Changing shape of knowledge

My girlfriend related to me some of the discussions at the National Educational Computing Conference. There were many connections between the discussions in education and KM being implemented for my business. What this means to me is that I need to look more closely at changes in learning and teaching. If people are learning in a new way, we need to target communications products that better match how people are learning.
One presentation that I heard about was a keynote on the changing shape of knowledge, http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/mtarchive/004153.html. The message I heard is that knowledge sharing is changing from paper based to the more fluid and interactive internet based. On the Internet, information is provided in short bites, with a more flexible structure provided by linking.

Information is also being developed in collaboration rather than the one authoritative source. A great example is the wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page. This is an on-line encyclopedia that can be changed on the fly by anyone. Definitions are arrived at by consensus and reviewed by thousands, not just the "expert." Of course, the big question is who is ultimately responsible for posting the information and checking its accuracy? Also the structure is all over the place. For example, under the category drinking water, you can find bottled water, tap water, along with product names such as Evian and Dasanti.

Thinking about how knowledge is changing is very interesting. I'm sure that when my daughter reaches college, she will laugh at how much effort her dad had put into producing paper reports.