The document provides tech tips for non-techies, emphasizing the importance of a positive attitude towards technology and lifelong learning. It shares personal experiences of learning and experimenting with various tech tools, as well as practical security tips for online safety. Additionally, it lists resources for further learning and communication preferences of the author.

1. Tech Tips for Non Techies
By: Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah
May, 2014

2. Who is This Non – Techie Tech Lover?
• Communications Specialist - African Women’s
Development Fund.
• Co-Founder of Award Winning Blog
‘Adventures from the Bedrooms of African
Women’.
• Writer – published by The Guardian,
Chimurenga, This is Africa, Feminist Africa,
Open Democracy etc

3. What I’ve learnt about tech

4. Adopt the attitude - Tech is fun!
• Don’t be bamboozled by the ‘experts’. A lot of
tech today is user friendly. Experiment with
new tech.
• For e.g. many years ago I taught myself how to
create newsletters using Constant Contact.
Today you can use tools like Mail Chimp for
free. What stops you creating your own
newsletter?

5. Have a learning attitude
Pick up tech skills from people, places and
spaces.
• Joining Blogging Ghana in 2008 encouraged
me to start a personal blog.
• In 2010 David Ajao encouraged me to move to
a Word Press blog. That skill helps me manage
WP based websites in my job today.

6. Life Long Learning
• In 2013, Rose Afriyie urged me to start Google
hangouts for Adventures, and sent me a ‘How
to’ PDF.
• Take advantage of ‘optional tech clinics’ at
conferences – In 2014 at the Association of
Progressive Communications meeting on
‘Gender, Internet and Sexuality’ I learnt about
digital security and open source tools I had no
prior knowledge of. Priceless!

7. Learn from random places
And not so random places…
I get great tech tips from:
• New Organizing's ‘Tip of The Day’ (H/T
@HakimaAbbas).
• Subscribing to Fast Company’s newsletters.
• Magazines - some of the best tips I’ve seen
recently have been from ‘womens’ and in flight
magazines

8. Make a note of useful tech tips
I keep a folder on my computer called ‘Good
Examples’ where I store useful PDFs, great
reports, innovative templates etc.
If you have a smartphone make full use of all
that technology. Take pictures of tech tips in
magazines, use your memo function and voice
recorder to capture notes.

9. Some of my new fav tech tips

10. APC Digital Security Tech Tips
• Use an open source browser like Firefox.
• Use complex passwords and a tool like
KeePass so you never need to remember
another password.
• Change your behaviour. It’s politically
important to try out open source tools.
* My key takeaways after participation in the APC ‘Gender, Sexuality and Internet Meeting’, April 2014,
Malaysia

11. Tech tips from Glamour
• Delete applications you don’t use (inc. from Trash).
Restart computer.
• Clear browsing history and cookies. Digital security
training taught me that this can be specially relevant
for activists, and people living in ‘repressive regimes’.
• Check for viruses. Recommended: Avast Free
Antivirus
• Test your broadband speed.
* UK edition. June 2014. 'Laptop running S-L-O-W' page 54

12. Tips from a variety of sources
• Check out www.archiveguide.witness.org for
useful tips on documenting.
• Save documents in the Cloud. Try Dropbox
and Google Drive for e.g.
• Tag and manage your pictures with Aperture
(Mac users)
• Bookmark useful websites
• Back up your computer 

13. Staying safe online
• Password protect your computer and phone
(use a complex password)
• Do not save usernames and passwords as a
default. Use a tool like KeePass instead.
• Do not use the same password across multiple
platforms and accounts.
• Spread the knowledge – you’re only as safe as
your network in social media spaces.

14. You can never be too safe
• Do not give out your data unnecessarily. Do
you really need to give a 3rd party application
access to your Facebook profile and by
extension all your contacts?
• Consider whether you really need to have
your geo tagging feature activated. A potential
pro and a con

15. Online safety squared
• Do not give people access to your passwords,
and when you need to, change passwords
afterwards.
• Decide which of your social media accounts
are for keeping in touch with ‘real friends’ and
which are useful for meeting people outside
your network.

16. Case in point
• I use @nas009 on Twitter in my personal
capacity. I tweet what I like and rarely self
censure.
• My Facebook used to be strictly for people I
considered friends. However, my FB has
recently become an extension of work so I’ve
created a 2nd account for ‘close friends’.

17. Learn More About Tech
Useful websites to check out to learn more:
• www.takebackthetech.org
• www.securityinabox.org
• www.tacticaltech.org
• http://www.openspaceworld.org

18. The Best Way to Contact Me
• Tweet me @nas009 – by far my preferred way
for anyone to get in touch with me.
• If 140 characters are not enough then drop
me an email me via nana@awdf.org