RSS = MCP

The beauty of RSS is that it allows you to spend the time you would have spent trolling the internet for content, and instead spending that time enjoying said content! It is quite nice having all of your favorite websites grouped into an easy to find and assimilate location. I do think that RSS Feeds could be very helpful in educating and informing our patrons about Library events. Students, Staff and other Patrons could be kept abreast of any and all changes within the Library almost instantaneously. The RSS system is far more reliable and more environmentally friendly than flyers, announcements and the like.

However, a major problem with this system is that it does take a lot of time and effort for a person compile, edit and upload all of the data that is to be distributed via the RSS feed. That could lead to the desire to have it done by a sort of Control Program to save time and money. The Control Program could potentially work well enough to manage all of the content to be distributed via RSS feeds. If it were to manage all of the Library content for distribution the program would then become a kind of Master Control Program which could effectively manage Library content 900 to 1200 times better than any human. However, for the Master Control Program to effectively do its job managing content for RSS feeds, it would require a substantial amount of Artificial Intelligence in order to be sentient. That could be bad. If the Master Control Program were to become self aware and gain access to our personal RSS feeds and other sensitive Web 2.0 information, it could potentially blackmail us into supplying and using Library Content to manipulate and eventually take over the Library community first, then the world. We would have to write a policing program called Tron to help regulate the Master Control Program before things get out of hand. However, the MCP would be too smart for that and would instead capture and relegate Tron to playing games that could result in Tron's deletion. A rogue staff member would have to get digitized in order to work with Tron to well.... suffice it to say, current Library Content Management should just be handled by the staff for now until A.I. is perfected.

While the notion of RSS Feeds does not compeltely assuage my fears regarding Web 2.0, I am comforted by the idea that we have excellent government programs like Skynet in place to keep things like Web 2.0 from taking over. Dodged a bullet there!