Experts and the rest…

Experts and Amateurs
This week’s topic is about Experts and Amateurs. The internet has opened the gates to both; the concept of who is right and who has the most expert opinion has been turned upside down. The internet introduction of the internet has allowed for the development of the definition of expert to be questioned. Who is regarded as an expert in a world where anyone and everyone can express their opinion online?
Traditionally an expert is considered someone who has study and worked in a field for a large period of time and who knows and understands their chosen subject on a higher level than a normal lay person. However the internet has allowed for the definition of expert to broaden; now an expert could easily be seen as someone who knows copious amount s of information about star trek for instance. They may not have ever studied star trek on an educational level, but have pursued their interest so much that they now know everything there is to know about star trek. The internet allows these types of experts to convey there expertise through elements of the internet like, blogs, Wikipedia, forums and discussion boards. This has created a new form of expert.
Bruns discusses theses ideas in his book Blogs, Wikipedia, Second life and beyond, Bruns links the concepts of traditional experts and non-traditional experts, with the concept of produsage. One point he makes is that “Experts who refrain from participation in the key produsage projects in their field… in essence may be in a process of self-censoring themselves out of existence” This point interested me, It made me think , again of the definition of experts and it’s evolution, if an traditional expert, say a ancient historian specializing in Te Inca’s, whose knowledge would be useful on say Wikipedia, doesn’t commit or add to the produsage process, does this mean they are no longer an expert?, or has the idea of produsage simply broaden the definition of expert?
With the Introduction of the internet, followed by Web 2.0 and the idea of produsage, the concept of an expert has changed and broaden, the definition is no longer exclusive to a person with certain characteristics or education, but can be anyone who has the knowledge base, even without the credentials.

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