The Transformation of the Concept of Knowledge in the Internet Age

Abstract

The article deals with the transformation of the concept of knowledge caused by the evolution of the Internet. The papers presents the interrelation of the successive stages of development of the World Wide Web and the changes in the different interpretations of knowledge replacing each other: knowledge as information (Web 1.0 stage); knowledge as a result of communication and knowledge as a product of collective (human) mind (Web 2.0 stage); knowledge as a product of collective human and machine intelligence (Web 3.0 stage). It is concluded that transformation of the understanding of essence of knowledge leads to the need, first, to enable digital methods of studying of the new technological and social reality in the practice of sociological analysis, and second, to use the society of wisdom concept, which is the logical continuation of the previous versions of the information society theory.