Digital Independence Basic Training

Next Date: Tuesday, Feb 18, 2025 (10am to 11:30am pacific). 1.5 hour training.

Additional dates: Tues. Mar 25, 2025 Training continues in on Tues. Apr 22 and Tues. May 20. Training is offered monthly.

Approachable – Everyone learns a bit differently. We offer patient and kind instruction. max class size – 6 people Get a CLUE. Discover Computer Liberation and User Ease. We will help you find your way.

Other dates – We can accommodate other times for groups of 3 or more. Encourage others to join you. Scroll down to Get a Clue in Your Own Way.

Regular pricing for the 1.5 hour training is $120. Scroll down to register. Sliding scale cost also possible. Let us know what you need.


Getting Ready for the Training. Once registered, you will receive a preliminary set of activities to complete prior and to ensure your full benefit of the training. Our manner is easy going and patient. No need to be anxious or stress as we encourage friendliness all around including in the digital space.

Follow Up – Within the month of taking training, we encourage individuals to schedule a follow up check in call. The follow up is for 20 minutes to answer specific questions. The follow up is optional, but must be scheduled within 30 days. There is no additional cost for this follow up.

The training was great, thank you so much! So grateful for all the research you’ve done into this.

course participant March 25, 2024

More questions? We offer an initial free Q&A each month to answer your questions.

A free Q&A is set for TH, Feb 13 2025 at 4:00pm pacific. During the Q&A, we also provide introductory tips to get you started. Contact us for the link. Half hour in a group video call. Offered again on TH, Mar 14 at 4:00pm pacific. The next dates are TH, Apr 10 and TH, May 8.

Do you need a few pointers to get started? You will need to know how to find your way around on the computer. We recommend you start using a mouse even if you are on laptop. We can help or you may wish to find instruction through your local library. This is what you need to know.

What is a hard drive? What is software? What is Service as a Subscription (saas)? What is Open Source Software? What is the difference between .odt and .docx? What is a .pdf? Where are your files on your hard drive? How do you delete a file? How do you create a file? How do you open a file? How do you close a file? What are file extensions and what do they mean? How to turn off your internet connection? What can you do without an internet connection?

If a brush up on technology is required, we can schedule to provide one-on-one guidance for short sessions ($50 per half hour – half hour min.). We can also help you set up a linux machine at great savings over using conventional MacOS or PCs running Windows.


The ability to access the training is a benefit of being an econ4peace member or a donor. Membership is free. Sustaining donors receive the added benefit of a 10% discount.

Sustaining donors support the research institute at a minimum of $2 per month. You may become a sustaining donor by clicking here or the green donate button at the top of web page.

If you are not already, become a sustaining donor by clicking the green donate button. Then, register for digital independence training.

Become a sustaining donor

Encourage others to join you.

Learning with others ensures you have someone to check in with on your questions. It’s like having a study group in school. One buddy may have picked up on something and you didn’t and vice versa. In this way, you will keep learning together and form new ways towards being in the digital space that are healthy for our society, marketplaces and democracy.


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Now that you’ve signed up, get started by Preparing for Your Training Session

It’s time to discover what so many developers are trying to teach us. It’s time to get a CLUE. When you are ready and prior to the training, please begin with the following steps: download Firefox and set DuckDuckGo as your default search engine. You might also wish learn more about why to use a VPN in light of the privacy policy issues of internet service providers. You can learn a great deal by simply reading privacy policies. Skip to the section about what and with whom data is shared. Also read up on the why and when of GDPR standards and requirements.


Adapt our basics training to your situation or preferences

DIY – Self-Taught Approach

If you would rather venture on your own without taking the CLUE basics training, you can also get started by following the preparation instructions provided above. No matter your preferences for learning new skills, getting started soon will help not only you but all of us in navigating the maze of inappropriate access that current business and policy allows. In solidarity, we can transform the existing tech culture to one of ease and economic fairness. We need to move the dial. You can help.


If you can’t make our scheduled training sessions, we encourage you to form a group and train together.

Individuals may schedule for additional or alternative training times with a group they form of at least two others. Feel free to coordinate with our training team. Contact us to find out more including possible time slots.

You may arrange for another session at the time of your choosing if a group of 3 or more. You arrange who and when. We suggest that perhaps you use when is good or straw poll to find available times that coincide for everyone in your group.

We can offer the training and follow up support at other times. Learning new ways of doing things benefits from company. So there are options to create your own group class with minimum of three people at a time of your choosing.


It may be a bit of a process. You will gradually develop new habits. After five years of trial and error, we do not have all the answers. Still, we are comfortable with how well the tools and approaches work. We can help you and then, you can help others. Or refer them to us.  We can all continue to learn and practice together. Let’s support the developers who are trying to help us all! These people are amazing!

| epi | Associates figured it out! They are the test pilots of 5 years of R&D.

Digital independence training is also a benefit provided to | epi | Associates. Consider becoming an | epi | Associate and get involved to strengthen the Institute through educational outreach and access to community research for more communities. You’ll learn hands on what it is to work in an organization whose ‘techculture’ is digitally independent. It’s a great life skill!

We offer customized training to aligned nonprofits. Contact us for a quote based on your organizational needs.

As a research institute, we provide discounted pricing to econ4peace members and those who wish to volunteer as part of place-based community research group (CO-RE group) to advance community research.

To receive updates on our offerings and events, please subscribe to the Institute’s newsletter.


MORE ABOUT DIGITAL INDEPENDENCE

Along with community research, digital independence is critical to strengthening the breadth and quality of information necessary for a sound democracy and an open marketplace.

Once you learn a few things, you will find it easy to share with others and help shift away this fundamental flaw in how we are taking care of business. Discovering that there is another way to getting your tasks done is a first step.

Why? We developed an understanding and practice of digital independence to protect those who take part in community research. We honor the principles of do no harm and rely on an Institutional Review Board process to ensure we get it right. Digital independence is part of the safety net we provide for our participants. By our example, we hope many other institutions and organizations including government will be more careful about the services they employ.

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation and is thus far the most stringent requirement to protect personal information online. Despite Brexit, Great Britain and the Commonwealth continue to require GDPR in online communications. GDPR is more stringent than CCPA, California’s recently implemented California Consumer Privacy Act. Many states in U.S. are following suit.


Digital awareness. You can do this. It’s even easier with friends.

–    First, you find out there is a way to do things differently and it’s not that hard.

– Join us and others to learn a way forward beyond big tech. There is a whole array of individuals and groups who are leading the way.

– Organizing a session with people you know such as friends or family is a good idea. After the training, you can help each other out and fill in gaps of understanding that one may have and not another.

–    Learn how to determine which digital services protect your intellectual property and interests, and which ones don’t. Discover services that don’t sell or share your data.

– Depending on a range of factors, it may require a follow up to get the hang of it. We offer this follow up at no cost.

–   In time, we plan to offer a help desk and follow up training options for those that may benefit.


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