Rowan Barnett is Editor-in-Chief of The AvaStar, the weekly newspaper for the virtual world of Second Life. After studying Modern History at Oriel College, Oxford, he joined Axel Springer AG as International Trainee. During this time he wrote for diverse publications such as BILD, Maxim and Newsweek as well as working on the business side of the company.

He then joined the leading German print based general interest site Bild.de, heading up User-Generated-Content and setting up the successful ‘reader reporter’ site.

He developed the idea of The AvaStar with the board of directors, where he was responsible for creating a newspaper for the virtual world of Second Life. The first edition was published in December 2006 in English with the German edition launching a month later. The AvaStar, which won a ‘Web leader of 2007’ LEAD award as well as being voted a media brand of the future by Page magazine, is a product of Bild.de’s Innovation Lab.