MATE GUIDE EXPERT PRESENTATION SYSTEM

THIS PROPOSAL APPLIES EXPERT SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE THE USABILITY AND MAINTAINABILITY OF THE MATE GUIDES. THE CENTRAL THEME PRESENTED IN THIS PROPOSAL IS THE IDEA OF REPRESENTING THE TECHNICAL INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE MATE GUIDES IN A WAY THAT CORRESPONDS TO THE NEEDS OF EVERY AUDIENCE LEVEL. THE STRUCTURE OF THE INFORMATION IS GEARED TOWARD THE NEEDS OF THE AUDIENCE, NOT BASED ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE PAPER FORM THE GUIDES CURRENTLY TAKE. THE EXPERT SYSTEM DEVELOPED BY THIS PROJECT WILL PRESENT ALTERNATIVE PATHS THROUGH THE MATE GUIDES' CONTENT IN GRAPHIC AND TEXTUAL FORMAT, WITH THE USER DECIDING THE PATH TO TAKE. THE EXPERT SYSTEM WILL ENABLE THE USER TO MOVE EASILY BETWEEN INTRODUCTORY AND ADVANCED MATERIAL, OR BETWEEN TEXT EXPLANATION AND GRAPHIC REPRESENTATIONS. THE USER INTERFACE IS AUTOMATICALLY TAILORED TO THE USER'S EXPERIENCE LEVEL AND TECHNICAL PERSPECTIVE. A NOVICE USER WILL HAVE A COMPUTER AIDED INSTRUCTION INTERFACE; THE EXPERIENCED USER WILL HAVE A GRAPHICAL INTERFACE AND THE EXPERT WILL HAVE A NATURAL LANGUAGE INTERFACE. ACQUISITION MANAGERS CAN SELECT ACQUISITION ORIENTED MATERIAL WITH PATHS AVAILABLE TO THE DETAILED DESIGN FUNCTIONS RELATED TO EACH ACQUISITION TASK. DESIGN ENGINEERS CAN JUMP DIRECTLY TO THE DETAILED DESIGN TASKS WITH PATHS AVAILABLE TO THE RELATED ACQUISITION REFERENCES. EACH OF THESE INTERFACES IS INTERLINKED WITH THE OTHERS, THUS MAKING ALL DATA RAPIDLY AVAILABLE TO EACH USER WITHOUT THE INTIMIDATING BULK OF THE GUIDES.