Sandbox

I've been using open-source technologies for a while to organize and keep track of a local boy scout troop. I think Joomla is an ideal way to quickly get a site up and running out of the box.
I am currently looking to develop an advancement-tracking component.

Thanks for developing such a great tool!

Me too, for  a cub scout/tiger cub den. A tracking/ranking component would be GREAT!

Nice to know there are equaly minded people here 

I am chief (if it is so called) of our local boyscout/girlguide-group in Langerwehe, Germany.

We are running Joomla for our Social Project of our "Rover"-Group (age 16 to 21) -- well mostly it is run by the group itself
http://www.sozial.dpsg-langerwehe.de

And I am working on switching our main side http://www.dpsg-langerwehe.de to joomla, too -- but I am still waiting for the new template system to be released.

maybe thats interesting for someone .

I thought about this quite some time:
Joomla would be great for boyscout/girlguide-groups for there local sides.
Why? Because scouting and public relations on the net is mostly about news. What going on? What happend? Where are pictures? Discussion...

It is not like an company-information-side that looks flashy like there image-leavelet... -- this can be done by the head-organisation like http://www.dpsg.de or so...

So it would be great to have a site on the net
* that holds an specific ready-made installation of joomla with all navigation and components and so on pre-defined
* that gathers links to documentation and helps by installation
* that says where to host your scout-side (best at scout-hosting-friends)
...

There is an example about this at http://cdu2mambo.mostronaut.com/ -- but not for scouts but for a political party...

what do you think?

I'm one of the few professional, full-time webmasters working for the Boy Scouts.  We've been running Mambo for over a year on a council level with great successes.  We may soon be entering development of an online payment/events/donations/e-commerce solution.  As Joomla develops, we'll likely migrate to this as well.

Development based on the AKEvents module would be perfect for many non-profits, not just Boy Scouts.  We're not the only council that's using Mambo and Joomla.

Ben Peterson
http://www.pikespeakbsa.org

Yep Ben, we've been using it up here since summer of 04 for our council site.

Only problem is, Im a volunteer with no help so time is always an issue:/  Looking forward to getting moved over to Joomla after the security patch comes out, much less to getting a more Scout-like template built...

Mark

Have you made any progress on this?  I have the same interest in developing components to support Boy Scout Troops.

I am a den leader with Pack 385 in Hartland, MI and running a Joomla website. Discovered Joomla a few months ago, converted our site  and am here to stay! Thank you!
http://pack385.org/

Joomla would be great for boyscout/girlguide-groups for there local sides.
Why? Because scouting and public relations on the net is mostly about news. What going on? What happend? Where are pictures? Discussion...

just a word of advice on pictures (one word)
pedophiles
yea....so make sure that the people in the pictures are okay with the picture being put on the website, etc.

The S:t Olof scout group www.sanktolof.org have used mambo/joomla since summer 2005. We have 200+ articles, 100+ documets in DocMan and over 3000 pictures in our gallery. Works fine and thanks to joomla easy for us to manage.
We now recommend Joomla for other Scout Groups and have a site at www.joomla.scoutkar.se with some assistance to new joomla webmasters and links to other scout sites using mambo or joomla.

Some scout themed templates would be great and also some components for badges, events and camp managment.
Anyone out there who perhaps have some components for this?

for badges/awards
http://extensions.joomla.org/component/ ... Itemid,35/
for events
http://extensions.joomla.org/component/ ... Itemid,35/

This is really interesting.

I'm currently running a site for my troop www.bsakytroop12.org, we're currently developing it live.

Has anyone developed any custom components for Boy Scouts or Cub Scouts?

I'm also using Joomla! for my troop, (www.troop356lowell.org

igeoffi: If we are going to use images of scouts on the site,
we either send out permission forms, or we just blur their faces out.

Please tell me if you decide to go forward with developing that component.

This is something that I've been doing for the Girl Scouts for a few years, and just got a more generic domain name to host Girl Scout Service Units... http://www.myscouthost.com

tordans wrote:I thought about this quite some time:
Joomla would be great for boyscout/girlguide-groups for there local sides.
Why? Because scouting and public relations on the net is mostly about news. What going on? What happend? Where are pictures? Discussion...

It is not like an company-information-side that looks flashy like there image-leavelet... -- this can be done by the head-organisation like http://www.dpsg.de or so...

So it would be great to have a site on the net
* that holds an specific ready-made installation of joomla with all navigation and components and so on pre-defined
* that gathers links to documentation and helps by installation
* that says where to host your scout-side (best at scout-hosting-friends)
...

There is an example about this at http://cdu2mambo.mostronaut.com/ -- but not for scouts but for a political party...

what do you think?

tvaughn05 wrote:igeoffi: If we are going to use images of scouts on the site,
we either send out permission forms, or we just blur their faces out.

For our Girl Scout service units, we keep all photos behind the login, and all users have to be approved, so we know exactly who is using the site etc.  Pretty easy to do using the latest version of Community Builder.  We also keep any troop events, etc behind the login for the same reasons.  None of that information can be available to the public according to SaftyWise (the GSUSA safety handbook).

Hi everyone...

I've noticed a few sites that are posting personal information about their youth... I wanted to make available to those of you webmasters to read the policies of the BSA http://www.scouting.org/webmasters/standards/index.html  Remember, the internet is a worldwide portal with people who are pedophiles.  The BSA has standards for webmasters to follow to protect the youth from these pedophiles.

I don't want to be a downer on the fun of putting up a website, but it is our responsibility to protect our youth.

Thank you,
Scouting for Christ,

Tim Gelvin
Unit Commissioner
Pack 3430 / Troop 430
Hummel's Wharf, PA
http://cubscouts.svchurchofchrist.org
http://boyscouts.svchurchofchrist.org

tgelvin wrote:Hi everyone...

I've noticed a few sites that are posting personal information about their youth... I wanted to make available to those of you webmasters to read the policies of the BSA http://www.scouting.org/webmasters/standards/index.html  Remember, the internet is a worldwide portal with people who are pedophiles.  The BSA has standards for webmasters to follow to protect the youth from these pedophiles.

I don't want to be a downer on the fun of putting up a website, but it is our responsibility to protect our youth.

Thank you,
Scouting for Christ,

Tim Gelvin
Unit Commissioner
Pack 3430 / Troop 430
Hummel's Wharf, PA
http://cubscouts.svchurchofchrist.org
http://boyscouts.svchurchofchrist.org

please understand. these rules only apply to council websites.

troop websites are ungoverned unless your council puts out specific regulations.

please understand. these rules only apply to council websites.

troop websites are ungoverned unless your council puts out specific regulations.

Technically, the unit committee governs the Troop's business, this includes websites and any coorespondence thereof.  The Troop Committee Chairperson and/or Charter Organization Rep. has all authority, and permissions should be granted by them.

tgelvin wrote:

please understand. these rules only apply to council websites.

troop websites are ungoverned unless your council puts out specific regulations.

Technically, the unit committee governs the Troop's business, this includes websites and any coorespondence thereof.  The Troop Committee Chairperson and/or Charter Organization Rep. has all authority, and permissions should be granted by them.

http://www.scouting.org/webmasters/faq/ ... x.html#uws

the troop committee is over it obviously.

but the national council states there are no national guidelines, and that the council has no governing ability over troop websites.

now, back to the original topic,

has anyone made progress on a merit badge requirement and advancement tracking component. this would be great to allow scouts to see what they have partials and etc in by using their login name.