Within 48 hours, half a million scouts from all over the world will meet. This largest worldwide rally will take place on Saturday and Sunday 15-16 October 2005 on the Internet and radio waves.
The World Scout Organization (WOSM) annually organizes a large meeting of scouts - in the scouting dictionary jamboree (jamboree) - in cyberspace and on the air on the third weekend of October. This year will be the 48th World Scout Jamboree-on-the-Air (JOTA) and the 9th World Scout Jamboree-on-the-Internet (JOTI). Both meetings play an important role in breaking down borders and creating bonds between young people from Africa, island states, northern Europe and Malaysia. Mladí ľudia všetkých národností, bez rozdielu ich kultúry, vierovyznania alebo rasy, si počas 48 hodín vymieňajú svoje názory a skúsenosti, prenášajú sa cez veľké diaľky a komunikujú s ľuďmi z iných krajín a kultúr, s ktorými by sa možno nikdy nestretli.
Jamboree HE the Air a Jamboree HE the Internet ponúka 2 dni v roku všetkým skautom a skautkám možnosť učiť sa a zdokonaľovať v ovládaní moderných technológií (rádiová stanica, počítač pripojený na internet), jazykových a vyjadrovacích schopnostiach, rozšíriť si svoje technologické, geografické i kultúrne znalosti. Nadviazané priateľstvá na diaľku často prechádzajú do vzájomného navštevovania sa celých skautských oddielov a spoločných výmenných akcií. V posledných rokoch sa počet zúčastnených skautov a skautiek v tomto najväčšom víkendovom skautskom stretnutí v éteri a kyberpriestore blíži k hranici 500 000.
To participate in JOTA, an amateur radio station with a license to operate it is required. Scouts who do not have exams can broadcast under the guidance of a licensed radio amateur. For JOTI, a computer connected to the Internet is sufficient, the connection can be established via e-mail, IRC chat, Skype, webchats, ICQ, voicechat, videochat... Thanks to the Internet, it is possible to establish a connection with any country.
"Thanks to technical progress, JOTA and JOTI are a great opportunity to meet any scout from any corner of the world, despite the kilometers that separate us. Groups of scouts from Slovakia are also involved in JOTA and JOTI, scouts from Malacie are active together with the radio club OM3RMY, in Banská Bystrica, Nitrianská Blatnica, Topoľčianki or in Stropkov with the radio club OM3KSK. The main activity of JOTA and JOTI is concentrated during the third weekend in October. It is not limited to short-term communication and exchanging addresses, scouts can also communicate outside of this term on the Internet or create a radio amateur circle," says Radovan Vláčilík, who was actively involved in JOTA with the Bratislava scouts in the past years.
Slovak Scouting is a member of the world scout organizations WOSM (World Scout Organization) and WAGGGS (World Association of Girl Scouts). The Scout movement was born from a single idea, today it has more than 35 million members - young people and adults, men and women - in 216 countries around the world. In 2007, it will celebrate the first 100 years of its existence and enter the next century. During this period, 500 million people took the Scout pledge and went through Scout education, spreading strong human and Scout values.
Information from: http://www.scouting.sk/