Forum Moderators: LifeinAsia
Are there any topics you just cant' get info on searching on the net?
The reason being, as the net grows, it will eventually cover all spheres of human knowledge, I believe, and will be the most in demand information medium. (I believe it is know, but some people just aren't there yet.)
So, if I am to break into publishing with the bang I'd like to have in a year or so, are there any subjects, topics, industries, or information(s) that you just can't get on the internet? I've searched and searched, and it seems like everything is pretty much well covered.
Granted, I could write about something I made up completely, but then even in a few years, nobody would search for it. :) So, I'm tossing this one out there...anything you can't find on the net? If so, what is it? Of course, by throwing your ideas into this thread, I'll have to compete with WebmasterWorld for the topics, if I go after them later, but that's okay ;)
I think that this is a valid question. Is there a niche being overlooked? I hope you can find something.
Traditionally a publisher doesn't have to find an overlooked niche. Look at woman's magazines. They present the same general information month after month.
What they do is to keep that information up to date. Since the subject area is so broad they focus on different aspects each month.
They take what is easily known and add value to it. An Apple Pie recipe can be updated so that it is lower in fat and sugar and presented to an audience that hasn't made a pie in months. The picture convey how great tasting the pie is. Everyone that reads it vows to bake one soon.
Next month it is Pound Cake or whatever. You should love your subject, be knowledgable in it and not be too worried about a crowded field.
Stickymail sent, waiting breathlessly on reply...now you've really got me curios - not looking for product though, just 'information' which isn't too easily found, or can't be found.
What we have now is a combination of pure speculation, educated guesswork, anecdotal evidence, multivariate analysis, and closely-guarded secrets. ;)
e.g. if you were looking for new 'Gates and Windows' :)
"any topics you just cant' get info on searching on the net?"
- I don't know about "topics", but there can always be better software. For example, the search engines today are a joke compared to what we will have in the future. One could be built that could make Google look like a kid-in-a-basement operation in comparison, a highly relevant results engine. In addition, it would have at least 80% less spam. I am sure someone will build it, eventually. The concept is simple, but the equipment needed for a google-like database would take a lot of capital?
How about this concept... take two or more known topics and combine them to form a new, "hybrid" subject/angle/niche, a new animal.
As a citizen who increasingly needs to be informed about issues that matter, the Net suffers from a lack of historical perspective.
Issues that were on the map prior to 1995, and that have not been resolved to anyone's satisfaction, often have a spotty record on the Net. That's because investigative books have not been digitized, and newspapers weren't digitized prior to the 1980s.
For example, the issue of the CIA on campus. Prior to the first site on this issue that went up on the Net just this year, you could do a Google search and you'd get back stuff about using the campus library at the Culinary Institute of America.
That's because this issue peaked in 1969, and then again in 1977, and finally in 1987. All of these predated the Net as we know it. In order to get relevant material on this issue online, someone had to a) get access to lots of material that is very difficult to find, b) OCR and proof it, c) post it on a website, and d) know enough about SEO to make it show up prominently on Google.
All of the above was done by one person. If it hadn't been done, you'd still be learning about campus life at the Culinary Institute of America.
This might be a piece of research I will have to think of doing. Many issues concern me, but increasingly, as you aptly put it, the net is as good as the mall. And that's generally what I come here for, not philisophical discourse, or answers to my concerns on society's evolution. Points to consider, and much appreciated.
