informal learning networks and reputation-based competence

George Siemens, in a blog comment on an IBM paper - The end of advertising as we know it - makes a nice point about the flow-on effect of people developing competence and expertise within informal learning networks:

He says “I highly doubt we’ll see informal learning networks take over formal accreditation as measure of competence (though, in many small networks, this is happening as a person’s reputation may well exceed their formal education, but it is not a model that appears to be transferable broadly to the rest of society. The expectation in reputation-based accreditation of competence is founded in recognition of peers - hence the emphasis on small networks. A peer may hire an expert based only on reputation. Someone who does not have familiarity with the field with likely hire based on accredited degrees).”

…implications for the learning that happens within tertiary institutions, and the growth of small networks.