Never mind mapping the human genome, or even the PC- or the Internet- two technologies from the Internet may be the key says Kevin Kelly in a New York Times Sunday Magazine article called “Scan this book!”

The link and the tag may be two of the most important inventions of the last 50 years. They get their initial wave of power when we first code them into bits of text, but their real transformative energies fire up as ordinary users click on them in the course of everyday Web surfing, unaware that each humdrum click “votes” on a link, elevating its rank of relevance. You may think you are just browsing, casually inspecting this paragraph or that page, but in fact you are anonymously marking up the Web with bread crumbs of attention. These bits of interest are gathered and analyzed by search engines in order to strengthen the relationship between the end points of every link and the connections suggested by each tag. This is a type of intelligence common on the Web, but previously foreign to the world of books.

Not only does this explain search engine algorithms well- it makes you realize how over time- the collective intelligence of the planet will all connect.

Another interesting point Kelly makes, is that the model of mass producing “Atoms” of “bits” is going down the tubes- atoms being the paper, film or CD’s we make from our digital files for sale- all started as data- and should remain such:

As copies have been dethroned, the economic model built on them is collapsing. In a regime of superabundant free copies, copies lose value. They are no longer the basis of wealth. Now relationships, links, connection and sharing are. Value has shifted away from a copy toward the many ways to recall, annotate, personalize, edit, authenticate, display, mark, transfer and engage a work.

Blogs/sites are an excellent way to build your relationships, links and connections- and share your knowledge. The Blogosopher Seminar explains this.

Optimizing your content for search is really about optimizing your content for value:

search has a “transformative purpose,” adding new social value to what it searches. What search uncovers is not just keywords but also the inherent value of connection. While almost every artist recognizes that the value of a creation ultimately rests in the value he or she personally gets from creating it (and for a few artists that value is sufficient), it is also true that the value of any work is increased the more it is shared. The technology of search maximizes the value of a creative work by allowing a billion new connections into it, often a billion new connections that were previously inconceivable.

Kevin Kelly is the “senior maverick” at Wired magazine and author of “Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World”.

I’ve been reading “Wired” for a long time now- and find it the most valuable publication I receive. It’s the only magazine I read cover to cover- every month. I can’t recommend it to my budding blogosophers enough.

Map Builder::Rapid mashup development tool for Google and Yahoo maps!

There are a few sites we did maps for the old school way- hand coding.

Not any more. Between Map Builder and Google Maps Mania– you should find out everything you need to know to map any location on your site.

Thanks to Blogosopher Charles Halton for these links.

Note: it’s still in Beta- but one of our Next Wave protege’s found this WordPress map plug in- :ditu mark your places. Thanks Alan Dickinson.

Another map plug in for WordPress: Geo Mashup is currently .4 version – seems a little easier to follow than ditu

Of course, I’m going to remind you that I’m holding another fabulous Blogosopher Seminar this Saturday, Mar 11 2006 from 9am to 12:30 pm.
Come to the seminar and learn how to get to the top of Google for free, how to stop paying a web geek to update your site every time you need to make a change and how this amazing new technology can help you build your business- and relationships around the globe- all for the paltry sum of $99 ($79 for the second person from the same company- or for Next Wave clients). Sign up on-line in advance because it’ll cost you more if you just show up.

So- I’ve heard from a lot of you that you went to www.esrati.com and read some of my “big ideas” for Dayton. Instead of sending e-mails, you should try adding comments- it’s one way to build links back to your sites (which is one way to help you get to the top of Google).

This week- I thought I’d point our some things you will need to know about the future of marketing and advertising and communicating with your clients. This is just a small part of what we cover in the seminar.

1. WAP- or Wireless Application Protocol. Most web sites aren’t ready to be read on a tiny mobile screen, but if you are building your site using an active backend content management system (like WordPress) it’s easy to add WAP access. Intel and Microsoft just introduced the origamiproject– and that’s just going to be the beginning.
2. Digital paper/e-books are coming. As wireless becomes pervasive, it becomes easy to whip out a tablet that displays data. Think a thin laptop screen about the size of a paperback- with simple controls. Sony has one that will run 20 books (not hours) on one battery charge, and display text as clear as print in any lighting conditions.  Soon, people will no longer no what to do with texts that they can’t change the size of- or click on for a definition.
3. Technical support will be provided by Google. No matter what your problem, you will go to Google and type in the error code and find the answer. No more jobs to talk on the phone and walk through your computer problem- and of course- all of us will have multiple devices able to access the web (see 1 and 2 above).
4. Customers will no longer believe what you say on your site- unless all your other customers say you are telling the truth. Predicted in the Cluetrain Manifesto, this is the reality you will be facing- so making customers  happy should be number one on every ones job description.
5. Customers will be offended if you send them an e-mail like this. If they want to know what you know- they’ll expect to find it on your site- not have an e-mail sent to them. They will insist on being in control of their media- if you thought TiVo was big, wait till you see what’s next.
6. If they are under 30 they don’t look at phone books. And in 5 years- they won’t be printing them anymore- if they are, they will be a novelty to all except luddites. Kiss your big Yellow Page advertising budget bye-bye.

I update 3 blogs/sites pretty frequently- and post some interesting stuff. The Next Wave website had over 2000 unique visitors in the short month of February- and has over 860 in the first 8 days of March. That’s 2000 people my site made a sales call on without me having to put on a suit or travel to far away places.
That’s the power of blogs.
Now, does that $99 investment sound good to you?