Be prepared... Scouts in the spotlight
In Scouting, a boy is encouraged to educate himself instead of being instructed.
This week's project is on a youth activity, one of the largest in the world; its project is commensurately large, containing around 136 active editors. It's WikiProject Scouting, a group of editors whose remit is everything relating to the Scouting movement, which has around 42 million members worldwide and celebrated the centenary of its founding only eight years ago. If you're not already aware, Scouting is an international organisation in which young people are taught skills to use for life, focusing on the outdoors and survival. Begun in 1907 with the publication of Scouting for Boys by Robert Baden-Powell, the movement's two largest arms are Gerakan Pramuka Indonesia and the Boy Scouts of America. Two of our interviewees are British and two are American. Welcome Bduke, DiverScout, Gadget850 and Purplebackpack89.
What motivated you to join WikiProject Scouting? Are you a Scout or a leader in your local area?
- Bduke: I was an extremely active Scout as a youth and an active Scouter from 18 to 31, when I left in 1970 because I could no longer support the then religious policy. However I continued to have an interest, particularly about reforming Scouting to admit girls and gays, and was on a Group Committee in the 1990s when my kids were in the Group. I have been involved in the Project for nearly 10 years, but my interest in wikipedia has faded somewhat and I am less active than previously. However, I look at my watchlist at least every day and I have many Scouting articles on it.
- DiverScout: I was a Scout as a youth and then became a leader in The Scout Association (UK), later moving to the Baden-Powell Scouts Association. It was during this move that I discovered the Wikipedia article on the B-PSA which, at that time, had a lot of issues that I felt needed to be addressed. Once that article was complete I moved onto other areas, but became interested in ensuring that all Scouting organisations were being treated equally, and that Wikipedia was presenting an appropriate breadth of coverage of Scouting topics.
- Gadget850: I was a Scout in the Boy Scouts of America and earned Eagle Scout. I then became an assistant Scoutmaster for a short time before joining the US Army. My first duty station was in West Germany where I quickly found the BSA was active and became a Scoutmaster. With 30 plus years as a Scouter and six in Germany, I have a keen interest in Scouting history and international Scouting. This lead to a natural interest in Scouting topics on Wikipedia.
- Purplebackpack89: I was a Scout in the Boy Scouts of America and earned Eagle Scout. I don't quite remember how I stumbled on the WikiProject, but I joined shortly after discovering it.
Have you contributed to any of the project's eighteen Featured or twenty-four Good articles, and do you find them easier or harder to promote than articles regarding other subjects?
- Bduke: Probably. I tend to not notice whether an an article is featured or good. I have never set out to improve an article to make it featured or good. I am more interested in just getting new information into articles. I have however been active in most of the arguments about the article on Baden-Powell.
- DiverScout: Most likely, but I rarely check to see whether an article is featured before working on it if I notice issues. There has, however, been a lot of effort put into the article on Baden-Powell, attempting to ensure that all opinions are represented without undue weighting.
- Gadget850: I have worked on just about every Scouting article to some degree. Some just cleanup and vandalism fixes. I have helped on all of the FA/GA articles with an expertise on references. I have worked on other FA articles (Harry S. Truman) and find the process is about the same.
Do you think that Scouting receives a reasonable amount of editor attention on Wikipedia, or should there be more editors involved?
- Bduke: There seems to be quite a lot of specific attention, but the number of people active in the project seems to have declined. This is a pity, as we need discussions from across the world to present Scouting in articles in a consistent fashion. There should be more editors involved.
- DiverScout: There does seem to be less activity than there was – possibly because most organisations are now represented and the majority of articles have reached a state of equilibrium. I am sure that additional editors from around the world could, however, add a lot more detail to the articles attempting to describe Scouting in their regions.
- Gadget850: Editorship is down. As with the English Wikipedia, our members tend towards American males which means our most edited articles concern the Boy Scouts of America.
- Purplebackpack89: I don't think it's a topic most non-Scouter editors consider particularly important.
What is the collaboration like with the Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting and Philmont Scout Ranch task forces? As they are marked inactive, do you feel it is OK to leave them marked as subdivisions of the WikiProject?
- Bduke: I will only comment on the first. Since I do not come from the US, I have little involvement in articles related to Philmont Scout Ranch. Wikipedia editors are predominantly male and this is both a great pity and impacts on Scouting articles. The articles on Girl Guide and Girl Scout topics along with articles on other solely female related organisations are not as widespread or as developed as articles related to male-only organisations or those Scout organisations that now take both girls and boys like those in the UK and Australia where I have most experience of Scouting. We need more female editors and we need them in this Project.
- DiverScout: It would be nice to see additional input from Guides and Girl Scouts, as it always seems that the majority of editors are entering Wikipedia from Scouting, and are usually male. If this happened then the Girl Guide task force could be restored quickly. Not being an American, I have little understanding of the Philmont Scout Ranch task force.
- Gadget850: We have had about three female editors and none are active, so the GGGS task force went inactive. We had one editor who create a lot of Philmont articles but most were stubs on the various sub-camps and were eventually merged into one article.
What is your most popular topic or article, measured by reader page views? Should it be a project aim to improve your highest visibility articles?
- DiverScout: I've not checked which article it would be, but to me the most important job we have is to ensure that the less popular pages are developed to high standards so that the those interested can find the correct, impartial information that they are looking for – whether that be on Baden-Powell or the Girl Scouts of Jamaica.
How can a new member help today?
- Bduke: Join the Project and take a wider interest than just the articles on the organisation you belong to.
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