible or cumbersome at least. Some magazines (such as SL Business Mag) seem to be on a good route to a more reader-friendly format and we will see what The AvaStar will do.
As for the content you can judge yourself. It is co-written by long-term Second Life residents and thus it shouldn’t be too far away from what really happens in Second Life (which was my fear at first when I heard about it). I still have to fully read it but so far it looks good and definitely like a real newspaper. I am just wondering about the drama level involved as I personally I am no big fan of BILD (more the contrary).
But judge for yourself, the first issue is out and you can get it at various locations (or the web as described above). Also open is now their island which was built by Aimee Weber and her team. Definitely a nice build but we have to wait and see how and if they will be used.
So I wish them good luck and I will check back later and see how it worked out. I also hope that more newspapers will follow suit and maybe cover some other areas.
Update: I forgot to mention that in the future it will cost L$150,- per single issue. With similar content as the Metaverse Messenger we will have to see if this works out or not. The fee at least might limit the possibilities of going with a more open format than PDF because a blog needs to be readable by everybody for a conversation to get started.
Update 2: I also forgot to mention the agency who realized it for Bild.T-Online. It is Pixelpark, a big german media agency who just entered Second Life but have big plans as it seems. So we can expect some more german companies now entering this virtual world.
Technorati Tags: secondlife, virtualworld, newspaper, media, avastar, taotakashi, launch
Tao\'s Thoughts on Second Life 
Aimee Weber and The AvaStar: “Corporate Love”
Springer’s The AvaStar is online [the first issue is free: PDF] and has its own presence at The AvaStar Island as well: I ran into Aimee Weber and asked several questions regarding the new sim and the new tabloid in particular:
//M: How long d…
I’ve flicked through the paper and I have to say it does look great. Must say i was sceptic as well about what would come of it – but i agree with Aimee that it brings something new. Second Life Herald is always destructive and never has a positive word to say about SL – Aimee is right about that. It seems they really do want SL to self destruct so they can say i told you so.
I think the PDF format has been used to the best of its ability. Although i like the Messenger, must admit that difference in quality is vast – the graphic design of the paper is excellent. You can see that it comes from a professional company.
So i wish them luck too. I’m interested to see what the next issues bring.
I love the magazine make; but I fear avastar first issue is a failure. It’s full of re-hashed drama, let go. I can sum up the first issue as: evil linden labs, how some theoretical favoritism that they can’t prove happened could harm you ( but only if it happened), price hikes are evil, copy bot will ruin the game. it’s basically every major negative event in sl for the last 6 months played out in a negative light.
The only part of the magazine witch is worth reading is the last couple of pages. Like the list of upcoming events. And a story about some of the new and old artist in sl, and news about companies interring into sl.
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New Tabloid Media in SL — The AvaStar Launches
A new SL newspaper — another one in PDF format — has recently been launched in SL. The AvaStar, with the motto “Your World. Your Voice.”, is published by Gregor Ginsberg (chairman of German publishers Bild.T-Online AG & Co. KG), an…
T – you are one of the one’s that must have read the dummy version that went online through a technical failure! Re-read the first issue at http://www.the-avastar.com and you will see that none of what you read is in the first edition.