TANs...we're more interesting than you might think!

Last Friday, November 3rd, 2006, the Technical Assistance for Nonprofits group (aka TANs - technical assistants for nonprofits...at least in my book) had a conference call to make sure that everyone was still alive and kicking and doing well with their projects. Although Kamala was out sick (hope you're feeling better!!), and John was....well, honestly I don't know (hmmm)...at least, I don't think he was there, but it can be hard to tell over the phone (sorry John if you were actually on the call!), the rest of us spoke for about an hour about VISTA life, our terms of service, and whatever else came to mind. Below are some of the results:

In The Future...

For future calls, one member of the group is going to lead a discussion on a certain topic as to expand everyone else's knowledge on that particular topic. For example, Tim will begin our next call leading us in a discussion about collaboration software tools. All you other TANs be thinking about what you want to do for calls next year!

Project Updates

Cheryl has been heading up workshops, doing web modificiations, meeting with agencies to address how their needs can be met, and a number of other things. Yay Cheryl!

Laura (yes, me) has been focusing on checking one of the web-based tools Pangea uses for data management for inconsistencies. In addition, she has been updating a training manual for one of their other systems since it was out-of-date. Good thing she loves detail-oriented work!

Tim blogged about his most recent happening with Aspiration, and he did a great job describing it (much better than I could ever do). In a nutshell, people from different open source projects got together to brainstorm how to make products more user-friendly. (Gosh, I hope I said that right!) Really though, you should read Tim's blog...he makes it sound a lot cooler. Take 'em away, Tim!

Corey has been working on updating training materials for Pangea as well. In the hardware aspect of things, she repaired a broken power button for one of their servers. Go Corey!

Andrea's office was recently feng shui'd to ensure that her office is in harmony with her environment. :) She's been working on figuring out how her agency can host the Media That Matters festival (remember that from PSO?!). In addition, she's been focusing on volunteer stuff and working with the Library of Congress on gathering the stories of veterans. Awesome, Andrea!

Remember!

If you haven't updated your contact information yet, do it now! Make sure your agency information especially is listed and correct in your personal profile.

And that's a wrap! I hope you enjoyed hearing what the TANs have been up to!

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