Web 2.0: Friend or Foe?

I find lots of pro-Web 2.0 YouTube clips very inspiring, and this was true for The Machine is Us/ing Us. That was the first time I had ever seen Web 2.0 explained in terms of the code that allowed it to be possible, i.e. XML. We owe so much to XML it seems. I have to admit that I find the INTERWEB (as I like to jokingly refer to it) much more fun and useful with the advent of all this Web 2.0 innovation. And thanks, 23 Things, I felt like a real geek this weekend. My sister wanted advice for organizing her digital photos, and I told her all about Picasaweb, and Flickr. Then she wanted a list of good books I'd read lately and I told her I'd send her my Library Thing link. I really love these Web 2.0 things!
But it is in my nature to be contrary, so for the sake of honoring that tendency, I offer this article, from The Register. It offers a cynical view of Web 2.0, and the first sentence really caught my attention: "Imagine a world in which parents read to their children in the evening, not because it was a pleasurable and meaningful activity, but as an investment in the child's future earning potential." This happens! People read with their kids because it is supposed to make them smarter, which will get them into a good college, which will get them into a good career, and make them lots of money. Somewhere in there, the simple act of reading aloud because it is enjoyable is lost. And that's the essence of this article. The author points out that Web 2.0 has brought a drive for efficiency into areas of our lives, like friendship and listening to music, that were once just things we enjoyed with greater simplicity.
But the reality is that, love it or not, Web 2.0 is here to stay, and it is of course of the utmost importance for libraries to adapt. I could ramble for hours about that, but for today, let me just ramble for a couple more minutes. The issue of the day has been our Kids Pages. My coworker spent all morning trying to update the programs for Fall, with limited success & many frustrations using Contribute. Blogging and all this other stuff is so simple and user-friendly...could we use some of it to make our Website easier to update??? And one more idea we're considering: using YouTube to deliver booktalks to middle-schoolers. This would maximize staff time by allowing us to reach hundreds of kids without actually leaving our building. And kids like looking a recordings more than meeting real people, right? Right???
OK, you can give a sigh of relief: I'm done now.