''The Alphaville Herald'' is an

online newspaper An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical. Going online created more opportunities for newspa ...

covering

virtual worlds A virtual world (also called a virtual space) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities ...

, founded by the American philosopher

Peter Ludlow Peter Ludlow (; born January 16, 1957), who also writes under the pseudonym Urizenus Sklar, is an American philosophy of language, philosopher of language. He is noted for interdisciplinary work on the interface of linguistics and philosophy— ...

in 2003.

History

''The Alphaville Herald'' was established by the American philosopher

, known by his pseudonym Urizenus Sklar, on October 23, 2003. Ludlow, who was formerly the John Evans Professor in Moral and Intellectual Philosophy at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, is a student of

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...

and is well known for his work on the interface of linguistics and philosophy, but also for his research on conceptual issues in

cyberspace Cyberspace is a concept describing a widespread interconnected digital technology. "The expression dates back from the first decade of the diffusion of the internet. It refers to the online world as a world 'apart', as distinct from everyday rea ...

and his more recent writings on

hacktivist In Internet activism, hacktivism, or hactivism (a portmanteau of '' hack'' and '' activism''), is the use of computer-based techniques such as hacking as a form of civil disobedience to promote a political agenda or social change. With roots in h ...

culture. According to scholars Constantinescu and Decu, ''The Alphaville Herald'' was the first "virtual free press," pioneering

mass communication Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large segments of the population. It is usually understood for relating to various forms of media, as its technologies are used for the dissemination o ...

in virtual worlds. It was originally a newspaper for the Alphaville virtual city of

The Sims Online ''The Sims Online'', also known as ''EA-Land'', was a massively multiplayer online variation on Maxis' computer game ''The Sims''. It was published by Electronic Arts and released in December 2002 for Microsoft Windows. The game was sold in retai ...

, where Ludlow used the avatar Urizenus Sklar. Its stories uncovered in-game scams and cyber-prostitution, and highlighted

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

' indifference to the negative consequences of their game and the problems of virtual democracy. EA terminated Ludlow's account, which made international headlines, and the newspaper migrated to another virtual world,

Second Life ''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Fra ...

, in June 2004. The newspaper was known as ''The Second Life Herald'' from 2004 to 2009, when it returned to its original title. Ludlow eventually appointed Mark Wallace as Managing Editor, and they published a book on the newspaper's history on

MIT Press The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States). It was established in 1962. History The MIT Press traces its origins back to 1926 when MIT publish ...

in 2007. Wallace left the newspaper when he was employed by

Linden Lab Linden Research, Inc., doing business as Linden Lab, is an American technology company that is best known as the creator of ''Second Life''. The company's head office is in San Francisco, with additional offices in Boston, Seattle, Virginia an ...

, and the Internet persona Pixeleen Mistral became the new Managing Editor. In 2010 Pixeleen Mistral was revealed by Ludlow to be the Internet pioneer

Mark P. McCahill Mark Perry McCahill (born February 7, 1956) is an American computer scientist and Internet pioneer. He has developed and popularized a number of Internet technologies since the late 1980s, including the Gopher protocol, Uniform Resource Locators ( ...

, widely known as the principal inventor of the

Gopher Pocket gophers, commonly referred to simply as gophers, are burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae. The roughly 41 speciesSearch results for "Geomyidae" on thASM Mammal Diversity Database are all endemic to North and Central America. They are ...

protocol, the effective predecessor of the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...

, and who also co-invented a number of other Internet technologies and coined the phrase "surfing the Internet." Various people have written for the publication, including Catherine A. Fitzpatrick.

Editors

(as Urizenus Sklar) *Mark Wallace *

(as Pixeleen Mistral)

Literature

and Mark Wallace, ''The Second Life Herald: The Virtual Tabloid that Witnessed the Dawn of the Metaverse'',

, 2007,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alphaville Herald Newspapers established in 2003 American entertainment news websites Second Life