STETHOSCOPES TO #SELFCARE: THE TRANSFORMATION OF EXPERTISE DYNAMICS IN DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract

This dissertation examines how expertise is communicated, performed, and assessed across different digital environments through three complementary case studies: physicians on Twitter/X, mental health content creators on TikTok, and graduate students assessing AI-generated content. Each study reveals how traditional markers of authority operate when moved into digital spaces with distinct features and affordances.

The research demonstrates that digital platforms do not simply host expertise claims, but actively reshape how expertise can be signaled, validated, and perceived. When traditional markers of professional authority such as credentials, specialized vocabulary, and visual signifiers move online, they undergo transformations specific to each platform's architecture. On Twitter/X, physicians leverage profile features to display credentials while developing content that serves multiple audience segments. TikTok's visual emphasis requires mental health creators to perform expertise through new hybrid forms that combine professional knowledge with platform-native styles. The AI study reveals how graduate students develop mental models for evaluating seemingly authoritative non-human content produced without domain knowledge.

The central contribution of this work is documenting how digital environments transform traditional mechanisms of expertise validation, creating conditions where expertise communication adapts to platform-specific environments. These findings extend beyond individual platforms to inform our understanding of how expertise signals operate across different digital contexts and how users approach the assessment of competing knowledge claims in increasingly AI-mediated spaces.

The dissertation provides insight into how different platform affordances, professional domains, and audience expectations create varied conditions for expertise communication while revealing common patterns in how authority adapts to digital constraints.