Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2009 > January > 15 > Entry
Goodbye, Ana Sisnett
Like an increasing amount of breaking news, I first heard about Ana Sisnett’s passing on Twitter from several Austin techies I follow.
It had been years, at least six or seven, since I’d last spoken to her, but I never forgot her. We wrote about her several times when I was a reporter, then editor, of our old personal tech section, Technopolis.
She was one of the people who best embodied what the section was about and why it was so unique to the culture of Austin: she was an artist, a techie with reservations about technology, a community activist and, above all, a genuine human being. Her name came up often when we discussed ideas for stories about people who were making a difference in the Austin tech community. Browsing through the archive, I see stories from ex-Statesman reporters like Cara Anna, Robert W. Gee and (current business reporter) Lori Hawkins about Sisnett.
As executive director of Austin Free-Net she helped bridge the digital divide. In a 1998 American-Statesman business story, she told Lori Hawkins:
“We’ve been very successful at getting people to understand the need to provide technology, and we have the equipment set up, and that’s wonderful. But just having a room full of computers is not enough. We need volunteers who can help people get started. Volunteers who can answer questions like, ‘How do I turn on the computer? How do I open a program? How do I do research?’ What we’re hoping to do now is improve our training. When it comes down to it, people are our greatest resource. We want to demystify technology. What I’m finding is there are a lot of people who are embarrassed to say they don’t know this stuff. They are from different income levels and different communities and different professions. It seems like everybody is doing it and they’re not, and it’s mindboggling to them. So, they are afraid and they don’t know where to begin. The idea is for us to be the beginning for them. That’s where the training comes in. It goes far beyond surfing the Internet. We offer classes in Microsoft Word. People use our computers for job searching, resume writing and to learn computer skills to make themselves more employable.”
The more things change, the more they stay the same, right?
It is not enough to say the Austin tech community will Ana Sisnett. That much is obvious. What we must say is that we need more Ana Sisnetts who care enough to help bridge the gap between the tech haves and the tech have-nots. Ana may be gone, but that mission must continue.
Edited to add:
A reader informed me of these memorial times for Ana:
Altar-Building
La Peña
Thursday, Jan. 15
6 p.m.
Bring flowers, candles, Ana’s favorite things to place on an altar to celebrate her life.
Celebration Circle
La Peña
Friday, Jan. 16
7 p.m.
Bring items to place on Ana’s altar, a piece of Ana’s writing or writing in tribute to Ana to read.
Memorial Service
Trinity United Methodist Church
Saturday, Jan. 24
1 p.m.
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