Dir. Peter Bollerslev served as IFIP President from 1998 to 2001.
Delivery Co.: During your tenure as IFIP President what, in your opinion, were the most significant IFIP developments and activities?
Peter Bollerslev: I was elected as President-elect at the GA in 1997. My IFIP background was made up of six years as TC chair and some years as Danish GA representative. But I had no experience as "Administrative Officer". However, the support I received from EB colleagues, TC chairs, GA representatives and not least the IFIP Secretariat made it easy for me to meet this interesting and challenging task.
Looking back I consider the following activities from my three years as the most important:
Enhanced information to Member Societies, the increased cooperation with UNESCO, the successful IFIP publication, the start of a closer cooperation with industry, and the establishment of the IT-STAR. Event-wise the IFIP World Computer Congress in Beijing in August 2000 once again proved that the WCC is the IFIP Flagship. Of course I personally from that WCC especially remember meeting the President of PRC, Jiang Zemin who addressed the Congress in the opening session. Another meeting at the highest level to be remembered is the meeting with the Director General of UNESCO in Paris in January 2001.
It was my fate in the year 2000 to commemorate IFIP’s 40th Anniversary, the Ruby Jubilee. This was done in a federation, which is supported by a well-functioning secretariat. A secretariat which has developed a perfect homepage providing on-line timely updated information and documents and a useful Power Point presentation for the benefit of GA representatives and TC chairs. The attractive pamphlet "This is IFIP" was also developed in this period.
In relation to the GA/Council meetings we succeeded in changing the structure of the meetings in order to avoid too much repetition (redundancy) and rather than just reporting then focussing on strategic issues.
Finally on this item I would with my own professional background with great satisfaction like to note that "Education" over the years has come more and more into focus in IFIP.
Delivery Co.: Are you currently interested in IFIP? If so, are there any developments which you like in particular and you feel should be further encouraged?
Peter Bollerslev: Yes, I am still active in IFIP, both in the GA and as a member of TC3 (+ 2 WGs), and thus involved also in some of the developments which should be encouraged. This includes the two new events WITFOR and GLITS. The World IT FORum, WITFOR is planned as a biannual series of international conferences addressing IT issues in developing countries. The first WITFOR will take place in Vilnius, Lithuania in August 2003. GLITS is likewise planned as a series of conferences on "The Role of IT Professionalism". The first conference on "Meeting GLobal IT Skills Needs" will take place in autumn 2002. Several international organizations like ACM, BSC, CEPIS CIPS, IEEE-CS OECD, SEARCC, and WITSA are supporting this event.
The present very successful cooperation with UNESCO should also be further encouraged. IFIP is right now represented in the UNESCO-NGO Liaison Committee and in the Advisory Group, which advises UNESCO and the UN on issues related to ICT. Furthermore IFIP/UNESCO have developed a number of curricula and collaborates on regular updating. I see IFIP as an important part in the global efforts to close the Digital Divide.
The endeavors to establish a closer cooperation with industry which started in my presidential period, mainly thanks to Vice President T. Miura’s initiative, should also be pursued. Finally, IFIP should very soon come to a conclusion on the discussions concerning the IFIP Digital Library Project.
Delivery Co.: Are there any specific issues you find important for IFIP to address?
Peter Bollerslev: We should aim at getting a Member Society from each of the nearly 200 nations in the World as a member of IFIP. We are a truly international federation, but we would like to have a greater coverage. Some argue that IFIP is too much European based. However, the newcomers to IFIP in my presidential period show that if there is a bit of truth in the previous statement we are on our way to change. The new full members came from Latin America, Africa and the Arab World. We should aim at getting more young people involved in the work of IFIP (GA, TCs, WGs) and we should also address the gender issue.
Delivery Co.: Please share with us a few words about yourself at present – professional occupation, personal projects, hobbies …
Peter Bollerslev: I left the Danish Ministry of Education in autumn 2000 after having served there for 30 years as Her Majesty’s Inspector and General Inspector. I am at present a Chief Consultant in the leading Publishing House in Denmark. I am heavily involved in many activities in the Danish Data Association and I am still their representative to the IFIP GA.
In my spare time I like to go to theaters, cinemas, art exhibitions, to read, to cook, and to play golf and bridge. And every opportunity to travel with Hanne to experience foreign territory will be used.