Scouting’s World Jamboree on the Air/Jamboree on the Internet (JOTA-JOTI) Team has announced the theme for this fall’s JOTA-JOTI event: “60 Years Connecting Scouts.” The 2017 theme recognizes the event’s beginnings in 1957 and commemorates its growth in participation and in the expanding communication channels activated this coming October. In addition to Amateur Radio, those channels include Internet-based channels and other Internet-based options, including social media, ScoutLink, IRC chat services, Skype, and more.

“It also recognizes the goal of the event — connecting Scouts so that they can engage in conversations with other Scouts across town and around the world,” said JOTA Coordinator Jim Wilson, K5ND. “This allows them to discover geographic and cultural differences and similarities. Plus, they are exposed to the technology that makes all this happen.”

The JOTA-JOTI 2017 logo contest is about to start. Plans for 2017 include a simplified registration system.

According to the World JOTA-JOTI Report 2016, more than 1 one million Scouters in 156 countries and at 33,000+ locations took part in JOTA-JOTI last fall. The numbers for US participants were 10,700 for JOTA and 560 for JOTI. Wilson said there was a problem integrating those statistics into the final report.