Jamboree on the Internet
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Jamboree on the Internet, known by its acronym JOTI, is an international Scouting activity held annually. Participants, through the use of designated Chats from all over the world, can contact their fellow scouts by means of the Internet. Common communication methods include ScoutLink (IRC), e-mail, and VOIP. This provides the Scouts with a means of learning about fellow Scouts from around the world. The event is held on the third weekend in October in conjunction with Jamboree on the Air (JOTA). JOTI.org reports that JOTI had over 4,000 participants online at one time in 2005.
History
In November 1996 the World Scout Committee, noting that Scouting already had a considerable presence on the Internet, and that there was already an informal and rapidly growing Jamboree on the Internet, decided that JOTI should become an official international Scouting event, and that it should be held on the same weekend as the Jamboree on the Air (JOTA).
Therefore, the World Scout Jamboree on the Internet is to be held on the third full weekend of October each year, starting at 00:00 hours local time on the Saturday and concluding 48 hours later at 24:00 hours local time on the Sunday.
Special Internet Jamborees may also be organized in conjunction with local, national and international Scouting events which are held at other times of the year.
When Scouting was founded in 1907, the concept of Internet was far from the imagination of Scouting's founder Lord Baden-Powell; as were many other aspects of Scouting today. While society and Scouting have changed over the years, Scouting's fundamental principles have essentially stood the test of time and they remain universal for all Scout organizations and their members, such as: the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), World Federation of Independent Scouts, etc. Scouts around the world share much in common, and Scouting encourages them to use that mutual understanding as the basis for learning about each other, making friends, and building a better and more peaceful world.
The word "Jamboree" is said to have been invented by Baden-Powell as a name for an event which brings Scouts together from around the world. The first World Scout Jamboree was in 1920 and it was a remarkable, historic, event bringing together some 8000 Scouts from 34 countries. The spirit and drive for Scouts to get together at international events has never diminished, and there are hundreds of "international" Scouting events each year. Getting together does not always require a physical presence. In 1957, the concept of the World Scout Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) was launched, and it has been a popular event which today involves more than half-a-million Scouts and Girl Guides who communicate with each other on the third weekend of each October by amateur radio and related technology.
In the mid 1990s the means for international electronic communication became available to virtually anyone with a computer. Scouts have been among the first to use every technological development to "get together" electronically. The spontaneous and overwhelming involvement of Scouts on the Internet is proof that it is a viable way of bringing Scouts together in ways that Baden-Powell probably would have wanted to use to the fullest.