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?
Expertise is expertise. The talent and experience exists within the individual whether or not they are interacting with people in a face-to-face setting or on the web. The web gives us more opportunities to interact with experts that we might not otherwise ever meet. This includes both recognized experts and unknown people who possess expertise. As we have been discussing this week, credentials can provide some insight into expertise, but it is not always the best indicator of capabilities.
Many things are possible via the web. An initial reaction to the question of the value of web expertise might be that even though you might be able to connect with experts via the web, you might feel that there are very limited possibilities to take advantage of some one's capabilities without being together face-to-face. I think those limitations are becoming less and less everyday. An example of what is possible is shown below. The video is of a virtual choir. The man who composed this piece, made his sheet music available for download, connected 185 singers from all over the world who never met, and conducted the piece virtually. I think it speaks well to the possibilities of taking advantage of expertise via the web.
Thank you so much for posting this video! I love, love, love the work of Eric Whitacre and had never seen this before. I am somewhat of a pro-am vocalist and have performed a few other pieces of his in the past. It is remarkable that the pieces sound fairly similar in person and virtually. Now I'm off to share this wonderful find on all my social networks. Thanks again!
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