Experts by Experience

When exhibition teams need a subject matter expert (aka SME), we often look for someone with degrees, publications, or impressive credentials.

But that's just one type of expert. There are three:

1. The Academic Expert:
This is someone who formally studies and advances a subject. Example: a historian of spaceflight. This is the type we probably think of first when we think of an SME.

2. The Practitioner Expert:
This is someone who does it. Example: an astronaut.

3. The Lived-Experience Expert:
This is someone who knows a condition or circumstance firsthand. Example: a blind person advising a project team on accessibility.

That last type is called an expert by experience, or EbE, in healthcare and disability advocacy.

A historian can explain how spaceflight evolved, while an astronaut can explain what zero gravity feels like, and a blind expert by experience can identify an exhibition barrier that a credentialed accessibility consultant might miss.

This actually describes a recent project of ours, where we worked with all three types at the same time.

Here's the thing:

A subject matter expert doesn't necessarily need extensive book knowledge. Sometimes the expert you need is someone who has actually done it ... or lived it.

Warmly,
Jonathan

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MtM Word of the Day:
Expert by experience (EbE), or lived-experience expert. Someone whose knowledge comes from personally living through something. (Versus formal education or credentials.) In exhibition design, an EbE can supply firsthand insights that academic experts might lack.