3rd Gidea Park Scout Group Change Log

3RD GIDEA PARK 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 old Venture Scouts wanted to learn web design and they decided this would be a good project to teach them.

A small group of Venture Scouts and leaders got together and decided on a few guiding principals.

No advertising. This web site could be viewed by the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts and we don't want to bombard them with adverts. Also adverts will slow down page loading and take up space that can be filled with pictures of us!
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 embarrasse the members if their mates caught them looking at it. The limited feedback we have received suggests we have succeeded in these aims.
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 THE WEB SITE

Originally the site was set up in the late 1990s by the Venture Scouts, Dave Gardener and Ross Denton with the help of John Goodwin. It was very much by and for the Venture Scouts.

By the year 2000, the web site was overhauled to cover news items from the whole group. It was being looked at by youth members and their parents! The old Venture Scout material was checked for colourful language and any material that didn't meet the standard was removed.

The day to day support of the site is now carried out by the Scout Leader Mark Hutton. Anybody who is connected to 3rd Gidea Park is welcome to submit material for inclusion. Some of the Scouts have written news items and some parents, Scouts and Explorers have provided photographs.

BEING RESPONSIBLE WITH OUR WEB SITE CONTENT

Young people are rarely identified by name on our web site and never by surname. We will never caption photographs with the names of young people. This is in line with The Scout Association's guidelines for web sites and is to protect the privacy of our young people. We are even careful to ensure names or initials do not form part of the picture file names which aren't even normally visible.

PICTURES

All photos are taken by the group members, leaders or their parents. Consent forms for all camps include a note stating that photos may be taken and published on the web site. If parents or guardians have any concerns they are encouraged to discuss it with the leaders. If parents or guardians would rather we don't take photos of their children or publish them on our web site then please speak to the leaders

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. We ask our Scouts and Parents or Guardians to be responsible if they are using any pictures from our web site on social network sites.

VIDEO

We don't have much Video on-line but the same principles will apply. Young people appearing in the videos will not be identified by name either in captions, credits, dialogue or narration. If a name does slip through please contact our leaders.

CONCERNS

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" may be ignored.

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