Who’s a Gardening or Blogging Expert?
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One of the questions I’m intrigued with at the moment is, “Who’s an expert?”.
The easiest example to start this question is to look at the television and catch the “talking heads” or “talent” that appear there. We see “experts” trotted out to examine the entrails of just about every major situation - from political to military to foreign situation analysts and even gardening now and then. There’s an expert for everything.
Some of these folks have really “been there and done that” and have expertise to draw on. Some did it a few years ago (or more) and some are still involved. But no matter the level of expertise, the nature of television lends them credence. They’re on the tube so you trust them. Somebody has branded them as “expert”.
I have a personal stake in this at the moment because I’m taking several courses from “experts” and I had to research them pretty carefully before I signed on to give them my money and my time. What’s the point in taking advice from somebody who is simply a talking head and can read a teleprompter well?
And what’s this got to do with blogging and gardening?
Well, I think the same kinds of questions can be asked of the gardening and garden-blogging world.
It is one thing to read a personal blog and know the gardener is telling us something from her own garden, sharing what she’s seeing and taking pictures of. This person makes no pretense at authority and writes for her own pleasure and for a journaling kind of writing. These are great fun.
It is entirely another thing to take advice from somebody who’s giving it as if they know something about gardening. How do you know?
What are the reference points you use to determine that somebody will make a good garden instructor or garden coach? Or are they good talking heads, good garden bloggers, like our well-coifed tv guys? Or do they really know their stuff? What qualifications do you look for when picking a garden “expert”?
Similarly, do you go to garden bloggers to learn about blogging or do you go to those who make a 6-figure income by blogging? What are the reference points you use to make that decision?
You see, here’s the real deal with publishing and television. It’s a business. The person who can give you the best ratings wins. The person who can sell the most magazines wins. The person with the biggest blogging audience wins. The author with the biggest book sales wins. The most attractive-to-the-audience person gets the job given all equal factors in television because looks count in responses/advertising revenues.
The best writer doesn’t necessarily sell the most books nor have the biggest blog. The best gardener may languish unknown because they prefer to be gardening and not doing the social swirl that raises profiles. Being the best at what you do doesn’t necessarily translate into the highest profile.
So how do you decide who’s an expert?
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8 Responses to “Who’s a Gardening or Blogging Expert?”
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I have spent most of my adult life gardening but when I sit down to write anything about it I find I have nothing to say.
Tom - there are days when I know the feeling and I make my living as a garden writer.
Wow Doug, that is an excellent question and post. I often wonder that myself when it comes to gardening books. As for blogs, I never assume anyone is an expert. I turn to blogs to see what everyone else is doing right now. Blogs are more timely than books or even magazines. I pick tips from other blogs about what they are doing in the garden that is working for them that I might want to try in my garden. I hope that others get that from my blog. Good blog entries can add to the garden knowledge that one already has. If anyone is looking solely to garden blogs to learn how to garden, I think they will be disappointed whether the authors are “experts” or not.
I think everyone has some ideas that we can learn from that’s why garden blogging is fun. Even if you just look at the pictures another gardener has posted you can get ideas and learn about new plants. I like to pass on what I learn to anyone who wants to listen, it doesn’t make me an expert and I don’t claim to be but if what I have learned about something can help someone else then I’m all for it. I was a teacher for several years before starting a blog so that experience may come through. I suppose most gardeners are “Experts in Progress.” For the expert advice I usually turn to my gardening library. You can learn a lot from a book!
How do “I” decide who is an expert?….Basically anyone who knows more than I do about gardening is an expert to ME
I find those who know little on a given subject are often WAY too quick to give advise. Those who know lots are well aware that one answer will not fit all situations. Those who know most, listen carefully and are quick to ask more questions before venturing a detailed answer. Those who know a lot, are most willing to admit that they don’t know it ALL and might even have to look something up. There is an awful lot of information available and no one person can keep it all in his/her head OR have had personal experience with every situation or plant. Experts rely on a combination of their own considerable experience and use of reference information to refresh their memories or fill in the the gaps. Experts often consult other experts/specialists too when they are stumped or wish to have their ideas confirmed. Experts often become specialists in a given area.
MY PET PEEVE:
Certainly I DO NOT consider MOST of the people working in nurseries at this time of the year “experts”. In MOST cases their knowledge is amazingly limited or even non-existent. If you ask a simple question you are likely to get a haphazard guess that may sound wonderfully authoritative. Those who are honest about what they do or don’t know, I treat with respect and friendliness. I struggle for patience and diplomacy with those with those who try to B.S. their way through, spilling out incorrect information as they go.
I don’t worry a lot about those dispensing advise on the net. The sites I have spent time on are not a problem. Seasonal nursery staff, just about everywhere, most definitely IS at this time of year. It’s BUYER BEWARE time.
I have been looking for your e-books and there is no way I can find the listing. I want to buy the one on how to reproduce any plant. Usually I don’t have my credit card with me and I have to pass. Why is it so DIFFICULT TO GET TO YOUR E-BOOKS? Shouldn’t the link be available on every mailing you do? And what in the world is a blog? I and not interested in chit chatting. Jo.
Jo - not sure where to start - the ebook listings are indeed on every newsletter and every webpage has a link to the ebooks. I guess this blog doesn’t… will have to remedy that.
I’ve never had anybody tell me it was difficult to get to the ebooks before.. thanks for that perspective.
As to chatting and blogs, I gather from your tone that you’re not really interested so I won’t waste your time with an answer.
Ferne - you’re right imho to be afraid - be very afraid - of taking advice from nurseries at this time of year. Teenagers hired for strong backs really don’t know what they’re talking about and frankly my experience in visiting nurseries incognito is extremely scary when I ask trial questions. Not very many I’d trust indeed.
Marc and Dave - If I can summarize and add both posts together, it seems that we make decisions based on the history and overall sense of the information we’re absorbing rather than a single input.