Scouting, Volume 101, Number 1, January-February 2013 Page: 10
60 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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BEHIND THE SCENES
THE DIGITAL ARCHIVE
In our next issue (March-April), Scouting magazine will celebrate its
100th year of serving the adult volunteer leaders in the Boy Scouts
of America. That's 100 consecutive years of giving Scouters timely
information that helps them Lead and Inspire their Scouts, as well
as Explore all of the fun and adventure that Scouting offers.
With that very special issue, the magazine will also take a big
leap into the future that will make it even more relevant and acces-
sible to our readers. In 2012, in collaboration with the National
Scouting Museum and the University of North Texas, we began
digitizing all existing issues of the magazine dating back to 1913.
You'll see the results of this work by the talented folks at UNT's
North Texas Digital Projects Unit this spring, both on our Web site,
scoutingmagozine.org, and at the university's Portal to Texas History
(texashistory.unt.edu). Here, you can find more specific and more
personal information just by searching for a Scouter's name, a
troop's number, or another key word—all of the issues will be fully
indexed for easy-search results.
Corry Kanzenberg, BSA museum curator, says that many of the
issues from Scouting's earliest years remain in remarkably good
f||
a UNT library science graduate, scans Scouting.
condition, which made the scanning process easier. And J.D. Owen,
Scouting's editor in chief, notes that the database will appeal to
anyone interested in nostalgia or family or organizational history.
"The rich history of the BSA can be mined from the pages of
these magazines, and we expect considerable interest from our vol-
unteers when the pages are available," he says. "A wealth of shared
wisdom, program ideas, and modeled events—a digital storehouse
of the Scouting experience—makes this a compelling new feature."
SIDEBAR: BY THE NUMBERS
► Number of Scouting issues to scan: more than 900
► Number of pages: about 16,000-18,000 (the magazine's size
fluctuated frequently throughout the decades)
► File size per page: 50 MB. All pages are scanned in color.
► Estimated hours to scan all of Scouting: around 400
BOY SCOUTS of A!
IN DEPTH
Fresh Takes
Do you ever think that a merit badge pam-
phlet seems dated? Wince no more. Scouting's
Merit Badge Maintenance Task Force has made
significant progress reviewing and recommending
changes to the library of more than 130 merit badge pamphlets.
A bit of background: The BSA asked Frank Ramirez, the task force's
staff adviser, to organize a team of volunteers to update the library.
To chair the group, which includes Steve Bowen, Ramirez chose Scott
Berger, an associate director of the CBS Evening News whom Ramirez
calls "one of the most dedicated Scouting volunteers I've met in my 27
years in this profession."
The group's first job was to recommend the best revision fre-
quency for each merit badge. Obviously, some badges, by their
nature, age faster than others. Carlos Martinez, a member of the task
force's leadership team, joked that Basketry might need review every
10 years, while Computers might need freshening every month.
Then, members began reaching out to qualified reviewers for
each badge. Martinez, an attorney in New Mexico, tabbed a federal
judge to review Citizenship in the Nation, while Berger drew on United
Nations staffers for Citizenship in the World and asked Broadway pro-
fessionals to review the Theater pamphlet.
Ramirez says that reviewers focus on eliminating errors, minimizing
repetition and contradiction, ensuring better readability, and enhanc-
ing visuals. Reviewers have recommended numerous large and small
changes, from correcting knots shown in photos to adding Internet
resources in Reading and replacing the outdated food pyramid in the
Sports pamphlet with the USDA's new MyPlate nutrition tracker.
By the end of 2012, the task force had completed review of about
90 percent of the badges.
CORRECTION
Ben Henneberger, the
Crew 97 Venturer who
became the first Eagle
Scout to receive his award
underwater, was misiden-
tified in our last issue.
Ben is seen here with
his proud dad, Doug. We
regret the error.
10
SCOUTING * JAN UARY-FEBRUARY 2013
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 101, Number 1, January-February 2013, periodical, January 2013; Irving, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth299163/m1/12/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.