An open workshop on safety, orientation and sovereignty
Many digital insecurities have little to do with carelessness. Ignorance, shame, fear or convenience often play a role. Sometimes there is simply a lack of time or energy to deal with things that seem complicated or unpleasant.
All of this is fine.
That’s how people work.
Digital systems are complex, constantly changing and rarely explain themselves clearly to everyone. If you use them without understanding every detail, you are not doing anything wrong. It becomes challenging when uncertainties remain unspoken.
This idea was born out of this:
An open workshop in which people bring their own devices and we look together at what actually happens there.
What it’s all about
We address fundamental topics of everyday digital life, for example:
- Security settings and protection mechanisms
- Browsers, passwords and everyday habits
- Recognising and classifying anomalies
It’s not about technical depth or optimisation. It’s about understanding and assessing things and being able to make confident decisions.
Everyone works on their own device. Everyone is allowed to ask questions. Nobody has to “know” anything.
The common framework offers space for orientation and dialogue. If it becomes apparent that individual topics are becoming significantly deeper or more individualised, we keep an eye on this and decide together how and where a suitable framework can be created.
Why “for beginners”
I deliberately call this offer for beginners because I am convinced of it:
We are all still beginners.
Digital systems surprise even people who work with them professionally. Mistakes happen to everyone – including me.
This is precisely why I think it makes sense to learn together with specific questions and examples: to show ways of recognising whether something is plausible or conspicuous, what to look out for and when it makes sense to get support.
For me, digital sovereignty means being able to help yourself and remaining free from dependencies.
Who is this for
The programme is aimed at people who use digital tools in everyday life and want to use them more safely, for example:
- Politically active democracy lovers
- People involved in initiatives, associations or committees, the more colourful the better:-)
- People who say:
“I use all this every day and want to better understand what’s going on.”
No prior knowledge is necessary. Asking questions is.
A minimum level of motivation and courage is absolutely essential! You must want to take back your power!
Loose collection of ideas and topics
This collection does not claim to be exhaustive. It is intended as an invitation to explore together:
- Passwords
- Backup and data protection
- Login security
- Data protection for your own website
- Browser selection
- Download sources, preferably directly from the manufacturer
- Traces we leave behind while surfing
- Browser plugins
- Updates for operating systems and software
- Interpreting anomalies and error messages
- Choice of online services
- Choice of operating system
- Identify and secure important accounts
- Digital estate management
- …
Which topics are actually given space is decided in the joint process.
Why I am doing this
I’ve been providing user support for many years and always come across the same questions, concerns and uncertainties about IT. Very few people really want to deal with them, and so many issues simply remain unaddressed. However, some of them are important in order to maintain an overview and control.
In addition to the diverse and varied experience, I also really enjoy this work – especially mediating between people and machines and lowering the inhibition threshold for getting to grips with technology myself.
I think digital sovereignty starts with all of us. It doesn’t come from perfect systems or complete knowledge, but from looking together, sharing experiences and the willingness to take responsibility.
We benefit as a collective1 when people feel more confident, ask questions and pass on knowledge. This workshop aims to open up a small, concrete space for this.
Because I realised that it doesn’t scale to explain these things to individual people over and over again, I came up with the idea of turning it into a workshop.
What deliberately does not happen
- no sales event
- No hidden offers
- No general recommendations
- No technology demonstrations
The focus is on orientation, not evaluation. If you need individual counselling, please take a look at my offer for development assistance.
Are you interested?
Do you have a room and enough people at the start who are enthusiastic about such a workshop? I like travelling by train and my fee is variable depending on the target group.
Everything else is a matter of negotiation.
What next?
The programme is currently still in development, and as soon as it is ready, I will communicate possible dates here and by e-mail. If you would like to stay up to date, you can subscribe to my newsletter here:
Small print
I’m quite familiar with the Apple world, Windows and Linux, IT security issues in general, networks and the internet. The few times I’ve used Android, I’ve hardly been able to do anything with it. In this sub-area, I dare to make what I call a qualified guess and ask for a little patience. You can also be there with Android, of course 🙂
- Above, I limited the target group to people with a liberal, democratic orientation. Strictly speaking, this is somewhat at odds with the collective idea. Someone else can take care of the others. ↩︎
Last Updated on January 21st, 2026 by Rene Terruhn