Are you really an expert?

Something that has been baffling me for a while is the number of people who consider themselves, or are considered experts on the internet. I read an article about the future of the web, and sometimes I think “are you really qualified to guess?”. I found out recently what my problem was, a lot of these “experts” see the internet as non-technical. They harp on about what will be new in design, strategy, media etc. but I rarely see technical. New Media Age, Campaign and the like almost avoid mentioning anything technical like the plague to the point the idea of a technical award is unheard of, even listings of new work will show Create Director, Designer, Copywriter, Account Director, MD, MD’s dog, but no technical. I’m not saying the other areas should not be looked at; they are important, but the technical side should at least be considered because without a technical team (or someone technically minded) there would be no website, or, well, internet!

So, why do I think the internet should be considered technical? Well, let’s take the one of the most used recent technical progressions in recent years, AJAX. The method in which, by using magic and fancy typing, allows you to postback, do server side functions without refreshing the page. It’s brilliant! It’s made the internet more. Yet I still see Creatives using Flash like a crutch because it is all they understand, or want to understand. I’m not saying Flash should be made obscelete, but it has its uses. A good website requires good tech, and if someone is writing about future of design with no full understanding, their expertise is significantly stunted. There, I said it.