On Tue, 13 Jun 2006, Steven H. McCown wrote:
The other issue is what value would a centralized database really offer?
For day-to-day usage, it would offer zero value. If a scout moved wards, it
would allow his records to be transferred. However, much of that is
maintained by BSA, anyway. If local databases were used, then
'transferrable data objects' could be used to transfer information between
databases from the old ward to the new.
I have to respectfully disagree. I think the value of a centralized
database is much greater than zero. A centralized database would allow parents
to enter updated data about what their kids have done. The leaders would be
able to see this and add their ok to that. Scout leaders can enter information
about what requirements are passed off at weekly meetings and the parents
can be on the same page. Bishops can see in one spot the progress of each
of the youth over which he has stewardship.
The key benefit I see from all this is a central data store making it possible
for everyone involved, parents, leaders, and youth, to be on the same page
in a much more efficient fashion. Yes there will be some who may choose to
'opt-out', but I think that will be a small minority.
I understand there are risks and dangers involved here. But I would
contend that there is risk in much of what we do in life. We can't let
that paralyze us from moving forward, however. I respectfully disagree with
you in that I believe the rewards from a centralized data store are very
great, and worth the potential risk involved (which I believe can be mitigated
sufficiently with some careful thought and attention).
To bring this "home", I have 4 children, all minors, so I understand the
issues from a parent's point of view. I'm very aware of the risks of
putting information on the Internet, and very cautious as to what I let my
kids do on the Internet. That said, however, I'm confident that the church
can design a system (hopefully with the communitiy's input and help) that
will allow this tracking to occur and in a fashion that I would feel
comfortable in having information about my own children to be stored in
it.
I don't see building a web app as just something to do because it's
'cool', but more as something that will provide a very large benefit.
The biggest problem with any tracking process is that the Scoutmasters are
usually quite lax about record keeping, in the first place. If one or
That's a pretty broad generalization that I don't think is valid. There
are scoutmasters that are very good at record-keeping. Perhaps the reason
many are 'lax' is because they have to deal with all the paper and pencil
;-). A centralized system would alleviate much of that, I think.
At any rate, to sum up:
I recognize there are risks involved, and I understand those risks, but I
believe they can be addressed sufficiently such that the potential rewards
will outweigh those risks.
FWIW,
-- Dan
:-)
_______________________________________________
Ldsoss mailing list
Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org
http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
