The chaos of the water on the big lake makes perfect sense to me. Affected by the strong tides, the out-flow of several large rivers, high winds and the thundercaps which precede the coming storm, Lake Muskoka is pushing the boat around as I speed towards our cottage on Boyd’s Bay. I am alone in the boat after dropping my nephew off at a cousin’s cottage for the day. I have a thirty minute voyage back to the relative tranquility of the north end of the lake. I’ve got the throttle fully open and the small craft is responding nicely albeit noisily. Fifty-five horsepower outboards are as indiscrete as they are powerful.
For some reason, even though wilderness is all I can see around me, I can’t stop thinking about the Internet. There is a strange connection between the networks of nature and the backbone of the World Wide Web. Both provide unending stimuli for the mind and are potent muses for one’s imagination. There are an unlimited number of possibilities in both the wilderness and the web. The forces that created this ancient lake and the Precambrian granite base it sits in are being worked into a metaphor and there’s nothing I can do to resist. My favourite fishing rod rests in its holder beside the brown tackle box but I am far too interested in this unexpected mental journey to stop to catch more fish.
Lake Muskoka is on the southern end of the enormous Canadian Shield which forms a granite body that cradles this beautiful nation’s soul. Stretching across the northern most parts of Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and way up into the North West Territories, the Canadian Shield was formed tens of thousands of years ago during the last ice age as continental sized glaciers gored the landscape into today’s seemingly unending expanse of rock, water, minerals and trees.
Appreciating the immense power of those glaciers and the indelible marks they made across the surface of the Earth reminds me of how the Internet continues to alter everything. Unyielding in its momentum the Internet, as we know it today, is like the glaciers of the last ice-age. The ‘net covers society and we’re not really sure what we will be when the forward momentum begins to recede. It took tens of thousands of years to carve this amazing piece of Earth from a sub-tropical ocean to the resource-rich granite rocked wilderness it is today. It has taken less than two decades for the Internet to do the same to society.
Beneath the surface of the Shield lies the world’s richest store of mineral wealth. Deposits of precious metals such as copper, silver, nickel, gold, uranium and other ores are found in mile wide fingers through the hard rock. Hundreds of tiny mining and mill towns dot the Trans-Canada highway and the thousands of tributary roads running deep into the bush. Our cottage is a few kilometers outside of one of those towns.
The Internet, as we know it today, is the work of hundreds of millions of webmasters, technicians and engineers. As a resource rich environment, cyberspace grows bigger and deeper on a daily basis. On the ‘net, the people posting information, be they professional, academic, commercial or just folks trying to communicate their truths make up the most precious resources. These individuals and entities are everywhere, connected by a seemingly unending series of links.
Muskoka is changing. As the city of Toronto grows larger by the day, the distance between city and cottage seems to shrink. Already I can see vast areas cleared for development. There are three new time-share resorts being built near one of those super-secluded areas my brother and I used to fish in. Such is the way of the world and there is no way to stop the progression of progress. Today, the chaos of the waves makes sense. Tomorrow, well, who the heck knows eh?
Similarly, the Internet is changing rapidly. The web is replacing television as sure as video overtook text. In this case, progress is beneficial for web marketers but it will take a bit of getting used to. Just like my brother, nephew and I will have to seek out new fishing holes, web marketers will have to work hard to keep abreast of the changes happening literally right in front of their noses.
For good or for ill, change happens. The mark of our industry’s genius is its ability to embrace and exploit change. As soon as this post is finished, I’m going out in the boat again for a last day of fishing and relaxing on the water before picking my nephew up and making the long run back to the top of the lake. Next week, I get treated to the very real controlled chaos of the largest annual search engine marketing conference, Search Engine Strategies San Jose.
My only problem, after spending two weeks in the wilderness, I’m not really sure where the real world is anymore. I guess I’ll find out next week. Till then, happy placements…
Main Feed - RSS 2.0
Have a question and need quick answers? 
