Founders day fail :-(

Some days things  just don’t go your way do they? So far today has been one of those days.

Inbox frenzy

If you are a user of Skowt you will be aware that we had a bit of a gremlin in our messaging system last night. This meant some users received random emails from Skowt at around 10pm on Monday. Let me apologies again for any inconvenience caused by this – this issue has now been fixed so shouldn’t happen again.

Email shower email (Should have used Bcc)

I can’t blame system gremlins for sending out an email to a group of users using the To field rather than the Bcc field. I take full responsibility for sending this email and apologise to those users for exposing their email addresses to other Skowt users. A simple case of human error I’m afraid.

On a lighter note

There are loads of great things happening in UK Scouting at the moment with the Scout Association’s Put a scarf on it campaign going great guns today!

Don’t forget to use the #iScout hashtag on twitter!

Also there are great events filling up fast such as Dragnet and Apex Challange! The adventure continues….I know I’m excited about my Scouting year ahead.

Happy Founders Day

Rob (still a bit embarrassed about the email sent this morning – doh!)

Prize giving: Stick Together Competition

Remember our Stick Together Competition at Peak 2010? Well last week we headed down to Melbourne Scouts Scout Hut just south of Derby to present the winners with their haul of prizes!

Tom from Blacks and Rob from Skowt spent an hour with a very enthusiastic Scout Troop and enjoyed talking about Peak and their 1st prize winning creation – The Peak Penknife.

Tom gave a talk on taking care of walking gear and we ran a quiz with a load more great prizes from Blacks up for grabs.

Thanks for great evening Melbourne Scouts and once again well done on winning over £250 worth of kit for your Group!

Think You Know Scouting

Hello Skowt Readers

Incase you have been in a internet bubble and have no managed to see any of the information put out on Twitter, Facebook or other sources, the scout association have comissioned a good video to dispell the mith of bob a job and dyb dyb dob dob.

The Video is called Think You Know Scouting, you can view it below

TTFN

K

Access allowed: Under 13’s and the social web.

Hello Skowt Readers

I am Chris Meadows ACC Explorers in Avon County. I write a Scouting blog called Jabbering All Day Long. The Skowt team asked recently if I would be intrested in doing some guest writing for the Skowt Blog so here I am.

The quoted section below is taken from my Jabbering all Day Long and was written in August however,

I was reading the latest copy of Scouting Magazine and I came across a very interesting letter.

The letter was commenting that in Scouting Magazine April/May issue it said “There is a growing tendency to promote the use of Social Networking sites among our Members” and that both Facebook and Twitter restrict the use of their service to people over the age of 13. The letter went on the comment that should we [Scouting] be promoting scouts to partake in something which “the providers themselves consider unsuitable for a large part of our membership” and that the letter also indicated that by posting information in this way we are encouraging young people to break the rules.

While I agree with the response that Scouting Magazine gave to the letter it did get me thinking, I am involved predominantly in the Explorer Scout section and therefore all the young people I work with, when asked by Facebook or Twitter are you 13 or over can click Yes with guilt free.

However I know a quite a few Scout group Facebook pages where groups provide mainly photos sharing from activities which the group took part in. Obviously little Jonny and Little Jane are not tagged or named in any way however should they want to be part of this group they either need to get their parents to sign up to Facebook or “Break the Rules”.

I would guess that most scout groups would say that the Facebook page was there to provide information for the Parents not for the young people to be part of, however isn’t inclusion what Scouting is all about.

So the questions still remains “A Scout is to be trusted” and should we ask a scout to break that trust to be included in something the Scout Group is doing? I would be very intrested to know your thoughts

Since writing the above post, I have been given a guided tour around Skowt and maybe now there is a viable option for little Jonny/Jenny Scout  who can now click ‘sign me up’ without fear of  not being a good Scout.

It is worth noting that 82% of Young People in Scouting are under the age of 13. Providing appropriate and safe ways for them to share their Scouting lives online is a very real and current issue.

TTFN

K

chris<DOT>meadows<AT>avonscouts<DOT>org<DOT>uk

www.jabbering.co.uk

Gilwell 2010 – What a weekend!

Over 2,300 Leaders and staff descended on UK Scouting’s HQ in Gilwell Park this weekend for the Gilwell 2010 Reunion. The weekend was jam-packed with activities, workshops and entertainment. Everyone was encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to catch up with old friends, make new ones and find out about the latest developments in scouting. For us at Skowt that’s exactly what we did!

Skowt ran a hugely successful prize draw with some great prizes provided by our sponsors Black’s Leisure Group. We received over 200 entries and would like to thank everyone who took the time to visit the stand and find out more about Skowt.

A big congratulations from the team goes to Andy Fox from Worcester. Andy was the main prize winner taking home a jacket, tent and rucksack. Five runners up won goodie bags including Nik wax products, a compass, a North Face notepad and Graingers equipment proofer! Not bad huh?

From our stand we were able to meet a lot of new and interesting people; ranging from Group leaders to District and County Commissions as well as some key people from the Scout Association. Everyone we spoke to was really keen to see Skowt in action so we are currently busy running online demo’s as well as scheduling more for the coming weeks.

If you’d like to book a demo simply call 0114 279-4995 or email: demo@skowt.com letting us know when is best for you.

Skowt – the easy way to manage your group or unit online

Happy Skowting!

Rob

You get what you pay for?

With the loss of the leading provider of free web hosting for Scouting websites, a lot of people are looking for the next best thing. As much as we appreciate the obvious attraction of a free service we can’t help but wonder what the future holds and if anything is really free?

They say the best things in life are free. As lovers of the great outdoors no one appreciates a breath of fresh air or a ray of sunshine on a gloomy day more than us. These are the things that the proverbial they are referring to; I wonder though if this covers free software.

As a provider of Software as a Service we at Skowt are often complimented about our product but are sometimes met with the expectation that the service is free. Although Skowt is free for users and parents there is a subscription fee for Groups/Units.

The problem with some free services is that the software is created, put online and then becomes static. This can leave users with an array of problems but no means of complaint. Problems include unreliability, technical difficulties and lengthy downtimes to name just a few. These problems do vary from service to service but they all root back to the same cause, there are only so many hours in a day and only so much any of us can do as volunteers. Once the software development is finished the developer is no longer interested in its maintenance, for them the challenge and enjoyment was in creating the product. They have little interest for routine and mundane maintenance. That’s not to say they don’t care it’s just the incentive to support might not be as great as the incentive to create.

At Skowt we truly believe in our product and want to be able to provide on going support, and development. We dream of Skowt becoming more than a service, for it to flourish into a community where like minded individuals can interact, communicate and voice ideas. Our commitment to Skowt is to constantly and effectively develop our service whilst being on hand to deal with any problems our users may encounter. These provisions of support will allow all Leaders to move online, whether you have little knowledge of the internet or you design and create your own web content. By funding these resources with regular subscriptions our members liberate us to provide a constant, reliable and innovative service.

Happy Skowting!

Leanne – Chief Blogger

Safety first, safety second

Having just read the latest edition of Scouting Magazine (Aug/September 2010) I was drawn to an article that reiterated the need for the services and benefits Skowt provides.

It was in the MailBox section (p.11) where a worried District Scout Leader rightly questioned Scouting Magazine’s promotion of Social Networking sites. The benefits of these sites are becoming more valuable as social media becomes the norm for young people. The ability to share and comment on photos allows the memories of camp to flourish even after the event has passed. Social media allows young people to communicate in a way that is familiar and easy to them. Calendar and events features enable you to send information about your latest activities and camps to all your Scouts or Guides in a matter of minutes, as well as making editing details such as time and place a less laborious task.

So it is understandable that Leaders would want to use Social Networking sites to interact with their fellow Leaders, Section members and Parents. However, most Social Networking sites have an age restriction of 13. This age restriction automatically excludes Beavers, Rainbows, Cubs, Brownies and the younger Scouts and Guides ( thats about 83% of young people in Scouting).

With the value of Social Networking sites rising this begs the question; what should we do?

In the battle between using new communication tools and age restriction rules which should we promote? By promoting Social Networking sites are we encouraging our young people to break the rules? And worse are we putting them at risk?

Free networking sites operate in the public domain meaning that unless an event is created on the strictest privacy levels, which to the less computer savvy of us can be difficult to do, then anyone can access this information. For parents and Leaders alike the concept of total strangers being able to access details about their Unit or Group can make us nervous. A hastily created event can not only open up your Group or Unit to online predators but it can also tell them the exact date, time and place of your next activity not to mention the names of the attendees.

Scouting Magazine’s Editors reply was to follow good practice guidelines and to find the correct balance. We like to think using Skowt is good practice when sharing information about potentially vulnerable people online. And Skowt gives you the balance you need when sharing online whilst ensuring member safety and privacy at the same time.

Here at Skowt we anticipated the need for a social platform for Scouting and Guiding so have developed a website that meets those needs. Skowt allows safe and secure online communication between you and your Group or Unit whilst maintaining the photo sharing, commenting and events features that make Social Networking sites so attractive. Skowt is only for Scouting and Guiding meaning as well as interacting amongst yourselves as we develop the site you’ll be able to keep in touch with other friends within Scouting and Guiding too!

So if you’re faced with the difficult decision between online communication tools and keeping your Group or Unit members safe online then worry no more simply join Skowt today!

Remember – Safety first, safety second!

Happy Skowting!

Leanne – Chief Blogger

Peak 2010

Peak 2010 was an International Scouting and Guiding gathering with over 7,000 children, leaders and staff camping in the spectacular Chatsworth Park. Peak is held every 5 years making 2010 eagerly anticipated.  It was a fun packed week for all involved with the agendas overflowing with activities.

For us at Skowt it was an opportunity to showcase the time saving solutions we have developed to help with everyday Scouting and Guiding problems.

We hosted the Stick Together Competition which had each group using their creativity to build the most inventive art work using 35 lollipop sticks. We were overwhelmed by the quality of the response with each entry showing ingenuity, resourcefulness and originality. Once all entries were received we hosted them online for all to vote on.

Here are some of our favourites:

The winner will be the one with the most votes on Sunday at midnight. The voting has been crazy! Keeping us on the edge of our desk chairs as we watch the votes roll into the 1000s.

We are currently looking forward to the reunion at Gilwell – brainstorming ideas for how to use the mountain of lollipop sticks left over that are piled high in the office!

Happy Skowting!

Leanne Dodson – Chief Blogger

We’re Live!

Skowt is live!

Today marks the start of an exciting new journey for Scouting and Guiding on the web.

We created Skowt just for Scouting and Guiding and we’re really excited about helping you and your members to communicate in new ways online.

We are passionate about creating a safe place where you can benefit from cool features that save you both time and money.  We will be adding plenty of upgrades and extra features so please let us know what you think about Skowt and help is to make it the place you want it to be.

Skowt is a new, innovative and safe site and as such we will be working around the clock to respond to your needs and make sure that the first few weeks and months run as smoothly as possible. However please bear with us as we iron out any teething problems – we are on hand to fix issues and help you where needed.

We love to hear from people so please give us as much feedback as you can as this will help us make Skowt even better!

Happy Skowting!

Rob Gregory – Founder