Over at AGBeat, where I do a (approximately) bi-weekly column, the editor Lani Rosales wrote about something I ponder often: whether the web has stolen the idea of expertise. It’s called “The lost art of becoming a true expert“. Quick quote:
Yet, as an example, a carpet saleswoman with an email address can begin a blog claiming to be an expert writer, and who will question her? No one, because most people are now hiding the secret that they are not truly an expert at what they do. Even with all of my earned expertise, I still struggle with the term “expert” because of the bad taste left in my mouth by all of the newborn, self-proclaimed gurus, ninjas and mavens that get on the world’s last nerve. People sign up for Twitter and two weeks later are leading classes on the topic, people who started a blog in 2011 go volunteer to speak at national conferences with no credentials, professing expertise on blogging. The word “expertise” has lost its meaning.
I understand what she’s going through – during my brief flirt with so-called internet celebrity, people started calling me a guru, which to this day I hate desperately. It’s a title so liberally applied that it has lost its meaning.
At one point, in hopes of combating this festering disease of worshiped mediocrity, I wrote a guide explaining how an actual expert could use online tools to reflect their years of knowledge and ability to help others in a sort of free sample. It never computed to me that some people would just take other people’s hard won experience and claim it as their own.
Since 2005 I’ve struggled with this idea of expertise. It’s powerful and helpful in some hands – when I’m being operated on, I want a surgeon, not a vetinarian. I’m sure vetinarian’s are perfectly capable of performing surgery – it’s not just an issue of skill or knowledge.
It’s an issue of experience, and specialty. I want someone who has dealt with MY problem not a similar issue, someone who knows how the human body works and what to do if it does something unexpected.
I call myself an expert in certain areas. At this point I feel I’ve earned it – in the areas I call myself an expert, it’s because I have spent years attempting to be among the best in my field, not just in terms of what I know.
It’s not difficult to know things.
I call myself an expert because I can apply that knowledge to certain situations. Again, anyone can take a course, and memorize facts long enough to pass a course. Memorization, which the American schooling system is based on, is an easily learned skill if you know how to find the right teacher for your learning style.
But once you’ve learned something, being able to apply what you know to situations you haven’t come across before and still come out with a positive outcome – that takes experience, expertise, specialization in simliar issues.
And the fact that the lack of accountability on who is qualified to claim expertise is so widespread is a serious problem, and a possible price we pay for all this accessibility. At one point it was an advantage – there are people with degrees who know nothing who are also calling themselves experts – it’s not just the un- or web-educated. Just because you paid $100,000 for a degree doesn’t make you smarter than the person who was doing the job you were training for while you were in school.
I like to think of the example of offshore banking. They aren’t protected by the FDIC or any other regulating body, and so thrive only by reputation. But how do you trust reputation? You can’t if you don’t know whether the people informing you about the reputation of a third party have their own motives. You need an impartial body.
So far, I’ve come to the conclusion that in order for a reputation to be trusted, it has to be erected by a community of peers, colleagues, customers and clients. It has to be a fluid, changing community so that there isn’t a lot of wagon-circling happening in times of crisis. So you need long standing members, newbies and everyone in-between, and constant communication to keep everyone honest.
That, and due diligence can keep the idea of an expert alive until we come to another agreement.
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Have We Lost the Idea of Expertise? A Response to @agbeat: Have We Lost the Idea of Expertise? A Response to @ag… http://t.co/0OYWndfD
Have We Lost the Idea of Expertise? A Response to @agbeat: Have We Lost the Idea of Expertise? A Response to @ag… http://t.co/McKTlXl0
Via @Tinu Have We Lost the Idea of Expertise? A Response to @agbeat: Have We Lost the Idea of Expertise? A Respo… http://t.co/nO15H9qf
Begs the question: What is the goal of academia? Have We Lost the Idea of Expertise? http://t.co/bTF1XjEQ via @zite
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Have We Lost the Idea of Expertise? A Response to @agbeat http://t.co/hc2exclZ via @Tinu RT @tonia_ries
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This is a great read. "Have We Lost the Idea of Expertise? A Response to @agbeat" from @tinu http://t.co/CpzBEvfg
This is a great read. "Have We Lost the Idea of Expertise? A Response to @agbeat" from @tinu http://t.co/CpzBEvfg
This is a great read. "Have We Lost the Idea of Expertise? A Response to @agbeat" from @tinu http://t.co/CpzBEvfg
Have We Lost the Idea of Expertise? A Response to @agbeat. Now w/ Kittens! http://t.co/HZ5x8Rwd
Have We Lost the Idea of Expertise? A Response to @agbeat. Now w/ Kittens! http://t.co/HZ5x8Rwd
RT @tinu: Have We Lost the Idea of Expertise? A Response to @AGBeat. Now w/ Kittens! http://t.co/RhlTXqqe
Have We Lost the Idea of Expertise? A Response to @agbeat. Now w/ Kittens! http://t.co/HZ5x8Rwd
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