i have two points i’d like to address. the first point is on the PhD notion . . . i don’t think a PhD makes me an expert, but i do think that a much higher percentage of folks with a PhD are likely to be considered experts in their field than any other group, but they aren’t necessarily “experts” beyond that field. from personal experience, i know that i had to really learn the literature in my field in order to graduate. now that i am employed, i find myself keeping up with the literature so that i can be a better instructor. knowing the literature and being able to apply it and generalize to the real world is much of what makes a person an expert. that being said, many folks who do not have a PhD can also be experts, but they have to demonstrate it another way, i suppose. with some good Google searching, i think just about anyone can be an expert on a great many topics. heh heh.

regarding the blogosphere being a huge refereed journal . . . i never thought of it that way, but i suppose it’s true to an extent. when i write literature for my field, i want it to be read and consumed and used and beneficial to others, etc. on the other hand, i have never considered my blog as a tool to compete for popularity. my blog is a tool that i use for myself so that i can keep track of various tools that i’ve tried previously and why i liked them or didn’t like them and how i was thinking at the time, etc. i also share my blog with my students so that they can get a better sense of how i approach technology and how i make decisions with regard to technology in my teaching since my students will one day be teachers in their own classrooms. i can also use my blog to start discussions in my classes that will help to achieve various curriculum standards, so i find my blog very successful and i doubt a single person links to my blog. i don’t know that many outsiders even visit my blog. if i have outsiders who visit my blog then that’s terrific if they can find it useful or informative, but i don’t see them as my target audience so their absence is not a disappointment to me by any means. if nobody else links to me, i don’t think i am failing as a *thinker* or that this reflects poorly on me in any way. if i wanted to get popular, i suppose one could draw this conclusion. i hadn’t thought of it. i guess i am just not an expert on experts. ;~)