Internet Knowledge Builds on Old Knowledge/Traditional Knowledge

The Internet is, of course, the largest repository of information ever created. At any given time though, what is on the Internet is comprised overwhelmingly by information within the last five years. This puts a premium on new knowledge, which is undoubtedly very important, but leaves out the vast majority of information ever created and even most of the knowledge that most of us know from school, life, etc.

These categories can be called Old Knowledge, that which is in books and other materials created in the past. This is the vast majority of knowledge.

There is also Traditional Knowledge, the knowledge that is in people's heads and may not even be published. There is a role for traditional knowledge in many academic and non-academic activities. For example, there is a lot of talk in the career/job hunting world about "building your brand." In terms of information and competitive intelligence, we could think of our brand as knowing something (be it a skill, an idea, a strategy, etc.) that someone else needs/wants to know and then being able to find that person (s) and creating a mutually-beneficial transaction.

Essentially, if we can think of ways of creating something unique -- what we know that can help someone else -- be it a skill, idea, etc.-- and then finding someone that needs that information/skill, then we are in business. For example, if we want to teach English as a Second Language and we have that skill, then we need to find someone or some organization that needs that skill and can pay us.

This is a form of the supply/demand concept, where we become the supplier of information/knowledge or a product that someone else demands. Of course, this can be tricky as sometimes demand is only created when something new and profitable is supplied.