Earlier this week, I walked past the White House, one of my favorite places to visit, on my way to meet a new friend. He recently moved to DC to start a new job in the building next door.
Eisenhower Executive Office Building
As I was waiting in line to enter the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to meet Jason Goldman, the first-ever White House Chief Digital Officer, I thought about how powerful the Internet and Twitter can be as connection and engagement tools. They connected Jason and I and began a series of blog and Twitter conversations around his new position and #socialcivics engagement when he wrote his March 24th Medium blog post on The Internet, the White House, and You (and Me). When I read his post, I was inspired to share it with my social media network. Two days later, I wrote him a letter via my blog that offered my #socialcivics ideas and tweeted him the link. In an effort to increase engagement, I encouraged people to blog and tweet their ideas. He tweeted back and thanked me for sharing.
My 5/2 session on Embracing Your Digital Citizenship at Blogger Week Unconference, Photo Credit: Teresa Dowell-Vest
After he started working on April 6, he continued having the #socialcivics discussion online and with his staff. A week later, he published a follow-up blog post on What I’ve learned so far from #socialcivics. After I read it, I decided to incorporate a #socialcivics feedback discussion in my Embracing Your Digital Citizenship session at the Blogger Week Unconference on May 2. The morning of my session, I tweeted him a link to a blog post that outlined my talking points. He retweeted it and sent me a direct message with an invitation to meet him in person this week.
#Socialcivics Selfie #1 of me and White House Chief Digital Officer Jason Goldman
Meeting him face-to-face was a blast! He is truly passionate about the work he is called to do as head of the Office of Digital Strategy. That’s why I took two #socialcivics selfies. Check out how cool he is with his blue glasses and cherry blosson tie!
#Socialcivics Selfie #2
During our meeting, we discussed the feedback I received during my Digital Citizenship session and brainstormed ways to increase his office’s engagement with social media influencers and communities. I left with a homework assignment I will be working on this weekend as a follow-up email.
Now that you have read my story, I encourage to join Jason’s #socialcivics discussion on Twitter. Send him a tweet at @Goldman44. Write a blog post. Chat with your network about it on social media. He and his team are listening!
Blogger Week Networking Event at UDC held on May 1, 2015
Happy Saturday,
Today, I’m leading a session on “Embracing Your Digital Citizenship” at the Blogger Week Unconference organized by Black Bloggers Connect. My session will be held from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Impact Hub, 419 7th Street, NW, Washington, DC (in Chinatown by the Gallery Place Metro Station).
During my one-hour session, you will receive tips on ways to define and express your digital citizenship. You will also participate in a group discussion that documents digital citizenship best practices and provides feedback on White House Chief Digital Officer (CDO) Jason Goldman’s #socialcivics. Here are several resources to read before the session.
Just in case you are unable to attend my session, I have included a summary of my talking points below. May they encourage and inspire you to define, embrace, and demonstrate your digital citizenship as well as engage with your local and national communities and governments, the White House, and CDO Jason Goldman (@Goldman44 – tweet Jason about your #socialcivics ideas — he’s listening!).
DIGITAL WELLNESS MOMENT
The yoga teacher in me cannot resist sharing a digital wellness moment at the beginning of my talks and workshop sessions. Here’s a taste of what I will share today.
The digital wellness exercise will focus on deep breathing. When you breathe intentionally and deeply, you invite yourself into the present moment. The more you breathe intentionally and deeply, the more open you become to PEACE. When you have PEACE, you are free to IMAGINE. Your imagination helps you DREAM. Your dreams help you CREATE and INSPIRE others in your blog and life.
Find a comfortable seated position in your chair. Come to the edge of your chair and place your feet flat on the floor. If you are wearing glasses or shoes, take them off to relax. Create hip width distance in between your legs. Take a deep breath through your nose and exhale it through your mouth. Notice how you feel. Now do it SEVEN more times. As you exhale, release or pause any thoughts or to do lists you carried with you into this moment. To learn more about creating a digital wellness plan, click here for tips.
MY DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP STORY
In 2013, I penned Digital Sisterhood: A Memoir of Fierce Living Online, a book that discusses how the Internet influenced my career, community service efforts, creativity, and work as the founder of the Digital Sisterhood Network. During my book tour, I gave a talk about the importance of digital citizenship at Spelman College’s Women Interactive conference that encouraged people to explore how they could marry their passionate interests with their digital presence to inform and inspire others to support causes and programs in their local and national communities.
Photo Credit: WhiteHouse.govWhite House French Arrival Ceremony, February 2014 – Photo Credit: Dave McCulloch
Following my own counsel, I decided to apply to participate in the White House Social events to demonstrate my support of President Barack Obama’s policies and programs in 2014. The White House selected me to serve as a social media leader for the State of the Union, French Arrival Ceremony for French President Francois Hollande, and Tumblr Q&A session on education and college affordability. The U.S. Department of State invited me to serve in a similar capacity during the International Women of Courage Award Ceremony.
These experiences inspired me to launch the Digital Citizenship Project (DCP), an online initiative that encourages individuals to marry their passionate interests and digital presence to support campaigns, causes, events, ideas, movements, policies, programs, and values that build awareness and community, create positive change, and promote social good. Last July, I established Digital Citizenship Month.
DEFINING DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP
How do you define Digital Citizenship?
Here’s my definition: marrying your passionate interests and digital presence to support campaigns, causes, events, ideas, movements, policies, programs, and values that build awareness and community, create positive change, and promote social good.
10 TIPS ON EMBRACING YOUR DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP
1) Identify your passion and interests.
2) Find causes and campaigns that connect you to your passion and interests.
I am passionate about inspiring creative expression and healthy living. My passion motivates me to use my digital citizenship to support causes, campaigns, events, businesses, organizations, policies, and programs that celebrate and promote the arts, communities of color, creativity, digital communications, education, fitness, President and First Lady Obama, White House, Reiki healing touch, social good, social justice, Washington, DC, women and girls, world travel, social media, technology, and yoga.
3) Launch and support causes and campaigns that improve the quality of life for people in your local, regional, national, and international communities.
Photo Credit: BlackLivesMatter.comPhoto Credit: Mario Armstrong
Here are several examples.
#BlackLivesMatter was launched in 2012 after Trayvon Martin’s murder and is a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-Black racism that permeates American society.
Mario Armstrong’s #More4Bmore campaign was launched this week in response to the social unrest that occurred after the recent police brutality incidents in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. Armstrong’s campaign is using social media to recruit creatives, doers, problem solvers, writers, leaders AND ANYONE wanting to be a part of creative solutions in Baltimore.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser established the #IWishUKnew campaign on May 1 to foster a robust conversation with DC residents on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Mayor Bowser and her administration are using this social media campaign to encourage DC residents to answer the question: What is it that you want people to know about you that they don’t know? Examples include: I wish you knew that my parents are worried that they will lose our house; I wish you knew that I am nervous that I won’t be able to find a job; and I wish you knew that I am scared when I wait for the bus at night. I really like what the Mayor stated in her May 1st newsletter, “Engagement is the first step towards empowerment and that’s why your voice is so important. I want you to know that I am listening, we are listening, and we want you to share what we all need to know.”
Photo Credit: DC.gov
4) Participate in local government events and document your participation on your blog and social media.
In January, I used my digital presence to document the Inauguration of DC Mayor Bowser. I also documented the February open house event hosted by the Mayor’s Office of African Affairs,
February open house hosted by the Mayor’s Office of African Affairs
5) Build community.
Jessica Mitchell used her digital presence to build community by establishing Black Blogger Network in 2010, Black Bloggers Connect in 2011, and Blogger Week Unconference in 2014.
I have built community among women in social media and technology through the Digital Sisterhood Network, Digital Sisterhood Month (December), and My #DigitalSisterhood Community Is.
6) Inspire and encourage.
Use your blog, social media, and web site to share empowering and inspirational messages. Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Network does a great job of sharing messages.
Photo Credit: OWN Network
7) Educate and share information.
I use my passion for yoga and training as a yoga teacher to share health-related information.
8) Blog and post positive social media status updates about local businesses you patronize in your local community.
9) Celebrate local, state, national, and international holidays and observances to raise awareness about issues you care about.
I celebrate many women-centered holidays and observances online.
10) Engage in #socialcivics with the White House and Federal Government.
The White House sponsors #WHSocials, #WHMeetups, and online events each year to engage American citizens. Visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/social to learn more about the in-person events. Subscribe to the White House blog to stay informed about online events.
My heart opens. I bloom and express my flower child spirit. I AM daring to live differently than I have in the past. Committed to being in the present. Affirming my highest good in the future while being grateful for my soul’s fulfillment.
Copyright 2015 by Madelyn C. Leeke. All rights reserved.
Today’s poem is entitled “Starting Over.” It was inspired by several wisdom quotes posted on author Panache Desai’s Facebook page.
Starting Over
My life as I know it has died. My past has served its purpose. Creator is calling me to begin within. It’s been hard to admit what’s happening. It’s been hard to release what no longer works because I fear change. The more I resist, the harder I struggle to breathe in peace. The day comes when I must choose life over death. So I let go and surrender to the unknown. My path is unclear. It is calling me to start over with faith, trust, and belief in Creator as my source. It is reminding me life is an opportunity to grow at all times. I bless my past and wave goodbye as I walk into the next chapter of my life.
Copyright 2015 by Madelyn C. Leeke. All rights reserved.
Great news! On May 2, I’m speaking about digital citizenship at the Blogger Week Unconference that will be held at Impact Hub, 419 7th Street, NW, Washington, DC. My “Embracing Your Digital Citizenship” session will begin at 4:30 p.m. During the one-hour session, you will receive tips on ways to define and express your digital citizenship. You will also participate in a group discussion that documents digital citizenship best practices and provides feedback on White House Chief Digital Officer Jason Goldman’s #socialcivics.
ALIVE is #Yogaat50 Lesson 8. When I practice yoga, I slow down and reconnect with every part of my body, mind, spirit, and heart. Through my yoga practice, I enter the present moment and become fully ALIVE. What does yoga do for you?
The best thing I can do is prepare my sacred trinity for a deep sleep with restorative yoga. The kind that relaxes each part of my body. The kind that calls my mind to surrender to the sound of each deep breath. The kind that opens my heart to the Creator’s grace and my ears to divine wisdom.
Copyright 2015 by Madelyn C. Leeke. All rights reserved.
My body signals it is tired. I turn to my yoga mat for comfort. Yin yoga, Reiki, and meditation prepare me for deep relaxation. I chant a series of OMs and dedicate my practice to the restoration of my peace of mind.
Copyright 2015 by Madelyn C. Leeke. All rights reserved.
“Be kind to yourself,” the voice whispers.
I keep moving.
Ignoring the voice.
She whispers, “Did you hear me? Be kind to yourself.”
I stop, listen, and ask, “How?”
She answers with a recipe of kindness.
I write it down in my journal,
Be kind and slow down so you can be with yourself.
Be kind and slow down so you can hear yourself clearly.
In this space, feel what you are feeling.
Don’t glaze over it.
Think what you are thinking.
Say what needs to be said in your own words.
Reflect with kindness.
Rest with ease.
Be kind.
You are the only you have.
Copyright 2015 by Madelyn C. Leeke. All rights reserved.
Ananda Leeke 