ABSTRACT
The focus of this chapter is the https://open2.net" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">open2.net ‘Ask an Expert’ forum where an academic linguist acted as a resident ‘expert’, contributing to an open-access discussion board. This is an interesting discursive site to explore the complexities involved in expert–lay communication, in particular the ways in which participants construct claims as authoritative, their perception of different types of expertise and their conception of linguistics as a subject area. Engaging beyond the academy is seen by many linguists as a challenge (e.g. Johnson 2001); the question here is what we can learn from the https://open2.net" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">open2.net experience.
