Knowledge “streams” vs. knowledge as a globe, query, function, service

I think these are two pretty big distinctions in how we think about knowledge and information. 

When knowledge is a “stream” (a book, a web page that you read from beginning to end, a blog post with comments), we consume it in a specific form and have certain expectations.  For example, we don’t think that we can “query” a book unless we have read it.  If the book has a Table of Contents or good Index, then we can access its information.

 

These “query methods” / shortcuts like Indices, Tables of Contents, and Search Engines are short-hand forms of accessing knowledge.  Since humans generally want to “move forward”, they store knowledge in (sometimes disconnected) streams rather than taking the time to update the index.  We build computer systems, search engines and other technologies to “mine” our knowledge, but we’ll probably never be able to keep up with the steams of information that are being produced (both on- and off-paper).