Alternative tools for networking and communications [tactical activity]

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This learning activity is mostly guided hands-on for individuals and groups to start using alternative tools to "free" proprietary services.

This activity is most effective when the participants are part of the network so they are able to start developing new ways of communicating among each other.

This activity will focus on three communication tools that are commonly used: Email, chat apps, and alternatives to Google docs.

Learning objectives this activity responds to

Who is this activity for?

This can be run with participants with varying skill levels in using online tools.

Time required

To complete this, you will probably need at least 5 hours.

Resources needed for this activity

Mechanics

The point of this activity is to encourage your participants to be less reliant on commercial services that breach users privacy and security.

Protonmail hands-on

Why Protonmail?

Protonmail limitations

To sign up for a Protonmail account: https://protonmail.com/

Notes: If you all using the same internet connection (as we do in training workshops), Protonmail might not allow multiple sign-ups on the same IP address. This might cause delay in the activity. Having multiple access points (with different IP addresses) will mitigate this issue.

Jargon Watch: This has a lot of jargon. Please make sure that you have established a way for the participants to pause and clarify concepts they don´t understand as you do your training. It could be as simple as reminding them that they can raise their hands any time when they don´t understand something, and you asking them directly if they don´t understand a technical term.

Signal hands-on

Why Signal?

Signal limitations

Signal can be downloaded on the Google Play Store and on App Store.

Tasks for the Signal hands-on

Riseup Pad / Ethercalc hands-on

Why?

Limitations

Set up a pad: https://pad.riseup.net/

Set up a spreadsheet: https://ethercalc.org

Safety considerations in using pads

Jit.si hands-on

Why Jitsi?

Limitations

Tasks for Jitsi hands-on

Trainers notes: Before you begin, practice setting up the services/tools just in case how to do tasks have changed.

Additional resources

Alternative To is a website crowd-sources lists and ratings for alternative tools (platforms, software, apps). They have notes / tags that mention security functionalities of the listed tools. This is a good resource to find alternatives to popular tools.

After finding an alternative tool, confirm its security and privacy features by doing a search with the following terms:


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Revision #2
Created 16 April 2023 03:30:25 by Kira
Updated 27 June 2023 13:05:06 by Kira