Scouting needs to be more tech savvy

[Brewmeister]

I don't think this link was posted here anywhere. I'm sure this will get some interesting responses. http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=16408357

 

[dennis99ss]

If this is the link to the new Scout Exec comments that BSA needs to embrace technology, etc. I fully agree with everything he, and the others interviewed, stated.

[Twocubdad]

Same ol', same ol'. We can use iPods instead of guide books to identify wildflowers and constellations, 'cause iPods are cooler that old books, give the marketing guys an excuse for ads and PR sounding hip, and besides, silicon is somehow better than cellulose. Whatever.

 

I guess this is part of the new, ninth Method of Scouting, Electronic Association. For some reason I thought the way this worked was for the boys to associate with adults of character who know this stuff. Maybe I'm sensitive because the two examples which are always thrown out, plant identification and astronomy, are two topics I'm good with and really teaching the Scouts. If you know your subject, what's the need for either? And if you don't know the material, what's the point of fumbling with either field guides or electronics? "Um, I think it's a pine tree, let me look it up."

 

 

[JMHawkins]

"Um, I think it's a pine tree, let me look it up."

 

What sort of pine? Lodgepole? Bristlecone? Ponderosa? Jeffrey? Western White? Whitebark? Bishop? (I'm missing a couple I think...)

 

So, I kindof agree that using a iPad as a crutch in the field is less than ideal, but an electronic teaching aide is a great idea.

 

Something else to keep in mind, setting "...associate with adults of character who know this stuff" as the ideal is fine, but we have a shortage these days of adults who fit the description. It's been mentioned now and then that there's a deficit of experienced outdoorsmen to serve as scouters. We can't go back and fix that, we're stuck with it. But using electronics as a learning tool might help us spread what's left of the knowledge base more widely.

 

 

[smalltroopSM]

There are already plenty of electronic guidebooks out there to help with stargazing, tree identification, and the like. How about something along the lines of a reasonable national troop database that you can address with any internet-savvy device and keep track of troop records, camp registrations, advancement, training, etc. Really help the SM/CM's in their work!

 

Dreaming on......(This message has been edited by smalltroopsm)

[Basementdweller]

In this thread you see the problems with what your asking for......

 

 

One person wants tree id books

 

One person wants camp registration

 

One person wants Pack websites

 

 

 

The BSA should focus on one thing and making the membership management system more functional for everyone.....this includes adult leader training, scoutnet, tour plans, medical info. Everything else is fluff.

 

So what is that going to involve......More up to date hardware and better connections to run it all.....Up to date operating system and sql version database. A big project and thankless project....

 

Ya know we volunteers will still complain about it.

[perdidochas]

I'm with basement on this.

 

National needs to provide an easily usable membership database to keep track of the information that scouts and leaders need kept on themselves (contact info, advancement, training and medical info).

 

Everything else can be easily handled locally or by commercial vendors. Pack/troop websites are on the way out. They require too much attention to maintain (I've been a Pack webmaster, so I know this from experience). Facebook is probably the next phase in troop/pack info sites.

[Tampa Turtle]

Ah but what about the reports that Facebook requires unrealistic rates of ad revenue to continue? If it collapse that is the downside of relying on an outside vendor.

[OldGreyEagle]

when units don't allow the use of electronics, why would scouting have to be tech

savvy?

[Basementdweller]

Initially I was in the no electronics group.....While I don't like to see gameboys and the like at campouts....I don't mind smartphones and such as long as it doesn't become to much of a distraction.

 

Responsible usage...

 

The summer camp does not allow boys to have phones out of the campsite.....so we collect them and lock them up every evening....They can call home and then back in the case.

[dennis99ss]

Hey basement--the stars and moon must be acting differently today.

 

We Agree on something!!!!!!!!

 

Bwahaha

[Twocubdad]

Absolutely right. Instead of national "embracing technology" how about embracing the technology of the 1990's? Do your dang job and provide support for the units delivering the program to the scouts. Google is almost 20 years old, yet we have the most byzantine website imaginable.

 

Somewhere, the PR guys have a plan that if all these old geezers with gold tabs walk around with Crackberrys talking about how tech-savvy Scouting has become they will attract kids who spend all their time absorbing electrons. Actually, my hunch is they are more interested in attracting corporate sponsorships from AT&T.

 

There's more to technology that hand-held computing. How about high-tech camping gear? Or high-tech SCUBA equipment? Or high-tech climbing gear?

 

"Embracing technology" but only talking about using apps to ID poison ivy is a solution in search of a problem. Why do we need to embrace technology? Why do we need to spend $500 on an iPad plus another $40 a month for a data plan when Mr. Smith not only knows all the constellations, but is a terrific story teller and can keep a crowd enthralled for hours with the mythology behind the constellations. Why is your expensive technology so much better that the already-paid-for field book sitting on the shelf?

 

Instead of running after the technology bandwagon flailing our arms screaming "me too, me too, wait for us!" Why don't we talk about appropriate technology? Focus on carbon-based memory units, not silicon. Focus on what makes Scouting unique, not what can make us like everything else.

[Oak Tree]

I'm happy to rely on third-party vendors to provide apps that do constellation identification, or plant identification, or show you how to tie knots. If the BSA wants to link to those, or pull them in, that's terrific.

 

However, what I'd really like is the same thing that everyone else here has mentioned - functional internal IT.

[JMHawkins]

I looked over Wayne Brock's video blog, and watched several of the entries. First thing to realize is that the blog was/is directed specifically at pro scouters, BSA employees, as a way of communicating within the corporation. In one blog, Brock mentioned the BeAScout website and asked for feedback on how to make it more useful. He pointed out that BSA advertising needs a call to action, and that is to send prospective members to the BeAScout website, but that it wasn't really succeeding in drawing in new members.

 

In the comments, there were several suggestions that the website email contact info for the prospective scouts to the unit leaders rather than the mostly obscure method that info gets to units today. Brock replied that privacy laws pretty much prevented that, and I'm sure he's correct about that. However, I didn't see a single comment from anyone on that thread that suggested doing a better job directing the prospective members directly to units in their area. Essentially make the website a lead-gathering portal for the units rather than the councils/districts. I was pretty stunned that nobody seemed to be thinking along those lines, since that is in fact how membership really works. Boys join a unit, not a coucil or district. The paperwork may go to the council office, but the council isn't the selling point, the unit is. But the pros running the site don't seem to understand that the pros don't have a direct role to play in the recruiting loop. Their role is to support the units own recruiting efforts, but somehow they seem to think they need to inject themselves into the actual information flow.

 

The most significant change Brock could make would be to redirect the pros to thinking in terms of support roles and to challenge them to remove themselves from as many action loops as possible. They do that for some things, but it's uneven across the board. The current BSA website is terrible in that regard - it seems heavily geared towards supporting pros rather than volunteers and members. If I was Brock, that is the very first "tech-savvy" change I would insist on. Pros can have an internal website, but there needs to be one geared to the customers.

[suzisk8]

Tech Savvy, I am surprised that they didn't push STEM in this article. Heck, with my Pack, I am doing all the techie stuff and I still have a couple of new Cub parents who do not have internet access or an email address and it is blowing my techie mind. I agree about being old school about some aspects of scouting, but a good example is Bear elective #3 Radio. The first part the book wants the scout to build a crystal radio. I can find those kits just fine on scoutstuff.org. The second section the book says to construct a transistor radio. Um, I had a transistor radio when I was a kid and I Googled it and there are NO kits available. The only reason why I want to do this elective with my Bears this next year is because of JOTA/JOTI. I have seen some parts of the Tiger, Wolf and now Bear books that do need updates because of the increasing technology of today. We need to keep our very tech savvy kids engaged and interested and if it means bringing a smart phone or iPad into the field, so be it. Because then what happens, they don't need the device because they have the real thing in front of them. Have faith in kids, they don't need gadgets all the time.