Information in a Web 2.0 era!

“But isn’t the difference between the know-nothing and the professional obvious?” -These words caught my attention in Andrew Kern’s article which addresses today’s role of web 2.0 tools in America’s intellectual authority. Describing those without academic degrees and professional degrees as “know-nothings’ might be termed ignorant in itself. Knowledge goes beyond class-room experience and professional degrees. A wide scope of knowledge is gathered from real life experiences; that of which is not bound by professional certifications and academic degrees. Take for instance, today’s IT world, a lot of computer experts might not necessarily be literate but may have much more advice to offer than those with computer degrees have to offer with respect to some issues.

I’ll however say that it might be good to differentiate where to source digital information. The credibility of some information might not be ascertained in totality however some piece of this can be achieved by seeking for some “professional” type of information (as the case may be) from more relevant sources. This is highlighted in Andrew’s suggestion for associations to create blogs targeted at offering specific professional advice. However, still lurking in this suggestion is the authenticity issue. The professional blogs still don’t deal with the “digital Tom Dick and Harrys”. How would verification of professional expertise of proposed members be achieved? I believe authorizing members is based on information these proposed members provide. Will organizations actually go a step further to confirm their claims?? Is this not the same "false information" lurking around the so called “know-nothings”?

So drawing from the broad knowledge or opinion (as the case may be) I have learnt from the internet populace in general, I won’t totally rule out the strength of information from blogs and “random’ social media. There’s quite a whole lot that can be learnt from the “know-nothings”. Tackling authentication issues irrespective of source might be a more interesting issue for the Silicon Valley firms to address …Perhaps via a Web 3.0 initiative ?Uh!!!