Computers

JOTI is the main activity that uses the computers, although we also have a photo gallery and lots of JOTA and JOTI related information.

Jamboree on the Internet

The Jamboree on the Internet is a real jamboree where Scouts and Guides use computers and applications such as IRC, email, websites, and video conferences, to communicate.

A common form of communication is using IRC and the Scoutlink chat servers.

Safety on the Internet

One thing about the Internet is that you never really know for sure who is sitting at that other computer. Do not give out any personal information such as your full name, phone numbers, email addresses, home address or school. First name or nick name is ok, or just make up a name.

Challenge Questions

There is a page of Challenge Questions. These questions can be used with radio or IRC contacts to keep the conversation interesting. There will be a map to record locations.

IRC Rules for JOTI

These local rules and usage policy are for your own protection and to help everyone have a pleasant and enjoyable JOTI.

IRC Quick Start

IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat. The worldwide IRC networks offer a virtual meeting place where people from all over the world can meet and talk.

To use IRC requires an app or client program that you run on your computer, and a server to connect to. There are many different apps and clients.

Two popular IRC clients are mIRC for Windows and HexChat for Linux. These guides will help you get started with mIRC, or get started with HexChat. Both are designed to be printed as a single page cheat sheet placed next to each computer.

If those options are too complicated then Scoutlink provides a web based chat service - go to webchat.scoutlink.net.

For all options the next steps are to enter the nickname you want to be known as in the channel (hint: only letters, numbers, underscore and hyphen - no spaces or other symbols).

Choose a channel, English is a good place to start but you might like to play Uno, Trivia or talk about Minecraft or Werewolf. If you pick a channel that has a specific language you are expected to use that language in the channel. A good way to practise if you do a language at school.

If you have any difficulties you can /join #help and an operator will assist you to sort out your problem.

Scoutlink

Scoutlink is a global non-profit organisation which aims to connect Scouts and Guides worldwide. Scoutlink provides a safe and supervised chatting environment using the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) technology. Scoutlink is online 365 days a year, so you can use it from home at any time, although it will be a little quieter than the JOTA weekend :)

More information on Scoutlink can be found at the Scoutlink pages.

Our local IRC rules are based on the official Scoutlink guidelines.

Computer Network

The computers we use are connected together using a network. A firewall protects us from the unwanted elements of the Internet, while allowing access to the Scoutlink servers and websites.

Country Code Internet Domains

The last part of a domain name or email address (such as www.scouts.com.au) is called the Top Level Domain, but we usually think of it as a code for different countries. You probably know that .au on the end is Australia, but what about all the other countries?

Here is a link to the list of all the two letter Country Codes used for Internet Domains
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Links