Knowledge-Based Knowledge Elicitation

Abstract

This chapter focuses on knowledge-based knowledge elicitation. The efficient and widespread use of expert-systems seems, among other reasons, to be restrained by the lack of methods and theories on knowledge acquisition. The knowledge acquisition bottleneck is a good metaphor describing the current state of the art in knowledge acquisition, even though many tools have been described in the literature and the first results and experiences are being summed up to provide the framework for the second generation of knowledge acquisition systems. The chapter presents an elicitation tool, KRITON, currently being developed at the GMD's expert system research group. Such a tool integrating different weak elicitation methods, each specialized in a domain, can help reduce the knowledge acquisition bottleneck. First evaluations of the tool have shown that KRITON cannot be considered the solution to this problem though. Future work will focus on the integration of more elicitation techniques to cover larger areas of the elicitation domain. Potential candidates are networking, cluster-analysis and case-based knowledge acquisition.