Week 5 prompt

How do you judge the value of expertise on the Web? Does it differ from your notion of expertise in face-to-face settings? Why or why not?


This is a good question.  I once read a quote by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche on one of my friend's Facebook posts.  It read: "An artist should never be judged according to the measure of his works". This baffled me quite a bit. My first instinct was to think the opposite, artists should be judged by their work.  But the conversation lead to the idea that any one person couldn't be a good judge of 'art'.  It went on to the philosophy of "what is art" "art is a matter of perspective", "can someone be considered an artist even if no one else experiences their art?" and so on. Deeper one could make the argument that we are all artists, in a more complex way than the contemporary term.  My friend who posted the quote went on to say " Perhaps everyone is performing art altruistically in a way" and another person commented "Everyone is an artists and everything is art."\

This is exactly how I feel about expertise on the web.  Who is to judge 'expertise' and which criteria is one to use? Afterall being an expert means skill or knowledge of a particular trade. By that definition, an 16 year hacker can be considered an expert.  
In their article, Leadbeater and Miller, 2004, state".....Pro-Ams, innovative, committed and networked amateurs working to professional standards." From what I understand a Pro-Am is basically an amateur working to professional standards. Therefore judging 'expertise' by this definition could encompass a large array of people.  As they mention in the article, Linoux was created by a computer student in Finland.  He was by no means an expert, yet he created something (over time) to professional standards. 

For me what has changed is the overall meaning of the term "expertise" regardless if it is face-to-face or on the web.  In today's day in age there are many more 'experts' out there that don't necessarily fit the category of professional, for example, yet they may be experts of their own trade.  The Internet and the use of Web2.0 tools has enabled expertise to be within finger's reach.  Besides, many of the areas of expertise that exist not, didn't exist 15 years ago, opening the door to endless opportunities in the future.