Re: [Philmont]: Posting Treks books as a PDF

Charlie in Atlanta:
 
While I'll agree with you that some folks are "not up to speed" internet wise - I don't really believe the 50% or less figure. Especially if you are talking about a Troop or Council Contingent that has entered their Reservation request thru the Philmont lottery "on-line." Most people going to Philmont I'm betting are more Internet ready than the general Scout population out there.
 
Also - people are now getting their trek confirmation via E-mail as we speak today. The Internet is here folks - time to find out / figure out how to make it work for Scouting. Saves time & cuts costs dramatically. And it evens the playing field.
 
I mentioned a Password system to keep the Hacks out etc... You will never be 100% hack free ( I wish it was BTW). But think of the savings in money not having to ship all these books/packets around via UPS ? Think of the printing costs saved ? Think how much more fair this would be to have everybody get their trek book info AT THE SAME TIME. Some people, as of today, still have not received their books/packet. Our people just got confirmation of our trek # (26) at noon time today.
 
The guys without their books must be fuming, I would be !!
 
5 years ago I watched/listened to Scouter's fume about the Philmont call-in reservation system. ( I was one of them who was fuming after my fingers were red from dialing and we NEVER GOT IN). It was archaic, messed up the phone system (1.5 million calls tried in 2 hours) and was totally unfair in regards to trek allotment.
 
Now we have the Reservation Lottery on-line - and it works a whole lot better.
And saved a bunch of money. And has leveled the playing field. And saved a bunch of volunteers time too.
 
We should look are at this idea and not give up on it -because some people are not up to speed on the Internet. The Internet has been around for awhile (in mind since about 1995) and it is here to stay. Let's use it.
 
Also - your post subject line says "pdf files." I mentioned both pdf and Word Docs. Pdf's do take longer to down-load. Word Doc's may work better -speed wise. Probably should give people the option to do one or the other.
 
My two cents added to my other two cents !!
 
Bob McDermott
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: CCPineoIII@aol.com
To: Multiple recipients of list philmont <philmont@troop47.com>
Sent: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 10:52:30 EST
Subject: Re: [Philmont]: Posting Treks books as a PDF

FWIW, we've found here in the Atlanta area that less than 50% (maybe less than 25%) of the people in the Council can or choose to receive information electronically. Of those, some will not respond or take advantage of an electronic resource. Many of the connected do not have broadband access.
 
That is NOT a scientific number; just a number reflecting how hard and slow it seems to be to get the word out to several 10's of thousands of scouts and scouters. Paper in the form of handouts and council publications still proves to be the best medium to reach all the way to the edges of the audience via roundtables etc. Requiring and expecting a degree of electronic connectedness helps, but does not reach everyone, yet.
 
Given the relatively small number of folks involved in the Philmont world vs. scouting world, it would seem to me that National/Philmont could require an email address of at least one crew advisor or associate advisor. That email address should be active and checked regularly. Hard to enforce, perhaps.
 
Posting to the Internet invites hacks. That could add an additional admin burden and set of costs to the PhilStaff.
 
Unofficially, how many of the hundreds of advisors and associate advisors attending Philmont each year avail themselves of this listserv? Other similar listservs?
 
Listmaster, what's our current attendance roster on troop47.com?
 
My 2 cents,
 
Charlie in Atlanta

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Received on Thu Mar 24 17:42:58 2005