Encourage Your Kids to #WeDay

We Day is Free The Children’s annual “youth empowerment” event. Held in cities across Canada, We Day motivates youth to take action on local and global issues. Each student group that attends is asked to make a commitment of one local and one global action throughout the year in order to help create positive change in the world (source)

These kids earned their way this this event, by being the most awesome at giving and charity, and they genuinely enjoy doing it.  The money rasied is for the Canadian organization, Free the Children: the world’s largest network of children helping children, with more than one million youth in 45 countries involved.

These kids are into learning how to build healthy and sustainable communities, how to “foster a stronger more compassionate nation“, said Marc Kielburger, co-founder of Free The Children.

You’ll recognize some of these supporting faces.

They called it the, ‘Generation Without Borders‘, and the most activist generation, ever.  There will be over 90,000 youth participating this year across Canada.

Here’s 22,000 screaming teenagers.

Know what they’re cheering for? The founder of ‘Doctors Without Borders’.  Their teachers.  Getting water to an impoverished African village.

I KNOW :O

This was the first TELUS WeDay, they just shook hands with ‘Free the Children’ for 5 years.  Congratulations guys!

Backstage I ran into my long-time hair stylist, Brennen Demelo.  He and his team had volunteered for today’s event.  See internet, I’ll only steer you towards good.

I think if your kid participates in one WeDay, spends the months earning their way here, and then experiences an event like this, they can’t come out that bad.

Watch Toronto WeDay on TV:

– Much Music, November 11 at 7pm

– CTV, November 24 at 7pm

Maybe one of the most pure atmospheres I’ve ever been in.  Even my robot eyes misted up.

WeDay Coming Soon:

• We Day Waterloo Region: November 14, 2012, Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex
• We Day Montreal: November 20, 2012, Theatre St Denis
• National We Day: April 29, 2013, Robert Guertin Arena in Ottawa

(an aside)

To me, online means public

It’s big internet out there, and I worry how the kids put so much of their life online.

Parents please: keep an eye on video chat, not a lot of good ever comes out of video chat; remind them they should have minimum-8-character passwords; that their photos will follow them, the internet doesn’t forget; and no one under the age of 10, needs a Facebook account.

IMPORTANT: make sure their EXIF data, and geo-location services, are turned OFF.

EXIF data – information attached to an uploaded photo.  GPS location, time, model of phone, more. Can be used to track the person, in real time, using a simple web app.

Also parents – if you hear at work about the TELUS WISE program, ask to attend.  It’s the first security-awareness program of its kind in Canada, and it will help you help your kid, to make good online choices.

 

Do You Have a Lanyard Collection, Too?

It’s the only thing hanging on any of my walls.

I wish I’d known I’d end up collecting these, I wish I’d saved more of them.  It took more lanyards than this to create this collection.

The one I lament the most is, ‘Internet World 2000 in NYC‘, ha.

Sometimes the blank ones were big ones.

 

 

Really like the badge below: a press pass for the 2011 BlackHat Security Briefings.

Last year in August, I flew to Vegas, and declared I’d founded a blog about online security.  It was one of the gutsier things I’ve done in a while.  Think about it… if it takes off and is effective, then the bad guys are all, “oh this blonde thing, our stuff doesn’t work so good anymore because of her, let’s put our efforts in her direction”.  Like that.

Another top ‘most proud of‘ – Sun Media shipped me out to cover the Olympics in video, and write a column for their paper, called ‘Social Keri‘ (had no input there).

It was 2010, and I was one of few out there who was self-contained; edit, shoot, social media, create story, blog, write, everything.

Celebrating our Big Hockey Gold Win & 16th Gold Medal

Gave ‘er.

‘The Canadian Explorer’ covers #Van2010

UPDATE:

Found the missing LA Auto Show badge, along with my Sector Security Conference press pass.

UPDATE:

August 2013 additions

 

 

My Class Was Fun and Great, Thanks Class

In West Virginia last week, I gave a class, ‘How to Blog & Why You Should‘.

It was in conjunction with West Virginia State University Economic Development Centre, and DigiSo – WV’s first co-working digital studio, and media centre.  Which is really nice, I blogged it here.

I’m an Anchor at the latter:

I equipped them with press badges and a media room,
then showed them how to document, live tweet/SM,
and then publish & promote, a conference and/or event.

They were a lot of fun, and motivated.

Below, we’re putting together the blog post. It’s published here on KeriBlog.  They each covered a different aspect of the conference.  Great work, guys!

I flew them through WordPress, Picasa, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

Here’s some much nicer, professional photos from K.D. Lett.

 

It Was a Great Weekend Away

Good evening from West Virginia.

It’s still warm here, t-shirt and jeans warm.

Looked at some nature.

Saturday night was a great party. Played pool obviously, saw some old friends, made some new ones.

The gentleman in the centre is Sean:

Him: Were you at ShmooCon in February?
Me: Yes. Did you see the pickup truck outside that got smashed?
Him: That was MY truck!
Me: Come ON! I blogged your truck.

This was the band playing the party, Hellbound HonkeyTonk.

Saw these three keyboards.

Laughed a lot.

Am I fitting in yet?

Busy week ahead.  I have articles to write, 12 blog posts drafted here, and it’s ‘Test Fest’ in Niagara Falls… all the auto manufacturers bring their 2013 models to Niagara Falls, and auto journalists from all of Canada come to decide the ‘Car of the Year’.

Early morning flight out, I’ll be back in Toronto before noon tomorrow, TTY then.

xo Keri