Integrated Knowledge Elicitation and Representation Framework.

Abstract : This report summarizes the results of a project designed to develop methods to elicit and represent expert knowledge. Previous work in knowledge elicitation/engineering has been largely applications-driven, with expert knowledge force-fit into predefined knowledge frameworks. The goals of this project were to gain insight into how experts structure knowledge, to develop and test a set of integrated knowledge-elicitation techniques driven by this understanding of expert knowledge representation and use, and to gain insight into the nature of expertise and how it develops. Knowledge-elicitation sessions were conducted with some fifty experts in order of battle analysis, situation assessment, target development, and collection management at Forts Bragg, Carson, Lewis, Hood, and Huachuca. Results indicate that experts use a diverse range of knowledge structures depending on their functional area, level of experience, unit, and other variables. These structures are used integratively rather than singly. As a result, we propose an Integrated Knowledge Structure (INKS) framework for expert knowledge representation.