All,
In response with the education system not keeping up with technology.  Like all government run agencies there is normally a huge lag with the latest and greatest technology and what is being used and implemented.  While we are in the greatest point of personal expression we are also in one of the least productive time periods as far as creation goes.  There are too many distractions.  Facebook, Halo, or whatever distraction you subscribe too is constantly distracting you form doing other things.  Productive things… innovative things…. things to change the world.  While these expression tools and services are important but there must be balance.  Balance your real life creativity and your with these expression services.  Use them to create a symbiotic relationship.

As far as digital facelifts.  A lot of successful internet services are digital facelifts.  AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) is a digital facelift of a normal communication between people.  Skype is a facelift of face to face relations.  While it is a bad practice sometimes it works in others.

Interesting Little Big Planet Analogy.

Interesting idea of moving from web 1.0 to web 2.0.

Could these ideas redefine learning?  Maybe but old education conventions will be hard to move out.

Can the web save us all? <underlying question>

Regards,
Joe Fehrman