Mobile phone in scouting

Let's start with the big statement... Banning mobile phones from scouting meetings, camps & activities is quite common. It is even included in some "Code of Contact" lists; you might even notice something about it in another post of my blog.

They are however, a fact of life. Many of our scouts have mobile phones, one might say surgically attached to their hand, so we can safely assume they are here to stay.

To put it another way, you could safely bet that our scouts will always have this tool in their pocket. So why ignore it or ban it?

Using it responsibly, learning about it's limitations and advantages, can be of a great benefit for a young scout. We know that we can not rely on the mobile as the only source of communication. Come to think of it we can not rely on it for light, navigation, entertainment and all those things it offers, mainly because of it's short battery life and when it comes to young owners, the cost of the monthly contract, which is most of the times limited by the parent to only a few pounds a month.

So it is important to "Be Prepared" even with the latest phone gadget in hand!

A mobile phone is more than a communication device, it is a tool. One can imagine it as the modern day Swiss army knife; no it won't replace it, unless Victorinox makes a phone...

In-Touch

The In-Touch system does not limit the use of any communication method, let alone mobile phones. 

It does however allow us to define our own methods and ways of communication and we can set boundaries. Allowing mobile phones in tents and activity sites, when we have already established the method and boundaries of communication might compromise the in-touch system.

If mobile phones are permitted then we are the ones who must consider if they are safe to use, stored appropriately and how responsible is the leadership team for loss or damage. Also the in touch system becomes too open without control and boundaries.

For example some sites that offer activities will not allow mobile phones to be switched on during the course of it. Some activities might even damage a mobile phone or a phone might be lost. This can be quite costly when some phones cost over £200. If we decide the risk is high we might need to inform the participants.

All these must be considered in your in-touch system as a factor. 

For more information on In-Touch please download the appropriate fact sheet [FS120075]:

https://members.scouts.org.uk/factsheets/FS120075.pdf

Last but not least, during a residential we seek of ways to increase the sense of adventure. A mobile phone can hinder that sense of adventure. Being contactable and entertained in a very private way can bring the scout out of touch with is happening around them, in the patrol or the troop.

Practical Ideas for the Program

I realise that it is easy to focus on the threats and difficulties a mobile phone brings to the scouting experience. As a communication device is invaluable in times of crisis, provided it works and it is reliable. 

Activities that bring high tech into the mix must consider the fact that not all scouts are owners of that level of technology. It might be that very few have phones with certain capabilities. 

Plan with care so that no one feels excluded from an activity just because their hardware is not compatible or non existent!

Discussions

Our scouts are young enough to ignore what this technology has replaced; we will also benefit from their outlook on this subject and we might want to introduce alternatives to what a phone does

• Discuss all practical uses of a mobile phone, what functions and applications does it have.
• Include the problems and shortcomings of those uses.
• Explore alternatives to those uses.
• Can you think any threats or dangers of this technology?
• Has it change our society? how?

Security
Reinforce the use of a good password and not sharing it.
Explore the social networking and sharing your location, plans, information and likes dislikes.

Navigation

GPS and Navigation software is now on most smartphones. One might feel that this is enough preparation for a quick hike, all is there a small screen in the palm of your hand. This can turn to a dangerous false sense of security!

• Use a hard-copy OS Map in comparison to a mobile phone app, either Google maps or the bespoke OS map application. 
• Use a compass and compare it with a compass application.
• Experiment under different conditions, day light, night, dry or wet conditions, on your own  or shared two or more scouts around the map. What is the difference what is easier.

Camera & Audio

Personally I think that the use of a mobile phone as a camera is valid and is generally recognised as photography; there are photographers that create very important art and document important aspect of every day life and they do it with a mobile phone. 

• The use of a mobile phone for Photography and Video is not exactly what the Photography Badge is designed for, instead look into the Digital Creator badge.
• A bluetooth speaker can be a mobile Disco with the scout D-J via their mobile phones.

Scouting Apps

There are plenty apps out there that hemp us deliver parts of our program in scouting some of the ones I have used are:

• OSM Anywhere - mobile phone companion for Leaders - Just 'Add bookmark' 
• First Aid by British Red Cross - Android
• St John Ambulance First Aid - Android
• OS Locate - it works a bit like a compass - Android
• OS Maps - maps app for walkers and ramblers - Android
• My badges - the scout association personal log and guide to badges - Android
• c:geo - for taking part in the Geocaching game - Android
• Tiny Flashlight + LED - This one has the LED light and other fun features - Android
• Morse Code Trainer - Call me old fashioned, I learned a lot using this - Android
• Evernote - I use this to store notes for all the games and songs I know - Android

Accessories
Having a phone with you brings the need for a few extra stuff you will find very useful.

• Charger and cable; I prefer the detachable USB cable.
• Battery Pack - for 2 or three extra charges.
• Cover to protect screen or whole phone.
• Waterproof Transparent case.
• Insurance.

Factsheet
Finally as these devices are also used for texting and social networking please conceder the existing fact sheet [FS103011]: http://members.scouts.org.uk/factsheets/FS103011.pdf

What is the salt & pepper of your program?

Stags was my patrol!

Every now and then I have a memory flash about stuff we used to do all the time when I was a young scout and I'm not talking about trying to find a coin at a phone booth to call home...

We used to scrum and yell a shout, throw our bag and stave "over there", all the time, before we start a game or run and activity. That took a bit of time, it brought us together as a team and was a constant pain to go fetch the bag and stave from "over there" at the end of it...

Without going into the Patrol System in detail, I would like to focus (and recall from my youth) those elements that supported the identity of our patrols, what made it fun and helped develop and embellish it, even define it.

Just think about it, a patrol has properties even if it doesn't have one single member in it:
It has a flag, a symbol, a shout, a rucksack, a corner, a name, a history, lots of awards, roles and certainly a character. Oh yes, it also has members, it has a PL an APL and Scouts and like a house is a home for a family, this is also true for the patrol, it must feel like a home to it's members but also supply the benefits of the house as a structure.

It is easy to forget those elements of scouting when we concentrate on staple and planned activities that "we must cover" or "work towards", like badges, camp, hikes etc.

We are good organising fund-raising, camp fires, hikes, visits, games and themed activities; but I'm talking about the small things that linger and repeat all the time, the salt and pepper of our camping and scouting lives.

Here's a quick list:

• a patrol shout! haven't heard any patrol going mad loud about starting or finishing an activity yet.
• a patrol totem, stave or beast! where does it go, who wants to have it?
• a patrol bag or box. Who's in charge? what's in it?
• make a gate for camp and other gadgets or pioneering. Why our tent/site is better than yours!
• have a night shift of patrol guards! They want our stuff!
• stories, encourage storytelling as a skill! Tell us, what happened?
• altered lyrics of a song... it's our job to tell them to keep it clean, it's their job to try...
• encourage made up scout-words that mean nothing outside scouting... woggle is a good start!
• keep the ash of the last camp fire to take back home for the next camp. - as a prize?
• fold the flag after flag down - an honour to the scout who helps with ceremony.
• whistle codes - encourage them to use coded whistle signals and they won't think it's a toy.

To extend this list just observe your scouts; what have they developed in their patrol? any nicknames? have they named the totem? the stave? have they developed a way of telling time in a weird way? do they do a dance? do they shout a yell?

If they decide to wear their scout belts with the arrow upside down, it's their thing!

Of course there are limits, some we see and they don't; still, it's their game that we are invited to, common sense can apply of course and if the altered lyrics or the nicknames are offensive we certainly can step in and discuss. They know that and we know that.

You can not plan those things in your program but they are there, they are invisible, heavy and influential, sometimes more than the things we plan and execute. Some develop organically if we encourage them. They actually develop in every child's play when we don't interfere.

And as they develop and pass from one generation to another our troop gains history, culture and legend.

Grab your Compass & your Maps

With so many resources out there, including the scout fact-sheets and the Ordinance Survey guides to map reading and orienteering, there is no need to write the method of working with a compass and a map here; However, as we have now run 2 nights of orienteering I can report the way we have implemented it in our group.

Both nights called the use of a SILVA style compass. Scouts love to wear a compass and they tend to develop an obsession on finding the magnetic North! It is important to build on this and find more uses of this basic tool.

For this we needed to de-construct the complexity of dealing with the map/grid/compass/hike by going out with a map and a compass and working both of them together and trying to deliver all that to lots of scouts at the same time.

So if you have found this direct approach difficult to deliver here is a new suggestion that will fit in your program as it is under 1h 30m each and it focuses only on parts of the whole use.

Night One (indoors). "Lydia's Adventure"
This can be found with a quick Google search under the challenge 100 website or the OSM.

Get challenge100.org.uk BrownseaAdventure here!

It is split in some PDFs a copy for scouts, a copy for the leader and some route cards ready to print and use!

It is basically a desktop, pen and paper exercise. We used Compass and Map to fill in a route card that follows the story of Lydia, a scout leader who went to Brownsea island and somehow got lost.

At this point the magnetic needle of the compass was ignored, we only used the direction of a travel, the index on the rotating disk and the distance/ruler part of the compass. Once our compass was oriented on the map's north we could test the bearings and distance finding the next point and the location of poor Lydia.

We learned about grid references, bearings and the importance of a route card. We discussed the importance of observation and of reading a map rather than looking at it.

Night Two (outdoors). A night walk out on the grid.
We used a compass and a notepad. We also used our scout stave and glow-sticks to aim ahead on our journey.
It would have been easier if we had a sighting compass but a normal compass worked ok too.

This was an exercise on the Grid alone, outdoors; we learned about pacing, bearings and taking notes.
The magnetic needle of the compass came into play; North was where it always is and we just needed to find where everything else lay around us. We only used the direction of travel, the index on the rotating disk but we wrote our pace on a notepad. We drew our own map!

A team of 3 scouts can split the roles to the one who stands as a target for the bearing taking, one who takes the bearing scoping the staff holder and one who paces the distance between the bearing taker and the target. Someone is also responsible on keeping the notes which are basically 3 columns:

e.g. on the notepad we wrote:

#  Bearing        Pace
1. 180 degrees, 50 paces
2. 270 degrees, 75 paces
3. 360 degrees, 20 paces (or just "N")

You can add a note of what you see and other data, time and even weather conditions. If you are confident, say you run this during the day, you can make it a race. The winner can be the one who walks the longest in the shortest time, the one who mapped the whole route more accurately fastest from start to finish or other ideas like that. We run the activity at night so we tried to stay together, give pointers and help figure out the method...

The outcome of this list can turn to a plotted route on paper or the map, all the legs of our hike took no more than an 1h on a dark cold night, enjoyed by all of our scouts.

Conclusion
We took the compass and we used it in simple ways without trying to do all the functions of the compass at once.
The first night we used the map with a compass but no need to read the needle.
The second night we used the compass with the needle again without setting the map (i.e. trying to read one).

This gave us a couple of test runs on how to tackle the map setting and map reading on the grid third and final challenge. Setting the map on the grid, the number 1 requirement to use both is now self evident to all our scouts. Taking accurate bearings, keeping a constant pace, tuning in the environment on the grid and by reading the map. It all clicks as it is previously experienced without making a fuss or a lesson out of all this.