I like to scuba dive. So I like reefs. A reef starts as a chunk of rock or a chunk of iron like a sunken ship. First little plankton forms on the object, then coral and little fish, then larger fish come to eat the little fish and before you know it you have a reef teeming with millions of life forms in an elaborate ecosystem.  A web 2.0 site is no diferent. The actual site itself is not so fancy. Unlike older web 1.0 sites a web 2.0 site starts off very basic. It has some simple environmental requirements, a couple useful tools, but it is not so interesting. But then some people come and add some content, then a couple others come and respond to that content with some more content and before you know it you have a teeming ecosystem with millions of postings, members, files and all sorts of other stimulating things. A 2.0 web site is nothing more than an artificial reef. A marine ecologist and a web producer are very similar. We are both trying to recreate the beauty of nature. A web producer at their best striving to create a teeming environment of beauty and inspiration. Before you say I'm waxiing too romantic about my field how many hours does the average person spend in front of the computer? (average rich westerner that is, since the average global citizen is lucky if they have EVER used one. it is easy to forget that). We spend huge amounts of time in front of the computer. More and more. And the relationship and interaction we have on the computer is increasingly a more meaningful experience. As the tools get better web producers come closer and closer to being virtual movie directors of real life. One day I predict some people will have more meaningful relationships with their online friends than people in their immediate physical environment.I am an extreme example but I am there already, at least in terms of the time i spend with people online, which is more time than i spend with people in real life. I run an online company with clients and employees around the world so obviously I'm an exception. Thank god I have a family to keep me from totally fusing with my computer screen.

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