10. The Rise of Trusted Guides
10 Disruptive Factors Transforming the World of Education and Learning — Consequences, Opportunities, Tools
Trusted guides are the new go-to, reference points on any subject matter area.
They are not the top shots, the stars, the big name authors that everyone knows. In many cases these are individuals that are not highly popular or well-known, but who have earned their reputation and credibility by sharing valuable content and resources in specific areas.
They replace mainstream sources, appointed media experts, professors, celebrities, officials, journalists and traditional brands in becoming the most reliable and trusted sources of information in any specific interest area.
But who are they, and what does it make them so special?
Trusted guides are individuals who offer valuable information, in the form of articles, courses, tutorials, video, podcasts or in other formats, on a specific subject-matter and who have earned, over-time, deep-trust from their readers, followers and fans.
They are seen as credible authorities outside the academic system.
Their authority, reputation and credibility has been earned by freely sharing valuable information, insight, and expertise online. It has not been appointed by passing exams or tests or by earning academic degrees or certifications.
Trusted guides are characterized by these facts. They:
- Build their know-how mostly on experience, not on academic study and research.
- Publicly share high-value information in the form of articles, guides, collections, tutorials and more.
- Contribute value to society and not just to their own economic interest, sponsor or subsidizing brand / institution.
- Demonstrate capabilities, values and ideals / ethics through tangible projects, actions and tools.
- Act in their own interest and in the one of the people they want to help, not in the name of greater entities or brands which could pay them a fixed salary.
- Prefer not to be employed by anyone company or organization in order to maintain their independence and credibility.
- Are driven by a deep personal non-material interest and strong passion for the topic area they curate.
Trusted guides are curators. They curate information around a specific topic over time, while sharing it publicly with others.
They differentiate themselves from collectors and coaches because they openly and publicly share their discoveries and know-how without asking anything in return.
This is what makes them trusted.
The fact, that there is no petty, personal, interest, advantage or greed, driving their actions, but rather a sincere interest and desire to help and guide others by sharing high-value information.
This does not mean that trusted guides and curators work for free or that they do not get paid when they offer their know-how and expertise to interested commercial parties. It means though, that while they do act as any other professional paid consultant, who gets paid to offer custom information and advice to his clients, they also make a conscious effort to freely share valuable information to the public at large, for the simple sake of:
- helping others
- improving and changing how things are.
Due to these characterizing factors, trusted guides are en course to gradually displace “information authorities” that have been “appointed” to their positions and who are salaried by their institution or company to execute a specific mission and serve its business interests.
As early as January 2015, Edelman had in fact identified and reported in its Global Trust Barometer that people we know well as well as subject-matter experts are the persons we trust the most.
More than appointed officials, personalities, celebrities, journalists and top brands.
Here a few of my personally chosen trusted guides in specific areas I am interested in:
- Harold Jarche
Knowledge Management — Personal Learning - Michel Bauwens
P2P - Sepp Hasslberger
Health, Alternative Energy & Economy - Kevin Kelly
Future - Beth Kanter
Marketing for Non-profit - Howard Rheingold
Digital Literacy - Robert Scoble
Startups - Teemu Arina
Biohacking - Peter Bogaards
Information Design — User Experience - Nancy White
Online facilitation — group collaboration - Silvya Tolisano
Learning - Joyce Valenza
Learning and Curation - David Kelly
Learning Resources
Consequences
- Those who curate can become trusted guides in their own specific sector of interest.
- Trusted guides are the future new experts / professors / teachers.
- Traditional teachers and educators lose credibility and reputation relative to trusted guides.
- Ability to critically evaluate potential trusted guides becomes of the essence. As traditional educational institutions gradually lose some of their value and power, learners are not feed-forced specific teachers/professors anymore. It’s learners who can chose their own mentors and thus, be capable of evaluating them beforehand.
- Knowing how to acquire authority, credibility and reputation, not by appointment or by certification, become critical factors for those who want to teach, educate, help others learn and inform themselves.
- Sharing truly outstanding high-value content becomes one of the key paths to acquire authority, credibility and reputation online.
Opportunities
- Universities and other academic institutions start curating human guides, training future curators — by cultivating and supporting the development of skilled information-guides and coaches that possess the skills of a curator and those of a great story-teller.
- Passionate, experienced individuals can become trusted guides, if they chose so, in their specific areas of interest by demonstrating their competence and expertise tangibly, rather than through tests and exams.
- Much greater opportunity to learn from great teachers and professors. The learner now takes full responsibility for his direction, approach and for who will want to trust as to provide him guidance during this journey.
Resources
Wholi
Web app (free Chrome extension) which allows you to curate lists of experts, trusted guides, etc.
Wonder
Paid online service offering the skills of human, search experts, to provide detailed and well documented answers to any information need. (Ask yourself: Why would any company pay $39 to get an answer to an information request, when there is Google available to everyone for free?
Answer: nobody can find and evaluate quality info as effectively as a skilled researcher/curator passionate about the topic?)
Help me improve this guide:
a. Share your comments below
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Thank you.
Robin Good
See also:
- Weapons of Individual Transformation: Content Curation Tools
- Why To Curate Information
- Content Curation Takes Time
Discover more about curation right here:
https://medium.com/content-curation-official-guide
Be in the know when it comes to digital Curation by following:
flipboard.com/@robingood/content-curation-world-9pgk3c6gy
