As Jamboree approaches, 2 JSP sites disappear

March 9, 2010 Glenn Chase Base Camp

Emphasizing the transient nature of the internet, two web sites that archived images of Jamboree Shoulder Patches have disappeared, victims of the shutdown of their host, GeoCities.

Developed by Michael Bungo of Great Trail Council, the 2001 and 2005 JSP web sites were pioneers in collecting and presenting pictures and information about jamboree shoulder patches.  Sadly, archive.org has few remnants of the sites available available via their Wayback Machine. The 2001 JSP site was archived several times up until 2005. The 2005 JSP site was not as fortunate, with only two visits to archive its contents.

I tried contacting Michael to see if he was able to preserve a copy of his sites before the GeoCities shutdown, and to see if he might consider uploading it to an alternative host, but the yahoo email address I had for him is no longer valid.

So while I remove the links to these sites from the Scout Patch Collector’s Base Camp I am once again reminded how impermanent a web site can be and encourage those who develop them to keep local backups and consider ways the information might be preserved for future generations.