Answer People and Networks

Who are the Answer People? Following a link from Kevin’s post on Social Networks, I came to this post with visual aids (always helpful) about communication patterns, and then to this discussion on slashdot where people try to visualize the “Answer People.” The beauty of the discussion is that the discuss-ers are actual Answer People. One pokes fun at the stereotype (” imagine a guy in his late 20s sitting in his parents basement sucking down Mountain Dew and inhaling cheetos…..
Oh wait, thats not what you meant by “visualizing” them, is it?”) while others represent pretty much the range of people I have experienced on the internet–from incredibly generous to incredibly condescending. (Think: Saturday Night Live skit with the Computer Guy). The NYT Sunday Magaizine this week had an interesting piece on Wikipedians, and I am wondering about the connection: I wonder if there is a connection? My guess is that there may be some overlap between the two groups (Answer People and Wikipedians) but not a lot. Answer People seem to be technical experts, programmers and others who enjoy playing with the machinery and code, while the Wikipedians were news junkies and word people who are devoted to the idea of the free information commons. What they have in common is that they do their work (answering or editing) because they love it, and aren’t paid for it!

As a writer, I identify : )

When working with faculty, we have to be so careful to not be like “The Computer Guy.” How do we create, instead, a community like the best of these internet communities, where people respect and draw on each others’ expertise? It seems, in the best situations, everyone is the Answer Person in the area of their own expertise or passion, and  everyone shares and everyone listens.  It is a lot like the way a really successful classroom looks.