Half a million Scouts from all over the world will meet in 48 hours. This largest global gathering will take place on Saturday and Sunday, October 15-16, 2005, on the Internet and on the radio.
The World Scout Jamboree (Jamboree) is a large gathering of scouts – in the scout dictionary, a jamboree – in cyberspace and on the air, organized annually by the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) 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 nations, northern Europe and Malaysia. Young people of all nationalities, regardless of their culture, religion or race, exchange their views and experiences for 48 hours, traveling across great distances and communicating with people from other countries and cultures whom they might never have met.
Jamboree on the Air and Jamboree on the Internet offer all Scouts and Scouts the opportunity to learn and improve their mastery of modern technologies (radio station, computer connected to the Internet) for 2 days a year, language and expression skills, and expand their technological, geographical and cultural knowledge. Friendships established at a distance often turn into mutual visits to entire Scout troops and joint exchange events. In recent years, the number of participating Scouts and Scouts in this largest weekend Scout meeting in the air and cyberspace has approached the 500,000 mark.
To join JOTA, you need an amateur radio station with a concession to operate it. Scouts who do not have exams can broadcast under the guidance of a licensed amateur radio operator. For JOTI, a computer connected to the Internet is sufficient, the connection can be established via e-mail, IRC chat, Skype, webchat, 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. Scout groups from Slovakia also participate in JOTA and JOTI, and the guys from Malacky are active together with the OM3RMY radio club, in Banská Bystrica, Nitrianská Blatnica, Topoľčianky or in Stropkov with the OM3KSK radio club. The main activity of JOTA and JOTI is concentrated during the third weekend in October. It is not just about momentary communication and exchange of addresses, scouts can also communicate outside of this period on the Internet or create an amateur radio club," says Radovan Vláčilík, who in previous years has been actively involved in JOTA with Bratislava scouts.
Slovak Scouting is a member of the world scout organizations WOSM (World Organization of the Scout Movement) and WAGGGS (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts). The Scout movement was born from a single idea, today it has over 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 the entry into the next centenary. During this period, 500 million people have taken the Scout Promise and undergone Scout education, spreading strong human and Scout values further.
Information from: http://www.scouting.en/