Web Site Policy

WEB SITE POLICY

WHY HAVE A WEB SITE?

To raise awareness in the community of what we do.
To show that 3GP is active, dynamic and that we embrace new technologies as well as holding Scouting traditions strong.
To act as a source of inspiration for current members.
There has for the last 20 years been talk of getting the Group News Letter of the ground again. A web site was seen as a way of filling many of the main functions of a news letter. We felt we could produce a reasonable quality web site far easier and cheaper than a regular quality news letter.
Some of the ventures wanted to learn web design and they decided this would be a good project to teach them.

We have tried to give the web site as professional look and feel as possible. None of the people involved have had any web development training and for all of them this was their first web site. The colours used were chosen to match the troop colours of Old Gold and Black.

We hoped to project a very positive and active view of 3GP through this web site. We wanted the members to be proud of the web site and the activities depicted in it. We didn't want a web site that would embarrassed the members if their mates caught them looking at it. The limited feedback we have received suggests we have succeeded in these aims.

CHEESE CONTROL

We also decided that we wanted to avoid having adverts for other sites or services. We also try to employ a strict cheese control system that prevents us from having devices like counters, animations and graphical buttons. We felt any cheese lying around the site could detract from the content. Admittedly you may find some mild cheddar but no camembert.

TARGET AUDIENCE

Current Members	A web site was seen as an easy way of reminding the members what they have been doing or what they have missed. We try and have up to date photo news. The Scouts in particular look at the badge progress charts.
The Parents of current members.	Some of the Cubs and Scouts don't tell their parents what they have been up to on camp. Other parents were surprised when they heard what goes on on camp. By publishing photo reports of past activities here we hope to accurately convey the nature of the activities that we do. That way we hope there will be no surprises for Cubs, Scouts or Parents. The calendar page also tells parents what events are coming up.
Prospective Members and Parents	Hopefully this web site shows that we are a very active group. Its our shop window on the internet. We hope that it gives an accurate indication of what you can expect life to be like as a 3rd Gidea Park Beaver, Cub or Scout.
Ex Members	The web site can be a focal point for keeping in touch with 3GP. It contains news about almost everything we do.

WHO CONTRIBUTES TO IT

CONTENT

Anybody who is connected to 3rd Gidea Park in anyway is welcome to submit material for inclusion. Some of the Scouts have written news items and some parents have provided photographs.

The day to day support of the site is currently carried out by The SL Mark Hutton. Originally the site was set up by the Ventures, Dave Gardener and Ross Denton with the help of John Goodwin.

We have tried to keep the content of the site to be suitable for all members of the group to view. Most of the old Venture logs that have been published have been checked for colourful language but one or two may have content that reflects the age group and (lack of) intellect of the authors. It is our intention to cull older material so as to keep the web site relevant for its target audience.

PICTURES

All photos are taken by the group members, leaders or their parents. Medical and consent forms for all camps include a note stating that photos may be taken on the camp and published on the web site. If parents have any concerns they are encouraged to discuss it with the leaders.

For a number of Scout section badges the Scouts have to complete projects and reports so they know in advance that any pictures they take could form part of a display and report, which will be shown to many people.

We follow the Scout association's guidelines when publishing pictures on our web site. Where photographs are used the young people are never identified by name. In practice young people are rarely mentioned by name on our web site at all and never by surname.

We only publish very small low quality images on our web site. They look ok on screen but will appear blocky when printed at a reasonable size. 3rd Gidea Park Scout Group Members are free to copy and print any of the pictures found on our web site although you will probably be able to get higher quality copies from the leaders.

If anybody feels they have been miss represented on our web site then they should consult the web masters. Each complaint will be considered but anything along the lines of "but my hair is a mess in that picture" will be ignored. (Unless it's from one of the Scout Leaders.)

If other scouts wish to copy our use our pictures we ask that they seek our permission first. It may be that we can provide something more suitable.