I very much see a professional organzation like AAPG needing to embrace these digital forms of networking and information dissemination. As the E&P industry continues to become ever more global, the “net” truly is the best place for sharing ideas and connecting disparate groups of people. Moreover, as an industry that says its a “technology leader,” how can we ignore the technology platforms made possible through the Internet. Way to go AAPG and exercise thought leadership!

ION Geophysical has been attempting some similar Web 2.0 endeavours. We’ve been a leader in developing seismic technology for over 40 years, and one way we can showcase that leadership is through the web and the various forms of digital content delivery the web makes possible.

Your readers might be interested in this video about Social Media we found on YouTube, a piece we featured on our very first blog post. I found it fascinating!

http://blog.iongeo.com/?p=97

Regarding your second query – just as in any information, you have to consider the source, a non-legitimate “self proclaimed” expert is not likely to have credentials in the area of “expertise”. Expertise comes in many shapes, sizes. They are really perspectives, and we all have and are free to express those in whatever format we can.

Makes me think of reporters who are often looked to as “experts”. I know many professionals in varying fields who become frustrated with the content newspaper articles – “that’s not right”. As Geologists we see that all the time.

Helping the public see different perspectives and expertise is an important part of what we do as professionals. The public struggles of the Earth Sciences is a symptom of our collective professional weakness in connecting and sharing our expertise with the public.