Abstract
AbstractThis chapter shows that the Internet does not always favor the powerful, but this still does not mean that it is democratizing. It traces the online activities of two bloggers diagnosed with bipolar disorder using the concept of interactional expertise (Collins & Evans, 2002). I argue that by combining medical knowledge with their situated experiences and the affordances of blogs, these bloggers have become a new type of stakeholder, “online expert mediators.” The notion of interactional expertise is extended by illustrating the relevance of the medium through which interactional expertise is performed and by showing that it has a substantial bi-directional character.
Publisher
Springer Nature Singapore