Scouting And The Internet

Quapaw Area Council - Boy Scouts Of America - Pow-Wow 98

Welcome to Scouting And The Internet. This site is designed to be used as a reference for the attendees of the 'Scouting and the Internet' course at the 1998 Quapaw Area Council Pow-Wow. This course is intended to answer some of the basic questions you may have regarding how the Internet can help you be a better informed scout leader.

[Internet Access] [Searching] [Scouter Links] [Child Protection]

Internet Access

Without a computer

If you don't have a computer you have a few options: 1) buy a computer, 2) ask a friend if they will let you use their computer / internet access, or 3) find public access. We really can't go into the first two but we can give you some hints regarding the last option.

Public Libraries
In Central Arkansas (and a lot of other areas) your Public Library may have computers that have internet access. The Central Arkansas Library System (http://vera.cals.lib.ar.us) and the Layman Library (http://www.laman.lib.ar.us) both offer free internet access. Yahoo (http://dir.yahoo.com/Reference/Libraries/Public_Libraries) has a long list of public libraries.

Educational Institutions
Most public schools, colleges, and universities have Internet access. Some of these institutions MAY (ether by policy or special request) allow you Internet access for Scouting purposes.

Getting Access

Ok, so you have a computer (with a modem and a phone line) now what? Well there are MANY, MANY options. I am going to list a few Central Arkansas Internet Service Providers (ISP's) and try to give you some information about them. Please note that I can not possibly list all providers (if I overlook your favorite I apologize) and I am not RECOMMENDING any of these providers. Also, this information (while I believe it to be correct as of 10/24/98) may be incorrect and can change without notice!

Aristotle Internet Access (http://www.aristotle.net)	501-374-4638	50 cents an hour
IBM Internet Access (http://www.ibm.net)	800-455-5056	19.95 per month / 100 hours
Southwestern Bell (http://www.swbell.net)	800-SWB-INET	21.95 per month / 150 hours
Alltel (http://www.alltel.net)	800-990-4449	19.95 per month / unlimited
Snyder Telcom (http://www.snider.net)	800-717-0619	24.95 per month / unlimited
WorldLynx (http://www.cei.net)	501-954-9090	19.95 per month / unlimited

Additional Arkansas ISP's can be found at Yahoo or at ISP Check (http://www.ispcheck.com). Remember to read the fine print on the plans that "sound too good to be true" because they probably are.

Finding Things On The Internet

Finding things on the Internet is not hard. Finding what you want can be a real pain in the neck. In this section I will try to point you to some useful general purpose portals and search engines.

Portals

Portals are categorized lists of links that are pretty easy to use, you just click on a category and you will be shown another list of sub-categories and/or links with descriptions. Most portals offer a "Search" button to help you locate the category or link you are looking for. Portals only know about links that are added manually, so if the page you are looking for has not been added you won't be able to find it. Here are some general purpose portals:

AOL NetFind (http://www.aol.com/netfind)
Link Monster (http://www.linkmonster.com)
Look Smart (http://looksmart.com)
Lycos (http://www.lycos.com)
NewHoo (http://www.newhoo.com)
Snap (http://www.snap.com)
Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com)
Yahooligans! (http://www.yahooligans.com)

Search Engines

Search engines, on the other hand, usually check each added link for links to other pages and then checks those pages for more links, then checks THOSE pages, etc.... This means that a search engine might find hundreds or even thousands of pages automatically for each page added manually. Search engines usually have only a "Search" button and they don't usually have categories. This means that you are likely to find hundreds of POSSIBLE links for each search even though only a few (or none) are what you are really looking for. Search engines require a little finesse in getting accurate results. For instance on one search engine the search for "SCOUT" returned almost a million possible links whereas "cub scout pack 55" found only 21 links. Here are some general purpose search engines:

Alta Vista (http://www.altavista.com)
Excite NetSearch (http://www.excite.com)
Goto.com (http://www.goto.com)
HotBot (http://www.hotbot.com)
InfoSeek (http://www.infoseek.com)
Web Crawler (http://www.webcrawler.com)

Meta-Search Engines

A meta-search engine is a special type of search engine. They do not keep their own search information, instead they perform the search you specify on more than one of the "real" portals and/or search engines and give you back the best results from each.

MetaCrawler (http://www.metacrawler.com)
Profusion (http://www.profusion.com)
SavvySearch (http://www.savvysearch.com)
Starting Point (http://www.stpt.com)

Scouting Information On The Net

Ok, now that we have the basics out of the way let's jump right into the meat of the issue - finding scouting information on the internet. It sounds easy, and in fact it is pretty easy, if you know where to look!

You are probably already aware of the fact that Boy Scouts Of America (http://www.bsa.scouting.org) has an official home page. This page has been RECENTLY UPDATED to make it MUCH more useful as a leader.

I am going to try to point you to several pages that were (and still are) helpful to me. Here are some of my favorites:

	Scouting The Net - http://www.arkie.net/~scouting This is a new portal specializing in scouting. It is still small but it shouldn't take as long to get new links added to it as it does to add a new link to Yahoo. Add your link(s) here!
	Yahoo Scouting - http://www.yahoo.com/Recreation/Outdoors/Scouting This is page has over 1000 links to scouting related sites. The only problem with Yahoo is that it is reportedly over a year behind in adding new links, so don't expect hot new pages to be listed here.
	MacScouter - http://www.macscouter.com This is probably one of the most helpful sites on the internet for scouters. Here is a list of some of their "Quick Jumps": Cooking, Clipart, Skits, Songs, Stories, Games, Ceremonies, Eagle Resources, Scoutmaster Resources, Patriotic Themes, Campfire Resources, Wood Badge Stuff, Outdoors Outfitters, Scout Shops, Embroidery Companies
	Gary's Scout Page - http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/1081 This site is really useful. It has many, many links to sites with cub scout resources, flag information and many more.
	Scouters Compass - http://compass.scouter.com Here are some of the categories this site offers: Discussion Lists, Skills and Advancement, Training and Recognition, Camping and the Outdoors, Calendar and Events, Graphics and Clipart, Scouting Organizations, Scouting History, Ceremonies, Patches, Maps, Who's on the Web.
	Scouts.Com - http://www.scouts.com This is the place to go if you need a BSA form, they have many forms online (in PDF format). They also have links to other sites.
	Global ScoutNet - http://www.scout.net This the home of the Scouting Spider (http://spider.scout.net) and the Scouting Spider Top 100 (http://spider.scout.net/top100.ihtml) which is, as the name implies, a top 100 list of scout sites (this is determined by the number of hits on the sites supplied counter).
	Scouting Service Project - http://www.usscouts.org Many categories to pick from. They have local content as well as a list of other links.
	Scout History & Tradition - http://users.aol.com/randywoo/bsahis/index.htm This is a very interesting site specializing in the history of scouting.
	Scouting Online - http://www.scoutorama.com With categories like CyberCook, Cracker Barrel, SkitWeb, Song Archive, and Scout Master Minute's you are offered bunch of information all in one place.
	The Mining Company - http://boyscouting.miningco.com This is a moderated site with several links. It also has a basic discussion group and some local content.
	InfoSeek Scouting - http://www.infoseek.com/Boy_Scouts_Of_America This is a category off of InfoSeek specifically for Scouters.
	Cub Scout Pack 55 - http://www.aristotle.net/~pack55 Ok, I had to do it, here is my Pack web site. We have some local content specifically some (I am working on the rest) of the Quapaw Area Council patch requirements, maps, and patches online as well as a fairly extensive list of Central Arkansas and State Park links.

Child Protection And The Internet

Some of you have or are considering a web page for your den or pack so I am going to briefly digress here for a topic I consider serious. Some groups (I haven't seen a scout page specifically) post a nice group picture with the names of all the member under the picture or a picture of the winners of a race with the winners names. While this seems innocuous at first glance I PERSONALLY have become quite worried about this practice.

A pack or den web page probably has the time and location of pack meetings and in some cases den meetings. With this information, a picture and the names of the boys, we are basically setting up an online catalog for pedophiles. My pack page has been up for almost a year and the most common search phrase used to find my page is "little boys"! This leads me to believe that people (and I use that word sparingly) are cruising the net for nefarious purposes and are finding my web page. This frightened me enough that I have implemented a policy on our web page that pictures of the boys, if used at all, do not have the boys names. Additionally, we do not have a scout phone book on the web site (even though we do have a leader phone book).

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