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Here are some notes from the organiser of Dundee Area's JOTI weekends. The ideas below show a distillation of the experiences of running the activities over a number of year.

The first task when considering a JOTI activity is the location(s) you are able to use.

Whilst it is perfectly possible for individual members to take part from the comfort of their own home, a better introduction can be gained from a group event.

Locations to consider include

• Universities ... the best option if can get access
• Local Businesses ... especially those that run IT training events

or

• Your local Scout HQ / campsite ... assuming you can get the internet connection and computers.

You can quite happily run 50+ computers on a standard 56k dial-up connection, if you have the network infrastructure available.

If you are planning to have a joint event with JOTA, bear in mind that a large collection of computers tend to interfere with the radio signals - so check with the radio amateurs beforehand!

JOTI runs from midnight Friday until midnight on Sunday, local time, on the third weekend in October each year. In practice this means that the Australians are online from midday Friday and the North Americans are last to leave on Monday afternoon.

Bear in mind the leader supervision that you will need and the access that you will have to your location when deciding how long you are able to run for. Remember that everyone needs a break!

An overnight activity will mean having enforced breaks from the computers and having other activities on offer. A 2½ - 3 hour session is more than enough to take part in JOTI, and you can operate a booking system - dividing the weekend into 4 sessions which participants can book into. If they book a morning session, they may wish to stay on for the afternoon session if there are places available, and they can always come back the next day as well!

Don't forget to allow time to setup the computers that you will be using before the participants arrive. Also have a break for lunch which can give an opportunity for the adults to have a go themselves.

With your location and timings sorted, the next thing to consider is the activities you may be able to offer. These may be limited by the location, or the location may suggest extra activities.

IRC

This is the major activity that should be offered as part of any Jamboree on the Internet. It allows participants to chat in real time with others around the world. They can swap files, sounds and photos, but the main emphasis should be on developing meaningful conversations.

Try and avoid "notching up countries", where the briefest "Hi" is taken as a contact from another country. This is a common mistake - it does nothing to further the ideals of JOTI.

Make the participants aware of all IRC conventions and rules ... netiquette. Avoid the dreaded "a/s/l" - Meaning "Age, Sex, Location" Encourage them to ask questions, rather than sitting idle.

Provide log sheets for all participants to fill in, listing IRC nickname, town, country, age, sex, Scout Group, email address, interests and a space for further comments. You can download an sample contact sheet [PDF] here.

Stress the importance of not giving out personal email addresses - have a group email available for this purpose.

Further details can be obtained from ScoutLink or the World JOTI site. You can get IRC software for Windows PCs here.

Experiment with the software and get used to it ... it's quite easy to use, once you understand the concept.

Check that your network provider doesn't have a firewall, and that if they do, they have enabled ports 6660 - 6669 for IRC use. IRC is commonly blocked by firewalls.

If you are going to connect more than 25 computers through one IP address, let Scoutlink know, so that they don't bar you.

Email

Prepare a group email address - either a Hotmail/Yahoo account, or use the WebMail services offered by joti.org

Ensure that you can access this account with an internet browser, rather than having to set up an email program. This means that if you have more than one computer connected, you don't have to set up the email account on each one.

Publicise the address well in advance - at least a month before the event. You can do this by using various Usenet Newsgroups and with the JOTI international email list

Prepare an email giving general information about your group and send it out to any contacts you make.

Web Page

If you can, put up a web page that lists some basic details about your group, including the times (and time zone) that you will be online during the JOTI weekend.

Photos of the group, or descriptions of your favourite activities might be suitable additions.

Links to other local Scouting sites, such as your District, Area/County, Country and National sites provide background information.

Get each participant to add their comments, interests and picture to the web page for others to see. Bear in mind the factsheet on Scouting Web Sites at all times.

Web Browsing

Let your participants surf to other JOTI and Scouting related web sites.

Devise a quiz which has answers on specific pages - and then give hints or clues to find those pages.

Avoid general web browsing - keep to Scouting and JOTI related sites.

Supervise closely and if possible implement some browsing control software to limit the chances of access to "dodgy" sites.

It has been found that this is actually the least interesting aspect of JOTI to the young people ... probably due to the fact that the majority are able to do this at other times, from their school or home.

Videoconferencing

If you have access to a web camera, or digital camera, you can investigate using Microsoft Netmeeting or other similar packages to voice chat or video chat with others.

Try and get a headset with a boom microphone, as this helps eliminate background noise, and feedback.

Contacts can be made by prior arrangement or by using the video.joti.org Netmeeting server.

Ask around on IRC to see if anyone else has these facilities.

Do a complete sound and video check yourself before blaming the people at the other end!

Webcam

If you can't get the contacts for videoconferencing, why not set up a webcam to regularly upload a picture of your activity to a webpage for others to view.

Don't forget to publicise this in advance.

Scout Global Challenge

Encourage the Scouts to find out about a favourite activity of others in as much detail as possible, so that they can take it back to their troops and run it themselves. They can do this using IRC, by web surfing, or a combination of methods.

Try to make sure that it is not just a game that they already play - although this is quite common - it could be an activity for a camp or an idea for a day out.

Staged IT Badges

Depending on the age range of the participants, and the facilities available, you may be able to offer the chance to complete at least one of the first two stages of the IT badge.

See if you can get a multimedia projector, a flight stick and a flight simulator for the total experience.

If you are staying overnight, you may be able to base the whole weekend around this, but don't get too carried away, as the IT badge can take place any time of the year, whereas the chance to take part in JOTI only comes around once a year!

You can of course use IRC at any time of the year, but the number of participants substantially increases over the JOTI period.

Gather a team together to help organise the event - not everyone needs a doctorate in Quantum Computing - but it helps if at least one person is IT literate. The rest need only to be able to stimulate conversation, and perhaps get to grips with the basic commands used in IRC.

Divide the jobs up early on ... technical co-ordination, participant liason (publicity, bookings etc...), IRC gurus, equipment providers, etc...

Find out if there is anyone locally who has relevant knowledge, no matter what their age, and get them involved - you may find some Explorer Scouts with more IT knowledge than some adults - use them!

Publicise the event at least four weeks beforehand and encourage all members to take part. Depending on resources available, you may be able to give each Scout (and above) a computer to themselves. Cubs are better suited to having two for each computer, perhaps also with a leader to help them with the conversation.

At the start (of each session) welcome the group and explain the rules, netiquette and activities available. Don't allow them to eat or drink near the computers. If possible, have a seperate area available for this. Run through a demonstration of using IRC and provide a reference sheet for basic commands. Have the helpers on hand to get everyone started.

Many young people will use the Internet regularly - try to make the JOTI event different to their normal use. MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Chat are popular, but don't allow the open conversation that IRC does. If email is commonplace, introduce newsgroups and other bulletin board style systems.

Consider the cost of the event - a donation/thanks badge to the network/premises providers - whether you will be presenting any badges as a result - and consumables - paper for printers, or prizes of Mars Bars and such like for achievements during the weekend such as speaking to someone from Aruba (it's in the Carribbean), or getting someone to describe them via the web cam.

It's possible to use the UK JOTI badge as an award for various activities - complete the log sheet for 5 people from 5 different countries - take part in a videoconference - send an email and get a reply - complete a web quiz, etc..., or you could just sell it!

Encourage uniform to be worn, and get the local press involved. Email them a digital photo and a prepared press release if they won't send a reporter.

It might be useful to provide a floppy disk (or CD) of the IRC software, so that those that wish to continue at home are able to do so.

Encourage the Scout Leaders to help the Scouts complete the first part of the Global Challenge by letting them run activities that they have found out about.

And finally, don't forget to thank those that helped - ask what went well, and what went wrong, and immediately get them on board for the next bigger and better JOTI!