SPOS #838 – Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher On Expertise (And Who Is Truly An Expert)

Welcome to episode #838 of Six Pixels of Separation.

Here it is: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #838 – Host: Mitch Joel. It seems like everyone on LinkedIn (which is everyone who works) considers themself an expert in something (or everything). What is expertise? Who should we consider an expert? Is there one definition to rule them all? Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher is not just an associate professor and Canada Research Chair in Science, Health, and Technology Communication at the University of Waterloo, but is also the author of, On Expertise – Cultivating Character, Goodwill, and Practical Wisdom. Much of Ashley’s current research focuses on climate change communication, and she is a member of the University of Waterloo’s Interdisciplinary Centre on Climate Change (IC3) and the Water Institute. In addition to her duties at Waterloo, she is the General Co-Editor, with Carolyn R. Miller, at Genre Across Borders. Further, she served as a Member of the Board of Directors for the Association for the Rhetoric of Science, Technology, and Medicine (ARSTM) from 2019-2021 and as President of ARSTM from 2018-2019. Ashley’s research focuses on how communication practices shape the processes of science and also how diverse audiences engage with scientific and technical subjects through various communication strategies and modalities. Along with being the author of On Expertise, she also wrote Science Communication Online, and is co-editor of Emerging Genres in New Media Environments. Ashley has also been published in numerous journal articles and chapters. If you consider yourself an expert or eyeroll at those who self-describe themselves as one, this episode is for you. Enjoy the conversation…

• Running time: 59:37.
• Hello from beautiful Montreal.
• Subscribe over at Apple Podcasts.
• Please visit and leave comments on the blog – Six Pixels of Separation.
• Feel free to connect to me directly on Facebook here: Mitch Joel on Facebook.
• or you can connect on LinkedIn.
• …or on Twitter.
• Here is my conversation with Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher.
• On Expertise – Cultivating Character, Goodwill, and Practical Wisdom.
• Science Communication Online.
• Emerging Genres in New Media Environments.
• Genre Across Borders.

• This week’s music: David Usher ‘St. Lawrence River’.

Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #838 – Host: Mitch Joel.

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