A structured multi expert knowledge elicitation methodology for the development of practical knowledge based systems

Knowledge elicitation (KE) is known to be one of the major bottle-necks in knowledge based system development. The accepted techniques of KE involve the use of a single expert. The authors describe two projects where it has proved to be advantageous to use more than one expert. The necessary techniques and benefits are described. These techniques were originally formulated during the development of a practical civil engineering application for the conceptual design of bridges. A well defined KE methodology was developed which consisted of three stages: unstructured interviewing, structured interviewing and prototype analysis.