Week 4 - 1. Expertise

How do I judge the value of expertise on the Web?

• If I don't recognize the author, I will read the author's background information. I often found a short biography of the author that provide the author's educational background and publications. From these types of information, I can value the author's expertise.
• From the content of the articles/information. If the author discuss the content in depth, I can assume that the author know the content very well. It will be more easily to judge if I familiar with the content/information provided by the author.
• From the comments. The comments provided by other readers also help me to judge the value of expertise on the Web.

The ways I judge the value of expertise on the Web and in face to face setting are similar. Although it more difficult to judge the value of expertise on the Web than in f2f setting. In f2f setting, such as in seminar, at the beginning the moderator usually give a brief introduction about the presenter and during the presentation time, I can judge the level of expertise from the content delivered by the presenter, the way he/she deliver the information and how he/she answer the questions.