ARTIFACT-DESIGN/ENGINEERING KNOWLEDGE ONTOLOGY (ART-DEKO) TOOLSET

THE PROPOSED EFFORT INITIATES RESEARCH TO DEVELOP A SET OF KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION TOOLS ADDRESSING THE UNIQUE NEEDS OF INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAMS OF DOMAIN EXPERTS WHO DESIRE TO CREATE AND MAINTAIN SHARED KNOWLEDGE BASES. THE PROPOSED ART-DEKO (ARTIFACT-DESIGN/ENGINEERING KNOWLEDGE ONTOLOGY) TOOLSET WILL PROVIDE INTELLIGENT ASSISTANCE AND MEDIATION TO EXPERTS IN THE COOPERATIVE PROCESS OF DEFINING A COMMON VOCABULARY OF ENTITIES AND RELATIONSHIPS FOR REPRESENTING AREAS OF OVERLAPPING DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE. THE ART-DEKO TOOLSET INCORPORATES AN INNOVATIVE PLATFORM-INDEPENDENT GRAPHICAL INTERFACE THAT WILL ALLOW DOMAIN EXPERTS TO DIRECTLY EXPRESS THEIR MENTAL MODELS IN TERMS OF ONE OF SEVERAL KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION FORMALISMS WITHOUT REQUIRINGA KNOWLEDGE ENGINEER TO ACT AS INTERMEDIARY. THE TOOLSET WILL CONTAIN PRECONSTRUCTED ONTOLOGICAL FORMALISMS SPECIFICALLY INTENDED FOR TEAMS OF ARTIFACT DESIGNERS, BUT WILL BE FLEXIBLE ENOUGH TO ASSIST KNOWLEDGE BASE CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE ACROSS A WIDE VARIETY OF INTERDISCIPLINARY PROBLEM-SOLVING EFFORTS. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - THE ART-DEKO TOOLSET WILL PROVIDE VALUABLE ASSISTANCE TO INTERDISCIPLINARY DESIGN TEAMS WHO WISH TO COORDINATE THEIRPROBLEM-SOLVING EFFORTS IN THE FORM OF SHARED KNOWLEDGE BASES, SINCE IT WILL UNIQUELY COMBINE A GRAPHICAL INTERFACE FOR UNASSISTED KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION BY DOMAIN EXPERTS WITH AN INTELLIGENT MEDIATOR TO ASSIST IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SHARED ONTOLOGIES.