Learning in the open
Learning AI,
out loud, together.
I am an African woman, born and raised on this continent, with more than ten years in the development sector and six years living in Hong Kong and Malaysia. I want to lift up the girls, women, boys and men of Africa, and AI is the newest tool I am learning to do it with, carefully and out loud. Come and learn it with me.
Shirlyne · Senior communications manager · Africa
Where would you like to start?
Tell me what you are carrying and I will point you at the right thing.
Where to begin
From zero to your first tool, in a day
Six pieces to get you going. Day one is written for someone who has never used AI.
Start hereYour first day with AI: set up, stay safe and build your first tool before bedtimeSix short steps, about two hours in all, spread across one day. You finish with an account, a safe way of working, a real job done and a tool you built yourself.
Start hereWhat is AI? A plain-English guide for complete beginnersNo jargon and nothing to install. Fifteen minutes to understand what AI is, what it is not, and what it can do for you, before you connect it to anything.
Start hereAI chat or AI agent? How to choose, and why I prefer agentsA chat answers. An agent gets things done. Most people only ever use the first. Here is the difference, and how to pick.
Start hereClaude, ChatGPT and Perplexity: who made them, and which should you use?Three names said in one breath, three different kinds of tool. Who made each one, what each is best at, and how to choose without the jargon.
SafetyBefore you connect AI to anything: the safety setup that actually holdsMost guides mention safety last. Set the fence first, with real permission settings, before you connect a single account.
PracticalFind your first job for AI: starter ideas for teachers, traders, tailors, farmers, students and managersNot sure what to ask AI to do? Start with one job from your own working life. Three ready-to-use prompts for six kinds of work.The idea underneath all of it
The mental load is four jobs, not one. Anticipating, identifying, deciding, monitoring. Three of those can be handed over. The fourth one stays yours, and that was always the point.
After Allison Daminger, American Sociological Review, 2019
The pack
Plain text files you can take and change.
These are the working parts. You download the file, open it, make it yours, and give it to Claude. Every file carries its own safety rules and comes in English and French.
Plain text. No account, no email address. They will still open in ten years.
The file that outranks every other
It introduces itself first
So it stops asking the same things
Ten prompts for better answers
Your monthly audit
Learn instead of just receiving
Questions people ask
What is Soft Echoes?
Soft Echoes is a free learning space about using AI carefully, written in the open by Shirlyne, a senior communications manager in Africa. It has guides, prompts and downloadable files in English and French.
Who is it for?
Anyone in Africa and beyond who wants AI made easy. It is written with African women in mind, and men and boys are just as welcome.
Where do I start?
With Your first day with AI. Six short steps take you from no account to a tool you built yourself.
Is it safe to use AI this way?
Safety comes first here. The first guides set up real permission settings, and every downloadable file carries safety rules and a check you can run before you use it.
Is it available in French?
Yes. Every page and every file exists in English and in French. Use the EN and FR button at the top.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. Nothing here asks you to write code.
An invitation
I am not ahead of you. I am writing it down as I go.
Come and learn it with me. Try the things that look useful, ignore the rest, and tell me when I have got something wrong.