This looks seriously cool! I immigrated to the United States when I was a teenager and I was very disappointed by the scouting program here. It didn't seem like a lot of the scouts had been taught practical skills any more than required to advance to the next rank. Perhaps I just wasn't in the best troops, but I think applying the hacker mindset to scouting would produce interesting results.
Hacker Scouts own post on this (plaintext as actual site is overloaded):
Dear Hacker Scouts Community,
We have good news and bad news. The bad news , which should always be delivered first, is that we have received another letter from the BSA refusing to compromise or consider a licensing agreement and reaffirming their demand that we change our name or they will take legal action. This disappointed us, but it gave us a very clear choice to make. Our board took this matter seriously and our lawyer, who was as compassionate and supportive as he was wise, gave us his assessments. Based on all of that, our board has decided to close this matter and change our name.
We know this will disappoint some of you. We know some of you wanted us to fight this. We don't blame you. We had those same feelings. But our job is to keep our organization focused on its mission. Our job is to make this kind of education as accessible and affordable to as many kids as we can. It came down to how does this further our goals and objectives? And it doesn't.
It has already taken large amounts of time and energy that could have been used elsewhere. Often , when we need pearls of wisdom, we ask a kid. As usual, we were not disappointed. "It doesn't matter what you call Hacker Scouts," one kid told EdD Samantha Cook. "You could call it "booger" and I would still come. This is the best thing in my week." It was just what we needed to hear to make peace with our decision, although we did not add "booger" to the short list.
So the good news is that we have a chance to reinvent ourselves in some ways with a new name, which, once it is chosen, will allow us to move forward in several other areas. Also, now more people are aware of the extraordinary powers the US government has given an organization that continues to discriminate and abuse it's position. It is our hope that regardless of our situation, that Congress will take another look at their congressional charter and amend it to reflect and abide by the same laws the rest of us must follow. The good news is also that while our name may change, the vision and commitment hasn't. We are relieved to have closure and excited to continue moving forward!
Once again, we would like to thank you for all the kind emails and posts in support of our situation. We will be announcing our new name and how we plan to transition soon. If you would like to help us move forward and be able to expand the amount of programs, activities, and badges we can offer our local and national community, we ask you to support our Kickstarter. As always, you can email us with any questions you might have.
I have to say, the BSA being dicks about other people calling themselves scouts has reminded me that I should prod my Congressional people to do something about the fact they're discriminating on a religious basis while publicly chartered (and likely funded).
BSA can't take the name Skouts, could it? Has a K in it for hacKer, and the name is hacked- so it's a double whammy.
BTW- I like Maker Skouts, too. Considering most of the stuff listed is Maker and not Hacker oriented, and Maker has no bad connotations to the uninformed.
BTW2- the first badge stemming from welding == awesome.
They didn't.
All the badges were either offered on Adafruit, a few non-BSA sites, or designed by Hacker Scouts. Hacker Scouts has permission to use all the badges for the skills it teaches. For reference, here are the BSA badges: http://www.boyscouttrail.com/boy-scouts/bsa-merit-badges.asp
Nationally, they seem to have their heads and hearts in the wrong place often, but at the local level some of the best people I've every met were involved in scouting and I'm very happy for the time I was in the program.
And yeah, Hacker Scouts is probably going to have to change their name. I'm not really sold one way or another on it, but from what I can tell you can blame congress in the early 1900s for giving scouting some pretty broad rights/privileges.
Actually, each location was just started by a few parents getting together and deciding to start a group. The primary role of the Hacker Scout national organization is to help local groups get started, and provide curriculum. (so don't worry if you suck at teaching)
If you want Hacker Scouts in your area, you can make it happen!
I agree. The "make an iPad app" camps have a very narrow focus and appeal. Are we really changing the world with an iPad app? I just had a cursory glance at the website and saw one kid claim that he wanted to build an autonomous go-kart. Goals like that are exciting and interesting. Even if he fails at that he will learn a lot of useful skills. An iPad app, no matter how widely adopted it is not going to change the world.
Interestingly, when I was growing up my dad was involved with the "explorer" program of the BSA. They had an "explorer post" which was similar to a scout troop except that it was focused on all things computer/electronic (explorers could focus on whatever trades they wanted--there were a lot of fire and police explorer posts). It sounds really similar to what this is all about.
A couple examples of the cool stuff they did:
In the late 70s before cable TV, an over-the-air pay TV service launched called "OnTV" [1]. The Post got together the night it came out and had the NTSC scrambling (think analog DRM) broken in a couple hours, with the scouts going home with their own descramblers.
They pooled money and ought a bunch of bootleg Apple II circuit boards and put together their own computers. I was lucky enough to participate in that.
Other alumni went on to do interesting things [2].
I would suggest becoming a mentor. Hacker scouts has mentor training sessions where you learn all the skills so you can help teach them. I've been mentoring Hacker Scouts for a while now, and I've been taught how to weld, cnc mill circuit boards, and a lot of sewing techniques.
I like the welding thing in particular. Its of little use to me in my life, but just the learning process was of benefit.
Its a different kind of focus when you know that a wrong move will electrocute you. (230V AC arc welding). I learned a lot about my own learning style that day.
My experience welding left me with a phobia of all things electric. A mild phobia, but irrational as any risk blown out of proportion by the panicked human mind.
Power lines trail the countryside and cityscape, competing in ubiquity only with roads and fast food restaurants. In this I am also mildly agoraphobic, as one cannot leave the homestead without being stared down by the thick black cables, taunting and intimidating from their creosote imbued perches.
My mom said it was just a matter of time, the fear had been building for months, slowly.
You might be interested to know that I write in such a style to obscure myself from style analyzing techniques. Not to hide the face of my persona from the likes of nsa bogeymen. My mother would die if she found out the extent of what I am going through. Good samaritans trying to help by telling her would only make it worse. I find the writing pretentious and sickening.
At the end of everything I write I am tempted to justify my phrasing and word choice. I am smart enough to know though that making yourself conspicuous only makes you suspicious in the eyes of of most people.
The people you need to worry about most are the ones you who do not appear on your radar. They are rats, you do not know they are in your midst until you find their shit in the morning.
