Let's take the case of a specific agent, such as Addweb-http://www.cyberspacehq.com/addweb which allows automatic referencing with the search engines (something which I strongly recommend you not to do, as the results are always disastrous : to reference a particular site and obtain a good listing in the search engines and thus a targeted audience of visitors to your site, the only solution is to use a manual referencing service, such as that offered by Creating Value for the Millennium, which has three years of experience). The characteristics of AddWeb (its initial programme) are software units which enable it to carry out its task (contact a series of search engines to register the website pages which are to be referenced, and to check that the subscription has been properly done). A data base (initial knowledge) concerning each of the search engines it has to contact allows it to format the information correctly by respecting each engine's particular syntax.

The user has complete freedom regarding the list of search engines where his site will be referenced. All he has to do is to tell the agent which search engines interest him, for the agent to 'understand' (dynamic intelligence) that he must only contact a limited number of search engines. It is also possible to add to the original list of search engines. Finally, the agent offers to connect regularly to the software publisher's website, to download a new list of search engines (as these have a tendency to increase in number).

Finally, when the agent registers the site with the search engines, some will have changed their syntax. The agent is faced with a problem, as it doesn't receive the information it expected : the agent and the search engine have a communication problem. The most sophisticated agents in the AddWeb family would be able to understand the new syntax, which it would thereafter use to register a site in the engine which had changed.

Sub-contracting

In recent years, many companies have come to regard outsourcing (sub-contracting certain services) as a real religion. But the phenomenon has only just begun, as the appearance of sub-contractors and their relationship with companies is all set to change. Companies will externalise tasks which until now were the exclusive reserve of their own services, they will seek ever further afield for different abilities, and engage the services of experts who are more and more specialised within their field, who in turn will divide their time between companies throughout Europe and even the entire world.

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