Web site lets parents keep tabs on their kids while at camp
By Kristi Hsu / hsuk@reporternews.com
June 18, 2006 (link to the article)
''Hello, Muddah. Hello Faddah. Here I am, at Camp Granada,'' the old song goes.
But kids have come a long way since Allan Sherman penned his famous 1963 jingle. Instead of writing home and waiting days for a reply, nowadays kids fax, e-mail, text message and use their cell phones for instant communication.
And parents, who also have jumped on the technological bandwagon, don't have to wait for letters to learn if it's raining at camp - they can see it for themselves through photos or video clips posted on camp Web sites.
Although he didn't send his son any e-mails, Abilenian Scott Johnston browsed through photos posted on a camp Web site to see how his 17-year-old son Bryce was doing at a Christian camp in Arkansas.
''I really enjoyed being able to keep up with what was going on daily,'' Johnston said.
But it took a little bit for Johnston, 42, to adjust to the camp's technology, which included a live satellite feed of the worship services.
''My first reaction was 'that's not really camp,' because it wasn't camp as I knew camp,'' said Johnston, who remembers camp as a way to get away from technology.
''But technology is really important to this generation,'' Johnston said. ''And if you're going to be effective in ministering, you need to use the things they relate to.''
Bryce Johnston said he was a little startled by the technology, too - he didn't know the camp was posting pictures of him until he returned home.
''It surprised me, and it felt a little weird,'' Bryce said.
While many camps, like the one Bryce attended, regulate parent e-mail and post photos themselves, an industry has sprung up around camp communication.
''We don't disrupt the integrity of the camp,'' said Ari Ackerman, chief executive officer of www.Bunk1.com, one of the most popular camp Web sites. ''Kids are still outside playing ball, having a great time, but parents are able to check in on them.''
Most of the time, campers don't have access to computers. Oftentimes, camp staff will print the e-mails and distribute them like postal mail.
The camp photos and e-mail services have started popping up closer to home as well. Big Country Baptist Assembly, which is sponsored by many local Baptist churches, started using www.Bunk1.com services this summer, said Red Frye, the camp's administrator.
To use the service, parents pay $1 per e-mail on top of a $10 access fee, which allows them to browse pictures.
Frye said he's been pleased with the service so far because it has made communication easier and more reliable than cell phones.
Frye's camp, like many others, posts hundreds of pictures daily in hopes of getting at least one shot of every camper. The photo Web page where parents view the photos is carefully secured. Camps can pick and choose which users to allow and can boot suspicious users off at will, said Ackerman .
But that reassurance is still not enough for some. While many camps are cozying up to the e-mail system, others still balk at posting pictures or allowing cell phones.
Jan Meyer, director of the Abilene Christian University Leadership camps, said she has considered using www.Bunk1.com or similar services, but issues with privacy and security have been problematic.
One year, the campers created blogs as a camp project.
''Even though we chose a secure site to do that one, we had some parents express concerns that it would open their child up to some unwelcome attention,'' Meyer said.
The camps also don't want to make the pictures available on the Internet without parental permission, she said.
Mary Helen Franko, executive director of the YMCA's Camp Grady Spruce, said her camp has used Bunk1.com for at least five years. For Franko, the service has been a sword that cuts both ways.
The advantage is that e-mail is instantaneous, Franko said. The downside is how anxious parents get when they don't see their child in photos or when there are problems in the Internet.
''If your Internet goes down, boy, do they get upset,'' she said.
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