Experts

Mercedes Bunz (G/GB), journalist covering media and technology at The Guardian in London. After completing her dissertation 'From Storage to Distribution. The History of the Internet' she has been the editor-in-chief of various magazines. She is the editor of De:Bug, the monthly magazine for “electronic aspects of life”.

Valie Djordjevic (G), editor at iRights.info, an information portal on copyright in the digital world, was awarded the Grimme Online Award in 2006. In the '90s she collaborated on the project “International City Berlin”, one of the first media projects on the web. Since that time she has worked as an artist, author and journalist on and around the internet.

Thorsten Fritsche (G) (born 1975), Membership Services Director at ZVAB (Central Directory of Antiquarian Books – in English at choosebooks.com) and a member of the executive board.

Uwe Jochum (G) (born 1959), studied German Studies and Political Science in Heidelberg and Düsseldorf, and was awarded his PhD in 1988. Training to become an academic librarian in Heidelberg and Cologne. Since 1989 he has been a subject specialist at the University Library of Koblenz. Numerous publications on library history and the theory of libraries and media. Most recently his book Geschichte der abendländischen Bibliotheken was published in 2010 (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft).

Jürgen Neffe (G) (born 1956), academic journalist and author. He was an editor and author at GEO, a reporter at Der Spiegel and has published two biographies: Darwin. Das Abenteuer des Lebens (2008) and Einstein. Eine Biografie (2005).

Kathrin Passig (G) (born 1970), translator, author and web-developer. Co-founder and Executive Director of the Zentralen Intelligenz Agentur (ZIA), which won the 2006 Grimme Online Award for its blog Riesenmaschine. Her publications include Das nächste große Ding (Verbrecher Publishers, 2006) and she writes a column for die Tageszeitung newspaper. Her literary début, the short story Sie befinden sich hier, won the 2006 Ingeborg Bachmann Prize.

Chris Meade (GB/USA), Co-Director of The Institute for the Future of the Book, a “think and do tank” based at the Anneberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California. The institute researches the evolution of intellectual discourse as it shifts from “book to screen”, focusing on so-called “networked books”.

Ernst Piper (G) (born 1952 in Munich), literature agent and publisher. Between 1983 and 2002 Piper was an Executive Partner in various publishes. Since 2003 a partner in the literature agency Piper und Poppenhausen and since 2006 a Private lecturer at the University of Potsdam.

Michael Ross (USA) - Michael Ross is Senior Vice President/Education General Manager in charge of worldwide product development and technology and North American institutional sales and marketing for Encyclopaedia Britannica. Prior to joining Britannica in 2003, he was the Executive Vice President and Publisher for World Book, Inc. Earlier in his career he held senior-level positions at several educational publishing companies. Important publication: Publishing without Boundaries: How to Think, Work, and Win in the Global Marketplace (2007).

Joost Smiers (NL), expert on new approaches to cultural and intellectual copyright. He is well known for his suggestions to abolish copyright and his advocacy of the dissolution of large publishers, music-producers and film studios. Important publication: Imagine! No Copyright (2009).

Julia Stoppa (G), literature academic from Potsdam. In 2009 she gave a lecture during the symposium “Literature 2.0”, organised by the Evangelische Akademie Loccum, on the changes in the perception of digital literature due to the introduction of the digital book.

Rüdiger Wischenbart (Austria) (born 1956 in Graz, Austria), has a literature PhD and works as a journalist with a focus on culture, cultural identities and the cultural industry. He has held lectureship positions at various universities in Europe and the USA. Wischenbart was the Press Officer of the Frankfurt Book Fair (1998-2001) and since 2002 has worked as a consultant focusing on communication, communicative strategies and cultural markets. Publications include BuchMarktBuch 1 (1997).