Teen Tech Week by YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Assoc.)

This sounds pretty cool. “Teen Tech Week 2010 is March 7-13!
Teen Tech Week is a national initiative aimed at teens, librarians, educators, parents, and other concerned adults meant to encourage teens to take advantage of libraries' nonprint resources. The 2010 theme — Learn Create Share @ your library — fosters teen creativity and positions the library as a physical and virtual place for safe exploration of the many types of technology available at libraries, including DVDs, music, gaming, video production, online homework help, social networking, tech workshops, audiobooks and more.” (Direct from the YALSA Site)

Sourcebooks, one of the companies that provide me with books to review has jumped on Teen Tech Week to also promote teens reading. Their site has a bunch of very cool things going on to coincide with Teen Tech Week.

TeenFire is a social networking site that promotes the titles that Sourcebooks represents but it also promotes reading in general. Check out TeenFire and Teen Tech Week. The more kids we can get to read, the less we have to worry about their future!

International Literacy Day

We all know the joke about what assume means. Well most of us assume that everyone else is literate. As a matter of fact in my home county there are 60,000 functionally illiterate people. That is a correct number and everyone I have mentioned that to has been astounded. Bucks County is an affluent suburb of Philadelphia. We are not a 3rd world country. We have a terrific county wide library system and yet look at that number.

What does illiteracy mean? It means you can't read the instructions on a gas pump. You can read the want ads in the paper which leads to your being unemployed. It often means anger and frustration. A large number of incarcerated folks are illiterate but not stupid. Being treated as if you are stupid tends to encourage some people to violence and aggression. Illiteracy doesn't just mean you can't sit down and read a book, it means your entire way of life is impacted negatively.

Now ponder not an affluent suburb but a third world country where illiteracy may be at 90% or more. You don't need to read to pull yourself up by your bootstraps but if you intend to do anything but lift your body, literacy is crucial.

September 8 was proclaimed International Literacy Day by UNESCO on November 17, 1965. It was first celebrated in 1966. Its aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. On International Literacy Day each year, UNESCO reminds the international community of the status of literacy and adult learning globally. Celebrations take place around the world. Some 774 million adults lack minimum literacy skills; one in five adults is still not literate and two-thirds of them are women; 72.1 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out.

Can’t Read If I Can’t See

I recently noticed that I was having a hard time getting my book to a spot where it was comfortable to read. Too close, too far, it was never in the right spot. Arrgghh, I bit the bullet and made an appointment with my eye doctor. It was time for a new pair of spectacles. (if that term doesn’t date me, it should)

The last time I got new glasses it was over $500.00 and I didn’t get anything fancy. In fact, the pair of glasses ended up being one of the worse I ever had gotten. Don’t know how I missed the flexible hinges but I didn’t get them. Flimsy, uncomfortable and impossible to keep clean all comes to mind. I found out later that the anti-glare treatment which didn’t work anyway, makes it impossible to keep the darn things clean.

So I went with trepidation to my appointment and got new glasses. I spent a lot less this time but…then I found the Optical4Less web site and although I am not kicking myself too much, I wish I would have seen it sooner. The site has all the normal accoutrements you would expect, including all types of eyeglasses and features at a surprising price. Two things I especially liked were the Virtual Fitting and the testimonials. I create web sites for small businesses and I always encourage them to use testimonials. I guess I always feel more secure when I see real people responding to how they were treated. The Virtual Fitting was very cool, you upload your photo and can see how their glasses look on your face. You have got to check it out and play with it, even if you don’t need glasses. When I got my new glasses, I put them on, pulled out my phone, took my own photo in the mirror and emailed it to my wife to see if she thought they looked ok. Glasses and haircuts are similar to me, their appearance is basically for others since you really can’t see them yourself. There are many discount, internet eyewear sites out there. This site looks pretty good and I will probably be shopping it for some golf glasses come spring, assuming I can find a pair that will improve my game.

Swaptree Not So Hot

Swaptree is an online swapping service where you can swap CDs, DVD’s and books with folks from all over. Premise is good, site is a bit sketchy, customer support is non-existent. SWAPTREE has no tech support, none, butkus, zip, nada, zero support. I have emailed their support, their contact or anyone who might answer and there is nobody there. If they have support then apparently they really are terrible since I got no response on any emails I have sent.

I wonder who did they pay off on Good Morning America to get recommended. Good Morning America, what were you thinking? There are several much better sites that actually have human beings involved with them.

I have a book on my wish list, Swaptree keep offering me a copy of the book that says specifically the pages have been waterlogged but it is readable. Admittedly I am a bit anal about books. (Probably more than a bit) I have told them at least four (4) times that I don’t want to swap for that specific book due to it’s condition. Every 8 or 10 days they try and get me to take it again. So their software needs some attention since there is no human being there to intervene as a response to my email asking them to stop offering me that book. They also sternly warn me that I will get less trades if I keep turning down books on my wish list, in spite of the fact it is the same blasted book, over and over.

Now if their software was better they could at least pretend to respond to email with automated responses but they aren’t even that good.

I have found Book Mooch and PaperbackSwap much better. I have gotten a much friendly reaction from the people using both those sites than I have from Swaptree. Both Book Mooch and Paperback Swap allow you to send books to others and bank the resulting points to use when books you want become available.

Titletrader is a bit different. The site looks like it would have been right at home on Compuserve bulletin board 25 years ago. The major benefit to TitleTrader is that you can trade “stuff” for books. Of course you can trade stuff for stuff too but I am the book nut, remember! I have posted electronics on there and you get points when someone takes what you posted. You can then use those points to redeem books or stuff. So far I have shipped some stuff and haven’t gotten any books yet, but I am hoping it works.

In all fairness to SwapTree, I like being able to swap my un-listened to CDs for books. Their concept is cumbersome though. You can’t bank points like the other services, you must have someone who wants what you have before you can initiate a trade. Sometimes the trades are three way or even more. You can see that complicates matters and means that trades occur far less often than on the other sites I have mentioned.

On the unlikely chance that anyone at SwapTree reads and or reads this, you really need to try answering your email. A total lack of concern for the people using your service will eventually force your demise, particularly when there are similar services that are substantially easier to use and have a responsive customer service department. (or at least someone who listens)

Will I keep using SwapTree? I will probably continue to use them since I like trading CD’s for books. Am I happy with them? You be the judge.