CV

My CV. Please ping me if you need an up-to-date version. (Last update 9 August 2009.)

Education

10/01-09/07: Freie Universität Berlin:
M.A. in Communications & Media Studies, Political Science
Berlin, Germany

Final thesis: “Die Bedeutung von Weblogs für die Arbeit von Politikjournalisten” (“The relevance of weblogs for the work of political journalists”), graded 1.0 (“very good”)

01/05-12/05: University of Sydney: Master of Media Practice
Sydney, Australia

Graduated with Merit

Work Experience

01/06-present: Freelance consultant for web strategies and social media

Click here to see a list of clients I’ve worked with.

• Develop online communication strategies with a focus on Web 2.0, blogging, social media, community building, online collaboration, knowledge management and usability
• Provide external expertise through strategic recommendations, case studies, evaluations or workshops
• Help implementing strategic recommendations by identifying and connecting internal and external partners and stakeholders, deploying the technology, or by project management or workshops

10/07-present: Netzpiloten AG: project manager
Berlin, Germany

Project manager for Blogpiloten.de, an online magazine reporting on the German Blogosphere and Social Web scene for a primarily non-technical audience. (Before that, I was Blogpiloten’s managing editor.)

• Develop future editorial concept and structure of the online magazine Blogpiloten.de
• Build and coordinate a network of freelance authors and bloggers
• As managing editor: plan and manage all content, including writing some and editing all articles (link to my posts on blogpiloten.de)

12/2009-01/2010: ARTE: interim project manager
Strasbourg, France

Interim project manager for arte.tv, a French-German public broadcaster.

• Interim project management
• Internal consulting for several web projects with a focus on web strategy and social media
• Prepare a usability and information architecture optimization for arte.tv

05/07-present: keingeschenk.de GbR: co-founder
Berlin, Germany

keingeschenk.de is three people based in Berlin who design motives to print on t-shirts and other printable apparel. Mostly for fun.

06/98-01/2008: Bihr & Lacher GbR: co-founder, consultant
Karlsruhe, Germany

Bihr & Lacher GbR is a small online communication consulting agency (just two of us). Clients included SPD/Jusos, medinet AG, International House of University of Sydney, as well as a number of small enterprises and freelancers.

• Developed web projects with a focus on strategy, content management and usability
• Headed strategy and content workshops with up to 15 participants
• Responsibilities included project management and client communication

05/2007: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC): co-author of summer school course and textbook
Barcelona, Spain

• Conceptualized structure and contents for summer school course about Second Life held in summer 2007
• Co-wrote the course textbook “Second Life” published by Editorial UOC, Barcalona, in summer 2007 (in Spanish), with two co-authors (CC-licensed English version available here.)

08/06-10/06: Politik-digital.de: editor
Berlin, Germany

Politik-digital.de is an online magazine about politics and the internet, particularly about e-participation. It was recognized as one of the “25 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics” by PoliticsOnline (2001/2003), and won the Grimme Online Award For Media Expertise (2001)

• Wrote and edited articles written by freelance authors and interns
• Planned the magazine’s topics in a team of two
• Planned and conducted online chats with federal politicians and more than 100 users
• Coordinated a network of about 100 freelance volunteer authors, and liaised with external partners

11/04-02/05: A&B.face2net: freelance consultant
Berlin, Germany

A&B.face2net is one of Germany’s leading online communications agencies.

• Contributed to the concept for the Social Democratic Party’s (SPD) online election campaign platform for the German federal elections 2005/2006
• Analyzed, and developed a documentation of optimization potentials of a German Federal Ministry of Health and Social Security website

11/02-11/04: Europaspiegel: co-publisher, editor, webmaster
Berlin, Germany

Europaspiegel was a student-run non-profit online magazine about European culture and politics. A print issue with European Union funding was Germany’s nominee for the European Youth Award 2005 in the category “Entrepreneurial spirit of young people”.

• Co-developed the online magazine’s structure and concept in a team of 10
• Designed and implemented the magazine’s website
• Assisted in recruiting of freelancers
• Co-published the online magazine’s first print issue

08/00-07/01: Steuernetz.de / Publishing Group VPW: online
Offenburg, Germany

Online information service by publishing group VPW specialized on law and taxes

• Updated website content and developed online tools to optimize website usability
• Responded to daily customer inquiries and represented the company at conventions
• Actively participated in all workshops about strategic planning and online product ideas

Internships

• Politics Department, newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin, Germany, 05/2004
• German Information Center, German Embassy, Washington DC, USA, 03/2004
• Politik-digital.de, Berlin, Germany, 08/2002-10/2002

Further Activities & Miscellaneous

06/06-07/06: volunteer editor
Netzeitung Readers Edition, Berlin, Germany

Readers’ Edition is a citizen journalism project by Netzeitung
One of nine initial volunteer editors during pre-launch and launch phase

03/05-11/05: social coordinator
International House Sydney, Australia

• Organized social events and functions for up to 200 international and intercultural students from more than 40 countries
• Organized an orientation program for new residents
• Guided trips to regional destinations
• Participated in a leadership workshop about conflict resolution and group dynamics in intercultural environments

10/01-10/02: member of student council
Department of Media & Communication Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

• Co-published a once-per-semester magazine for freshmen
• Provided information and support for current and prospective student
• Organized orientation and group activities

Publications

[de] Bihr, Peter (2008): Weblogs und Politikjournalisten – Die Bedeutung von Weblogs für die Arbeit von Politikjournalisten. VDM Verlag Dr. Müller. Magisterarbeit, 228 Seiten. ISBN-10: 3836464292, ISBN-13: 978-3836464291. Available on Amazon.de or as a free PDF download.

[en] Bihr, Peter / Praus, Thomas / Senges, Max (2007): Second Life (ISBN: 978-84-9788-609-3). Textbook for UOC Summer University course. Editorial UOC, Barcelona. English version (“Virtual Worlds – A Second Life Beginner’s Guide”) released under Creative Commons (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). (Downloads and more info here.)

[de] Articles have been published or syndicated, among others, in the following publications: Blogpiloten.de, politik-digital.de, taz, Europaspiegel, gipfelthemen.de, onlinejournalismus.de, bpb (Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung, the German Federal Agency for Civic Education), Der Tagesspiegel (newspaper).

Most recent publication [de]: Jusos Argumente “Innere Sicherheit” (4/2008): Das Ende der digitalen Unschuld – ein Plädoyer für informationelle Selbstbestimmung (PDF, p.46-51)

Group Affiliations / Memberships

• Berlinblase: Founding member
  Some of the finest technologists and event bloggers I know. We visit, cover and discuss web events and technologies.
• Kleos Group: Co-Founder, Consultant
  A network of consultants and entrepreneurial researchers delivering original analysis, innovative technology services and strategic management consulting
• Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF): Member
  EFF is the leading civil liberties group defending your rights in the digital world.
• A Swarm of Angels: Member
  A Swarm of Angels is an experimental film-making project based entirely on community collaboration, funding and input