Response to post

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?

On the Web the judgement of expertise is often a bit more effort than in a face to face setting. The tools and cues I use to judge are different, but the judgements are based on the same criteria. 

In an online community we do not have the social cues that often tell us subconsciously how educated or intelligent a person is. Whether we admit it or not a person's clothes, accent, the way they carry themselves, physical gestures and a variety of other little things help us create an opinion of whether we can trust them, as people or as sources of information. In one sense it is liberating to not have the potential prejudices and judgements. But these cues have to be replaced by something to tell us if they are trustworthy. 

One thing I do is google the source to see who they are, what their education was and if they are an accepted member of the community of knowledge. If someone is  a professor at Colombia or has run a business in the subject area for years,  then it is safe to say they are trustworthy. I will also google the site to see if it is trustworthy- is it journalism? punditry? a free for all? a part of an established and trustworthy community of knowledge? 

 If there is no information on the person, then one can use context clues to see whether they understand the domain they are speaking about. Often in the communities I notice people prefacing their remarks but stating their qualifications in the area. I have also done this after a lecture/speech, to see if the person speaking had the expertise to be trussed. However googling a real life person is more rare in my own experience. 

Same judgements- different tools :)