The New Expert
December 15, 2009
Society’s views of an “expert” are changing.
That is, you don’t become an expert in a field in the same way you would 50—or 10—years ago.
Read the Expert Wikipedia page. It’s truly fascinating. Lots of people have lots of different views on expert qualifications, including a certain number of hours of experience, the ability to retrieve from one’s brain information about a given subject, and education.
There’s all sorts of others. Here’s a list of four characteristics Wikipedia gives:
- At a minimum usually 10 years of consistent practice, sometimes more for certain fields
- A characterization of this practice as “deliberate practice”, which forces the practitioner to come up with new ways to encourage and enable themselves to reach new levels of performance
- An early phase of learning which is characterized by enjoyment, excitement, and participation without outcome-related goals
- The ability to rearrange or construct a higher dimension of creativity. Due to such familiarity or advanced knowledge experts can develop more abstract perspectives of their concepts and/or performances.
Read those through again. It should be clear at this point that the qualifications for being an expert include two main points:
- Know information
- Use information
It’s that simple. Whether gained through experience, education, or social prestige, you just have to maintain as much knowledge as possible and be able to use it. If you can do that, you’re an expert in your field.
But I don’t buy that anymore.
The New Expert
Don’t get me wrong. I think those two qualifications (and the many, many others Wikipedia and its sources list) are accurate and appropriate. I just think it’s changing.
Here’s my revised list of qualifications for the New Expert:
- Get the big picture
- Know where to find the information you don’t know
No longer does one need to know all that there is to know on a subject to be an expert. He just needs to know enough—enough to survive, yes, but really enough to succeed.
Gone are the days of Da Vinci, where one can be the chief authority in multiple fields. Today, you’ve just gotta know where to find what you don’t know.
And you’ve got to be good at it.
Feel free to disagree with me on this. I want to hear your opinions. I considered including other qualifications into my characterization of the New Expert, like the ability to communicate well or influence others, but I decided that these don’t apply to all fields (like soccer or brain surgery). So I’d really love to hear your thoughts on this—additions, disagreements, and all!
Image Credit: Pete Prodoehl
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8 Comments to The New Expert
by Kate
On December 17, 2009 at 12:22 pm
I kind of agree with this. It's certainly true of technology — you can't, after all, have 10 years experience of a technology developed 6 months ago, but you can still be a leading 'expert' on it if you are the person best qualified to deal with it in the situation you find yourself in, whether or not you still have to look stuff up.
Of course, there are still skills for which 'being able to find information' isn't good enough — anything time-critical or instinctive. Parachuting, maybe? lol
by Evenshine
On December 18, 2009 at 4:22 pm
I like your point about knowing where to find the information. It's something I regularly attempt to teach my students, and I think that, ultimately, it's what college taught me.
I'd say, as well, allowing room for more than one perspective. You may mean that by your first point, but I think having a solid, developed worldview (ideally a defensible one) is a good starting point, but understanding others' is also helpful in troubleshooting.
by Steven Rossi
On December 18, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Heh yeah your parachuting example makes sense. And I think your first paragraph sums up a significant factor well — because of the rapid pace of change, there's no opportunity for a person to become a time-based expert.
And I'm certainly not arguing that "knowing where to find information" means being good at using Google. I'm more saying that one has to be versatile, like you are saying.
So you're saying that there's room for the old model, I think. Would you add any qualifications to my description?
by Steven Rossi
On December 18, 2009 at 5:14 pm
By my first point I mean mostly just understanding the big ideas. The key in both points is flexibility–an expert knows a lot of stuff but more importantly is able to adjust as information changes.
Understanding others' perspectives is huge! Great thought!
I'm wondering if I haven't cast the net quite wide enough. There are lots of fields in which one can be an expert (as Kate's parachuting example above proves), and I'm not sure how an arena like that fits into your response, however much I agree with it.
by 2Shaye
On December 18, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Information Literacy is a subject I was asked to teach through our local college for the last three years. Starting this spring, it will become a mandatory course for all college graduates to pass. I'm hearing that other colleges are now making Information Literacy required, as well. The study of IL is something that I focused on during my first masters degree and then used tremendously throughout my second masters. It's a fascinating field and is quickly growing in popularity! And I believe it's at the core of what you're describing in The New Expert.
A wide variety of information skills are discussed and practiced. Students learn how to look at information found in a book, a magazine, a journal, a website, a blog, or any other format, and run through a checklist of authority verifications. It's a tedious process, but oh so eye-opening. IL also covers search engines, meta search engines, SEO, Boolean operators, copyright laws, and many other variables found within information's organizational properties.
I agree this finding (and more importantly, evaluating) the information you need will be a major determining factor in deciphering the "new" legitimate information experts. During this age (explosion) of information many will be left wandering from idea to idea with too few skills necessary to determine RELIABLE information from the average blogger's enticing OPINIONS.
by Steven Rossi
On December 19, 2009 at 2:15 am
I may just go back and revise my post–I completely ignored the evaluation of the information. I believe that discernment is just as important as discovery; if I can find the information but don't know what to do with it, what's the point?
Sounds like a fascinating field! From what I understand, it's relatively new (as in last 50 years, right?). I would love to pursue that more, would you have any good recommendations for books or other resources I could check out? I'd love to evaluate some of that information…wish I could find it on my own.
by 2Shaye
On December 19, 2009 at 10:27 pm
LOL. I have to do revising of my posts often as I find new bits and pieces that I left out. It's totally a sign of living in the information age, methinks.
In answer to your questions: Yes, I'd say very, very new. My MLS degree was from 2004 to 2005 and that was the first year I had even heard of Information Literacy even after having taught since the late 90s. The ideals and expectations of Information Literacy come originally from the American Library Association and were prepared and published by both the American Association of School Librarians and the Association for Educational Communications and Technology. This shorter 9-paged booklet briefly covers the framework of Information Literacy, but in fuller detail, the book Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning is what is usually relied upon by librarians and other information professionals. Some states have used the American Library Associations 9 standards and tailored them to the needs of their own state. For example, Nevada and Colorado both list their own state standards. Then the Association of College and Research Libraries also have a list of higher education standards. For those who are completely new to IL, I'd start with the ACRL standard page which is also available as a 20-paged PDF. As I mentioned before, IL is now becoming a required course in various colleges and universities. It requires students to become detectives every time they find a source of information for school work, professional issue, or even personal interest. It really is a fascinating field!! (P.S. I sure hope your comments take html because I embedded a whole mess of links for anyone who might be interested).
by Steven Rossi
On December 20, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Awesome thanks for the links! And yes, they worked fine!