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Director Emeritus |
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Listmaster Emeritus |
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FOTW
Editor´s Flag |
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FOTW
Giffer´s Flag |
Giuseppe Bottasini was the
founder, first Listmaster, and Director of Flags of the World. The list was begun in 1993 by Giuseppe, with help from Christopher Vance and Alessio Bragadini, and the website was began in 1994. Giuseppe was active on FOTW between its founding and 1998.
When FOTW was originally started, Giuseppe worked at CESI, an electronic research and service company in Milan. He moved on from there in 2007 and is now a technical director at ID Technology, a computer services company. He lives in Pioltello, a suburb of Milan.
We think his own words on "Why I Created FOTW" sums him up well. "My interest in flags has always been as a hobbyist and never as a scholar. Even today, though I feel that my vexillological knowledge is above average, it is still significantly inferior to that of the typical FOTW subscriber. I created FOTW because I dreamed of having available a large, full-color flag book, always up-to-date and containing those local or non-official flags that books normally don't show. I was particularly fascinated by new flags that appeared fleetingly on television or in newspapers. In the years in which FOTW was born, this interest was greatly enhanced by the dissolution of the Soviet bloc and the birth or rebirth of many new states."
Giuseppe's flag database might have easily ended in mid-90s as a personal project was it not for his vision and organizational skills. He delegated responsibilities in the web site editing to list members who were willing to help out, seeking out those having knowledge in web publishing (HTML) and a keen interest in flags. He also first created the post of vice-director to help editing the web site. FOTW was initially merely a repository of the stuff discussed on the mailing list, but it soon grew, thanks to these teams of editors and listmasters, into the structure we know today. To help maintain and make the web site uniform in appearance and design, Giuseppe devised and programmed a set of tools for regular site updates, creating the various indexes and structure that have now been in use for over 20 years with only minor amendments.
We should end with Giuseppe's thoughts on what the FOTW flag should look like, as proposed by him in 1995.
Rob Raeside and Željko Heimer, 27 February 2015
(Note: Rob and Željko have been the only two persons to ever hold the position of Vice-Director.)
