The Web has helped to blur the line between the Expert and the Amateur. The definition of amateur on Wikipedia lays out the distinction…

“An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without formal training or pay.[1] Conversely, an expert is generally considered a person with extensive knowledge, ability, and/or training in a particular area of study, while a professional is someone who also makes a living from it. Translated from its French origin to the English “lover of”, the term “amateur” reflects a voluntary motivation to work as a result of personal passion for a particular activity.”

Writing on the web, everyone appears equal. Both can share what they know and appear to carry the same weight. This information free-for-all can make it difficult to know who’s opinions to trust. In fact, it shifts much of the responsibility of vetting and fact checking to the reader! This may seem like a curse, but in fact, it’s one of the best skills a person can have for dealing with the onslaught of information we are barraged with on a daily basis. Now, you can look up a multitude of sources online and come to your own conclusions about which ideas have the most merit for your particular situation. Sometimes, you are given clues to the validity of the source - Are they a professor? Do they work for a company in the industry? Is the idea being talked about / blogged about by others? - But often you have little to no context for the quality of the authors work and are left to figure it out solely on the merits.

The question is, ‘Is the distinction between expert and amateur still relevant?’ Do you want to learn about a topic from someone who has been trained on a subject, or do you want to hear about it from someone who loves the topic? The beauty is, you no longer have to choose. You can have both! When researching a subject, start at Wikipedia for the wisdom of the masses. Next, punch the topic into Google and Yahoo to see what ideas have floated to the top of the search pile. Search results are based largely on links, on how many sites think an idea is good enough to link to. Next, I’d run the search through Technorati to see who’s talking about the topic (Technorati searches and catalogs blog posts). After that it’s up to you. If you’ve run the topic through those four sources, you probably have a good broad overview of the topic and a number of reputable sources to drill down through to gain a deeper understanding. Do you know who you go it from? You got a few nuggets from the masses at Wikipedia, an author who blogs about the topic filled in some of the details, a professor at CSU provided some deep background and some hobbyists tinkering in their garage gave you an entirely new way of thinking about the subject. Now that you know all that, does that make you an Expert? An Amateur? Does it matter?

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