Lack of Community for the Above Average Joe
I have many interests, as I am sure everyone does. I am interested in web techonologies, web design, web-standards, photography, illustration, cooking, wine, audio production and many more I can’t think of at the moment. I spend a significant portion of my time that I dedicate to any interest reading up about it, searching for communities for my interest and in general trying to broaden my knowledge. I feel however I have recently hit a road block with many communities as they are either for total beginners or for gurus. This is a little frustrating in that for some of my interests, take photography, I really have no interest in becoming a guru (I don’t have the time or the money to dedicate to it) but I would consider myself too advanced to be called a beginner.
I know as a member of many communities where I would consider myself an expert in the field, it is annoying when a beginner comes in and asks all sorts of questions… questions that are answered 100 times over by simply searching google so I fear my involvement in a more advanced community in any subject, especially when I am not willing/able to give back to the community in such a way. It is like books… there are 100 idiot or beginners guides to anything, but all the other books are always labelled “advanced techniques” or “expert’s guide”. Does that mean you are either a beginner or expert? I really don’t think that is true.
Perhaps there needs to be some sort of graduating levels of communities, like school, that you can test in and out of, not really so you have a status (although I am sure that would be a benefit/con for some people) but more so that I don’t feel I am bothering the experts with my idiot questions and that I am not wasting my time on forums looking for answers from complete beginners.
I know in a community the idea would be to have beginners and gurus together and they could all work together, but lets be honest… how many professional web designers want to sit there month after month and show newbies how to use dreamweaver? Sure, I don’t mind helping one or two people, but from a community level you have to take AND receive… it can’t always be a one way street.
Just something to think about.
One Response to “Lack of Community for the Above Average Joe”
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May 19th, 2008 at 10:00 am
I think there’s a crucial step missing in the workings of a community described above. A beginner doesn’t stay a beginner for long, and a guru doesn’t only spend time answering the same questions over and over. It’s more of a cyclical thing.
What I mean is that people in a community are constantly navigating between different roles. A guru is only gonna answer the same question once, twice maybe 3 times. When that guru is done, someone else steps in for that area – probably someone who asked the question themselves. Knowledge is passed and paid forward.