BoyandGirlScouts.com – News, Opinion, Advice

11 August 2009

Digital Boy Scout Handbook

Posted by admin under: Equipment; media .

ScoutingNews.org has a copy of the press release that can be found at the national Boy Scouts of America web site that describes the new 12th Edition Boy Scout Handbook. I think Dan also had a heads up earlier in the year about the associated handbook web site, but it wasn’t functional at that time. It is now at http://www.bsahandbook.org/. It’s not bad and one of the things I like about it is the same thing I like about the fieldbook site(as of this writing the fieldbook site is forbidding access) which is the many links to other organizations that have in-depth information about things lightly covered in the handbook such as topographical maps and how to navigate by the stars.

The rank requirements are a little tricky to find. First you have to click on the table of contents and then find rank requirements off to the bottom right of the panel. Also, the Eagle rank requirement link therein takes you to a PDF of the Eagle palm requirements, but there is an alternate way to get to the eagle requirements found on the national site.

This site feels a little like the old national site with a lot of flash programming and direct links to PDF’s so it runs a bit slow unless you’ve got a fast connection. Since you can run out to the Scout shop to get the hardcopy edition of the handbook it’s not really important, but I’d have liked to have seen the same style for the handbook as the national site. That just feels faster and cleaner. We’ve got a digital version of the handbook, though, so I’m not complaining. One thing the online version reminds us is that the advancement for the boys should be an organic extension of just going out and having fun with the three categories of skills that the handbook is built around: Scoutcraft, Woodcraft, and Campcraft. If the kids want to do the neat things they see in those categories and also like the other skills they can learn in the merit badge program they’ll fly through most of their rank advancement without even noticing. The 30 days of practicing a specific set of exercises always seems to be the first stumbling block for many kids if they’re not focused on advancing. 11 and 12 years olds tend to forget about regularly scheduled exercises. Other than that, most of the advancement happens as a byproduct of exploring the cool activities introduced by the handbook.

This site is especially helpful if you want to direct potential recruits to see what they can be doing if they join your troop. Again, the layout could draw people away from the handbook site into the national site or news stories or stories and I’d prefer the 3 main category links to be more prominent or at least repeated in the main panel, but they’re on the main page which is the important part.

Here’s one thing I found fascinating on the press release.

Other features of the 12th edition Boy Scout Handbook include:

■A first-ever iPhone application of the iconic guide available in September

Cool. My Scoutmaster has a Blackberry, though, so we’ll have to get together and figure out a way to develop a Blackberry app for the BSA. Well, I downloaded the developer kit. Don’t laugh so hard. It’s not impossible.

And for people who were wondering where the Spanish edition was, the press release says it will be out in December. If you’ve got the 11th edition and don’t feel like shelling out for a new handbook that you don’t need you can check it out at http://www.bsahandbook.org/.

Possibly Related Posts:

• ScoutingNews Clears Up 12th Edition Boy Scout Handbook Versions
• Update on New Boy Scout Handbook
• A Trail of Handbook Thoughts
• 12th Edition Boy Scout Handbook Cover
• New Boy Scout Rank Requirements

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