Comments on: Has Knowledge become Commoditized?

By: Wird Wissen zur Ware der Zukunft? | LINKING ONLINE TO OFFLINE | birgerh.de

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 08:41:36 +0000

[…] MeClimans hat in seinem englischen Blog die folgende Frage gestellt: Wird Wissen in Zukunft zu einer Ware? Meine Antwort darauf: […]

By: Professional Services: What is your product? | MarcioSaito.com

Professional Services: What is your product? | MarcioSaito.com — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 22:37:47 +0000

[…] We have been certainly moving in that direction, particularly when it comes to gaining access to knowledge (see article by @fredmcclimans on Commoditization of Knowledge). […]

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 22:37:00 +0000

Linked from the the other article for tonight’s discussion.

By: birgerking

birgerking — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 07:54:00 +0000

Hi Fred, I think your post is a good wrap up.

I’m studying the shift in business and culture for about two years now. I think your conclusions are correct. Knowledge becomes a commodity. I would consider three things:

1) Industrialized countries shift from commodity economy to economies of knowledge, attention, or whatever. While the content is changing the culture / system build around the commodity economy prevents changes on itself. We are still trying to keep the same bin – the product – but we pour in another content: Knowledge. A question here is: How do we change our economic system to match our desires with the ones of the new digital information age?

2) @RabbKhan I agree with Quora, but there are some problems from within this system: People going to look always for the experts in the front row. There can be only few people building the “top notch” of service professionals. Regarding to the effect of “network quality” they get more relevance and influence because they have been relevant and are influencers (that is why Facebook kills all competitiors). Opposite to products knowledge could be copied and used without control, means only a few could avail an opportunity while the mass is without chance selling thier knowledge. For exmaple: Who said that Tim O’Reilly has the best expertise in a specific branch, even when we believe that he is a smart guy. A question here is: How do we promote the second, third or fourth row?

3) Can’t see that the commodity economy disappears. Even when it does, the changes happen very slow. We need a plan to survive that. I believe the classic race of commodity economics – higher productivity, less costs – will emerge also in the upcoming new economy. What a sad vision of a world, but I am shure we won’t change the culture that created our prosperity. Take a look at books like Tim Ferris “4 hour workweek”, “Simplify” or even social software like Quora. We have already started to engage measures of commodity economy on our individual existence. IMO expertise is the commodity of the future in line with influece and reputation. We should build strategies and goals focused on expertise. A question here is: How do we build expertise as fast as possible?

By: RababKhan

RababKhan — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 06:36:00 +0000

Information alone cannot compensate for knowledge. While quora and others have made it possible for people to use their own insights and those of others to turn information into knowledge, there will always be a need for people. People who can use their already acquired knowledge and help seekers apply it to their particular situation.
The commoditization of knowledge and information does not close the doors to services professionals, in fact it increases their usefulness. Whenever there is a commoditization of something, there is also an inevitable saturation which leads to confusion and lack of understanding. This brings in the need for a professional to help people understand and choose the best for their particular situation. However, it also means that said professional needs to be on top of all relevant knowledge and information in his area of service provision.

Thanks for the opportunity to wrack my brain early in the morning.