GLOBAL SCOUTNET

                           MISSION STATEMENT


 Introduction
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^
One of the key ideas of our Founder was that the World Brotherhood of
Scouting and Guiding should foster peace and goodwill among peoples by
"forming a friendly alliance [...] for mutual interchange of views,
correspondence, and visits, and thereby to promote a closer feeling of
sympathy between the rising generations". (Baden-Powell, "The
Scouter", December 1911). This led to the "invention" of the
Jamboree and other international gatherings.

Moreover, he recognised the need to effectively spread the information to
leaders all over the world. He found many ways to do this... he put to good
use both the written word (in books and newsletter) and his sketching
skills, in what was his age's version of multimedia. He also embarked in
many "scout cruises", which proved to be a peculiar but effective
way to bring his spoken word to scouts and leaders all around the world.
However, he recognized that the best way to train adult leaders was to put
them together with other leaders, some very experienced (Camp Chiefs) and
others who are still in training. So Gilwell Park and other training camp
sites became invaluable resources to the ever-growing Scout movement.

The mission statement of Global Scoutnet is to provide a low-cost,
wide-reaching, many-to-many communication tool to Scouts, Guides and adult
leaders all over the world, which can be the equivalent of a Jamboree or of
a Gilwell Park training camp.

This mission statement was developed at the "Building the Global
Village" seminar, organized by the European Regions of WOSM and WAGGGS
in 1994.


 Global Scoutnet: more than just a pretty page!
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
In those countries where Internet use is easily available, many scout
groups have started creating a "Group Page". This is a good
exercise; it involves summing up what makes your group or unit unique, and
explaining it to outsiders. From an educational point of view, it is as
useful as composing a pamphlet or a newsletter, and should be encouraged.

However, the great limit of this kind of experience is that you aren't
really having an exchange with someone else. You are just preparing a
showcase, like thousands of other groups are doing. Even when you visit
someone else's page, you might find it informative, but this won't reflect
on the author of the page.

Clearly, some other medium must be used to complement web pages.

Actually, the medium we need is much older, and dates back to the early
seventies. We are talking about electronic conferences, where a group of
people can take part in a discussion, but each one can do so at the place
of their choice and at the time of their choice.


 How we do it
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^
The key to the widest possible availability of global telecommunications is
the use of as many different technologies as possible.

Some people might have access to only one kind of technology; some other
might prefer to choose the cheapest one for them.

The technologies we currently use are Internet and Bulletin Board networks.
In the future, we might start using other ones, too.

The Internet has been subject to an ever growing attention by the media, so
there should be no need to further delve into the subject.

A Bulletin Board System (BBS) is an amateur telecommunications system,
accessible by dial-up phone lines, usually for free. The equipement needed
to access it is a computer of any kind, a terminal emulation program, and a
modem. Services provided by a BBS include the distribution (download) of
software and other files, and participation in electronic conferences.
Bulletin Board networks allow many BBS to share their electronic
conferences, thus reaching a much wider public.

In North America and Europe, the Internet is widespread enough that most
leaders (and many youth, too) can afford a PC sufficiently equipped and the
ISP (Internet Service Provider) fees.

In developing countries, Internet access is quite restricted, with ISP fees
at least an order of magnitude higher than in Europe for a much less
reliable service, but the matter is made worse by much lower earnings in
those countries. Available PCs are expensive, too, and often they are not
up to the requirements of most internet software. In these countries, we
need technologies which can work on cheap hardware, and can coexist with
low-quality telephone lines.
Bulletin Board networks can be profitably used in this context. Even
commercial networks often use similar technologies: AT&T has been
offering for years the "AT&T learning network" to educational
institutions all around the world, providing essentially the same services
as a BBS network. We also know of at least one NGO using a CCmail network
over dial-up lines, and UUCP connections are still in use. These
technologies are very similar to BBS networks.

Moreover, there is still a significant membership in the hobbyist BBS
community in Europe, which is more than willing to help Scoutnet, just like
radio amateurs always helped with the Jamboree-On-The-Air.

Also, a BBS network is a more "controlled" environment; this can
be much more effective in addressing parental concerns about Internet
contents than any "rating" scheme of WWW pages!

So we use as many technologies as needed to reach as many people as possible.


 Organization of Global Scoutnet
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Global Scoutnet is a federation of national networks which have the same aims.

Each national network has a Country Coordinator, elected or nominated
according to a national policy. All these Country Coordinators form the
Country Coordinators Council (CCC), which is the governing body of Global
Scoutnet.

The CCC elects a Global Coordinator, who handles day-to-day operations and
represents the network.

What happens inside each national network is a local affair, provided a few
basic rules are respected.

--- SendMsg

--- Squish/386 v1.11