From e-business to knowledge e-trading

This paper aims to show investigations made in knowledge e-marketplaces (Ke-markets). It gathers, reviews, structures, and compiles in a homogeneous presentation information of the current state of the art in knowledge marketplaces and trading. This work also aims to give an overview of the e-marketplace evolution, with a particular consideration of the knowledge marketplace, making a survey of the current real situation, presenting and comparing some selected knowledge sharing and trading systems running on the Web. On line Ke-markets posses some special challenges for buyers and sellers. Unlike most markets, the product of exchange (knowledge) has some unique characteristics. It is mostly intangible, making it difficult for the buyer to assess and value beforehand. Its value is context-dependent, making it difficult for the supplier to price it in a transparent marketplace of multiple buyers with varied applications. In order to investigate knowledge trading scenarios a specific methodology has been used. In this way it has been possible to compare different knowledge e-trading systems and their business models. Moreover, this paper presents first results of the conduct investigation, showing the further highlight research topic for ke-markets, distinguishing in Technical and Business issues.