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Communication is the art of transferring information between interested parties. Although it is craved by most, it is unattainable by many.

What am I talking about? Well think about it.

Most people love to talk, watch television, or read the paper.

In Scouting, most Scouters love to talk with other Scouters, and love to read about Scouting. In this information age, more and more Scouters are craving information and communication.

Take for example, this site, the Unofficial Scouting in Canada site, Jim Spier's Scouting site, or any one of a number of other Scouting web sites in Canada (let's not even mention outside of Canada). They are visited by hundreds of visitors every month.

Why? NOT because these visitors are busy-bodies, or lacking a social life, but because they are genuinely interested in Scouting. Check out the email for the newsgroups for example, and you will see numerous comments about related issues in Scouting.

Although several sites specialize in making themselves the Web-Link capital for Canadian Scouting, or the general policy place (available in any edition of BP&P), or even the glittery graphics guru, ask yourself.........WHO CARES?

The answer is, WE DO.

Scouters in Canada need and crave the informative links, tidbits and pages that are there for the educational experience. Most Scouters would like to learn more, so as to provide a better program. Others would like to know if someone else in the Scouting community has youth that eats Count Chocula cereal for dinner.

The Leader magazine is great for well-polished stories, but it only comes once a month, and only includes some of the many stories available about Scouting.

Scouts Canada obviously realizes this need and is trying to satisfy the need. For example, why have the Jumpstart Programs for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts been developed? To satisfy the need for communicating good Scouting ideas to the "Grassroots" Scouters. They aren't for the Council Executive staff, obviously. What we need now however, is more informative articles, and more personal interaction between Scouters.

The Official Scouts Canada Web Page has the right idea in trying to list all of the available Scouting links in Canada. They do not care if they are "Official" or not. In most instances, the "Unofficial" pages contain the most useful information, are the most easily accessible, and provide the most interesting links and layouts.

One other issue that must be addressed is the publishing of names on Web Pages. Some Scouting people do not like the fact that names and phone numbers are published on the Internet. These names and numbers are also equally accessible from the local Scouting newsletters and even the local phone book. Maybe they don't realize this. A local Scouter needs those contact names to provide a well-rounded program. It is much more efficient for a Scouter to know who they are calling, and not just the person who happened to answer the phone. Effective communication between council offices, Area/District personel and the "Grassroots" Scouters necessitates the publishing of names and phone numbers somewhere. Either on Web Pages, or on paper, they should be accessible to all Scouters.

Why? So that Scouters can COMMUNICATE!

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Disclaimer: Anything posted to this Home Page are the opinions of the individuals who posted them and are not the views of Scouts Canada.