ISF (Chapter 7)

• Data

  Raw facts
• Information


  Collection of facts organized so that they have additional value beyond the value of the facts themselves
• Knowledge


  Awareness and understanding of a set of information and the ways that information can be made useful to support a specific task or reach a decision

  
• Knowledge management system (KMS)


  Organized collection of people, procedures, software, databases, and devices used to create, store, share, and use the organization's knowledge and experience

  
• Types of knowledge


  • Explicit knowledge
  • Tacit knowledge
• Explicit knowledge


  Objective, can be measured and documented in reports, papers, and rules
• Tacit knowledge


  Hard to measure and document, typically not objective or formalized
• Data workers


  • Secretaries
  • Administrative assistants
  • Bookkeepers
• Knowledge workers


  Create, use, and disseminate knowledge, professionals in science, engineering, or business
• Chief knowledge officer (CKO)


  Top-level executive who helps the organization use a KMS to create, store, and use knowledge to achieve organizational goals

  
• Communities of practice (COP)

  Group of people dedicated to a common discipline or practice, may be used to create, store, and share knowledge
• Knowledge repository


  Includes documents, reports, files, and databases
• Knowledge map


  Directory that points the knowledge worker to the needed knowledge

  
• Effective KMS is based on learning new knowledge and changing procedures and approaches as a result
• Artificial intelligence (AI)


  Computers with the ability to mimic or duplicate the functions of the human brain

  
• Many AI pioneers predicted that computers would be as "smart" as people by the 1960s
• Artificial intelligence systems


  Include the people, procedures, hardware, software, data, and knowledge needed to develop computer systems and machines that demonstrate characteristics of human intelligence

  
• Turing Test


  Determines whether responses from a computer with intelligent behavior are indistinguishable from those from a human being
• Characteristics of intelligent behavior

  • Ability to learn from experiences and apply knowledge
  • Handle complex situations
  • Solve problems when important information is missing
  • Determine what is important
  • React quickly and correctly to a new situation
  • Understand visual images
  • Process and manipulate symbols
  • Be creative and imaginative
  • Use heuristics
• Brain Computer Interface (BCI)

  Idea is to directly connect the human brain to a computer and have human thought control computer activities
• Major branches of artificial intelligence

  • Expert systems
  • Robotics
  • Vision systems
  • Natural language processing
  • Learning systems
  • Neural networks

  
• Expert systems


  Hardware and software that stores knowledge and makes inferences, similar to a human expert

  
• Robotics


  Developing mechanical devices that can perform tasks requiring a high degree of precision
• Vision systems


  Hardware and software that permit computers to capture, store, and manipulate visual images and pictures
• Natural language processing


  Processing that allows the computer to understand and react to statements and commands made in a "natural" language, such as English
• Voice recognition


  Converting sound waves into words
• Learning systems


  Combination of software and hardware that allows the computer to change how it functions or reacts to situations based on feedback it receives
• Neural networks


  Computer system that simulates functioning of a human brain, can process many pieces of data at the same time and learn to recognize patterns
• Other AI applications


  • Genetic algorithm
  • Intelligent agent
• Genetic algorithm


  Approach to solving complex problems in which a number of related operations or models change and evolve until the best one emerges
• Intelligent agent


  Programs and a knowledge base used to perform a specific task for a person, a process, or another program
• Expert system


  Computerized system that uses heuristics, or rules of thumb, to arrive at conclusions or make suggestions
• The U.S. Army uses the Knowledge and Information Fusion Exchange (KnIFE) expert system to help soldiers in the field make better military decisions
• Reasons to develop an expert system

  • Provide high potential payoff or reduce downside risk
  • Capture and preserve irreplaceable human expertise
  • Solve a problem not easily solved using traditional programming
  • Develop a more consistent system than human experts
  • Provide expertise needed at multiple locations or in hostile environments
  • Provide rare or expensive expertise
  • Develop a solution faster than human experts
  • Provide expertise for training and development
• Components of an expert system

  • Knowledge base
  • Inference engine
  • Explanation facility
  • Knowledge acquisition facility
  • User interface

  
• Knowledge base


  Stores all relevant information, data, rules, cases, and relationships used by expert system
• Inference engine


  Seeks information and relationships from the knowledge base to provide answers, predictions, and suggestions
• Explanation facility


  Allows a user or decision maker to understand how the expert system arrived at certain conclusions or results
• Knowledge acquisition facility


  Provides convenient and efficient means of capturing and storing all components of knowledge base

  
• User interface


  Permits decision makers to develop and use their own expert systems, makes development and use easier