[Ssf] study leave

[K.Gillan]

Hello all

After a bit of a ponder over the festive season I've realised that if I'm 
ever going to finish my PhD then I've got to stop just about 
everything else :(

So, this email is partly apologies for upcoming activities, I'll be 
otherwise engaged until April/May, when I hope I shall be able to 
get back into the non academic parts of my life full of vigour and 
renewed confidence. (Or alternatively I'll be sobbing into the 
endless pint-glass of failure.)

Also, theres a bunch of tasks that I'd appreciate it if others could 
take over for me. On their own they're very minor, but they do add 
up, so I'd like to clear my desk, as it were. These are:

1. Riseup mail list checking.
This is really very easy, I reckon it gets mail about once a fortnight, 
so if I give you a password and a web address, all you have to do is 
occassionally visit it, delete any spam (there's not a lot), and pass 
on anything interesting to the main aktivix list.

2. Aktivix list moderation.
Again very easy. If you put your name down you'll get a couple of 
messages a day saying something wants moderating. There'll be a 
link in the email an dyou go to the website and tell it what to do 
with the message. Mostly this is delete it cos its a virus (the aktivix 
account handily flags these with the word virus in the subject 
header). Occasionally there'll be something interesting to hit 
'accept' for.

3. Room bookings.
Currently the Sharrow Community Hall has been booked for the 
until the end of this month. After that someone needs to phone Bev 
and ask for it to be repeated. Though after Alice's point that she's 
put off by the dark and dingy location of the venue (I suspect she's 
not the only one) I think we really should be thinking about meeting 
somewhere else.

4. Sending out announcement emails.
We always said to people that we'd do this about once a fornight. 
When we announce things, I occassionally get emails from people 
saying 'couldn't make this one, but please keep me up to date', so 
people do read 'em. Although this could be used on a project by 
project basis I reckon its good to have someone responsible for it 
otherwise it tends to just get forgotten. So again, someone just 
needs a password and a website.

5.WWW Web site
Obviously this one requires a little more technical know-how, but 
unless anyone wants to revamp the website then it just involves 
keeping the events page and the contacts page up to date. I have 
been thinking about doing a bit of a revamp to give it a funkier look 
and a little more interactivity, but maybe that's a project for the 
summer, if nobody has beaten me to it in my absence.

Finally, I've got a bunch of contact cards to hand over to someone. 
They have got my phone number on, as well as Dans, so I'll have to 
keep vaguely abreast of what's happening so I can pass inquiries 
on to the relevant people. Of course the best thing to do, if you're 
giving the cards out, would be to put your own number on the back 
so people have got a face and a name rather than just an 
anonymous mobile number.

So, here's hoping for volunteers, each of the tasks really is minimal 
effort on its own. And if people aren't confident and want talking 
through the administrative web pages for the lists then I'm quite 
happy to do that.

All the best for 2005. 

Kev