Abstract
In this chapter, we explore how the construction of an expert identity varies across online e-health settings with different socio-technological features. Our methodology is qualitative in nature and draws on insights from discourse analysis and positioning theory. Results show four aspects of creating expertise: the embeddedness of the positioning strategies in the online health context, the interplay between these strategies within each setting, the interactivity of the medium, and the fact that professionals, clients, and laypeople alike construct their expertise. The results confirm previously found strategies to create expertise (e.g. using jargon or showing empathy), and reveal that the interplay of several strategies is in fact needed to create credible and trustworthy expert identities for all participants involved. This interplay varies according to the practice.
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Notes
- 1.
In contrast to Prior (2003), which focuses on doctor-patient interaction and stresses on professional expertise, we want to highlight that expertise is a multifaceted concept.
- 2.
It is worthwhile to point out that the notions of expertise and credibility can sometimes become muddled. We follow Sillence (2010), who argues that showing expertise is one way of establishing credibility and trust.
- 3.
We work with a bigger corpus of 30 sources in the larger project.
- 4.
To safeguard the confidentiality of participants, we refer to the first online support group using a pseudonym, SmokingisBad. For copyright reasons, we refer to the second group’s original address. However, names and location markers have been changed for both groups. In the meantime, both groups have ceased to exist in the form studied.
- 5.
Nonetheless, more experienced quitters also post in subforums dealing with the early stages of quitting.
- 6.
Italics in the original: the counselor mentions in the introductory statement in her first response to the client that any text passages that she writes in italics should be understood as questions that she would like the client to answer. To stay as true to the data as possible, we have decided to keep the italics in the examples presented in this chapter.
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Acknowledgments
We wish to thank the Swiss National Science Foundation for funding the project ‘Language and Health Online’ (100016_143286/1) and especially the counselor and clients who consented to be part of this study. We also thank Patricia Bou-Franch and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, who gave us the opportunity to present an early version of this work in Valencia at the first ADDA conference, and the reviewers for their constructive feedback.
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Rudolf von Rohr, MT., Thurnherr, F., Locher, M.A. (2019). Linguistic Expert Creation in Online Health Practices. In: Bou-Franch, P., Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, P. (eds) Analyzing Digital Discourse. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92663-6_8
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