[xmca] someone or anyone

[Serpil S Sonmez <sonmez@uwm.edu>]

I am wondering if anyone can advise me about this issue. I’m sorry if my question sounds ignorant.  

I have very basic questions but I could not find their answers.

What does “more knowledgeable other” mean? What does this person know? Where does his knowledgeable-ness come from? Does simply having a skill grant a person the "tools" to provide assistance to the other within his zpd? If not, when can someone become a knowledgeable other?

Is it possible to provide scaffolding to someone without having any prior knowledge about the person? What's the difference between scaffolding from someone who is familiar with you and from a stranger?

Can we say that “knowledgeable other” means someone who is familiar with the novice therefore “knows” how to provide scaffolding within the zpd of him? How does one know about someone’s zpd to provide appropriate scaffolding?

Also, does "someone" in the quote "addressivity is the “quality of turning to someone” (Bakhtin, 1986, p. 99), mean someone in particular or just anyone in general?

I realized that I have been using these terms but did not have any answers to these questions. Wherever I look, the knowledgeable other always has some sort of intimate relationship and familiarity with the novice (i.e. mother-child interaction, peer-peer interaction, tutor-student), not random strangers.

Thank you.

Serpil
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