That really depends on the domain. In fields like manufacturing, resources extraction, and pharmaceuticals most of the valuable information is locked behind corporate firewalls.
Why do you think that? I collect books, mainly published from 1850s to 1980s, and it's not uncommon that they only occur in library listings and sometimes Goodreads when I search for information about their authors and history. This holds for some english language literature as well, but more so for books in other languages.
The Internet is basically a young, small portion of writings in english, as far as I can tell.
That really depends on the domain. In fields like manufacturing, resources extraction, and pharmaceuticals most of the valuable information is locked behind corporate firewalls.
I have not found this to be the case, at all. An incredible amount is still locked up in paper, even in 2025.
Do you think all of the industry expertise for niche markets is published on the internet for free? Why would any company do that?
Why do you think that? I collect books, mainly published from 1850s to 1980s, and it's not uncommon that they only occur in library listings and sometimes Goodreads when I search for information about their authors and history. This holds for some english language literature as well, but more so for books in other languages.
The Internet is basically a young, small portion of writings in english, as far as I can tell.