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I've never heard a name for it, but as to the second part of your question: I'd say that, like many literary devices, it can be done poorly, but if used well it can be a great asset to a story. Let's say that there is some background information that you need to convey to the reader. Whether it's a detail about how the police department files DNA samples, ...

There is indeed such a term. Phil Farrand of The Nitpicker's Guide to Star Trek called this "being the cabbagehead." Certain information had to be revealed to the audience, but it was information which the characters would reasonably already know. So the writers picked someone in the room to be the "cabbagehead," meaning someone developed the I.Q. of a ...

TVTropes calls such a character The Watson: The Watson is the character whose job it is to ask the same questions the audience must be asking and let other characters explain what's going on. I don't know if it is desirable to have such a character (I'll let the more qualified people here answer on that one), but given the large number of examples ...

According to the tvtropes entry for The Watson, The Watson is the character whose job it is to ask the same questions the audience must be asking and let other characters explain what's going on. A sidekick sometimes acts in this role. According to wikipedia, Sidekicks can provide one or multiple functions, such as a counterpoint to the hero, an ...

I'm a computer technitian. Every week, here at the office, we joke about a NCIS episode where the hacker and another guy fight against another hacker by using the keyboard at amazing speed and writing random commands. Evertybody from IT knows that is ridiculous. Hacking does not work in that way, neither it's possible to stop an invader just by starting a ...

I've never heard an actual term for a character created only for the purpose of educating the reader, so I'll focus on #2. It seems like it could turn into lazy way to introduce a large amount of exposition or backstory very quickly. This kind of touches that basic rule of showing, not telling. If you cover a complicated issue by having one character ...

You could start a story on Fablelane and see if it gets voted up or down. You could also let others contribute to your story, and see how it ends to get inspiration.