CHAPTER 9

• Knowledge management systems


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


  • Can replicate human decision making for certain types of well-defined problems
  • Form a broad and diverse set of systems
• Expert systems


  Can enable a novice to perform at the level of an expert but must be developed and maintained very carefully
• Virtual reality systems


  Can reshape the interface between people and information technology by offering new ways to communicate information, visualize processes, and express ideas creatively
• Specialized systems can help organizations and individuals achieve their goals
• 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
• Knowledge creation


  1. When an individual learns directly from another individual, in an apprentice type relationship, tacit knowledge is created from tacit knowledge

  2. When two pieces of explicit knowledge are combined

  3. When an expert writes a book teaching others, explicit knowledge is being created from tacit knowledge

  4. When someone reads that book, and (eventually) becomes an expert themselves, tacit knowledge has been created by explicit knowledge
• Knowledge workers


  People who create, use and disseminate knowledge, and often work in teams
• Obtaining, Storing, Sharing and Using Knowledge


  1. Creating or obtaining knowledge

  2. Storing knowledge in a knowledge repository

  3. Sharing knowledge using collaborative work software and group support systems

  4. Using knowledge by locating the organization's knowledge using a knowledge map or directory
• An effective KMS


  Is based on learning new knowledge and changing procedures and approaches as a result
• Data mining and business intelligence are important in capturing and using knowledge
• Enterprise resource planning tools include knowledge management features
• Groupware can help capture, store, and use knowledge
• Hardware, software, databases, telecommunications, and the Internet are needed to support most knowledge management systems
• Knowledge management products and services

  • IBM's Lotus Notes and Domino
  • Microsoft's Digital Dashboard, Web Store Technology, and Access Workflow Designer
• Artificial intelligence (AI)


  Ability of computers to mimic or duplicate functions of the human brain
• Characteristics of intelligent behaviour

  • Learn from experiences and apply knowledge acquired from experience
  • 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
• Major branches in AI

  • Expert systems
  • Robotics
  • Vision systems
  • Natural language processing and voice recognition
  • Learning systems
  • Neural networks
• Expert systems


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


  • Mechanical or computer devices that perform tasks requiring a high degree of precision, or tedious or hazardous for humans
• 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
• Genetic algorithm


  Approach to solving large, 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 systems


  • Behave similarly to a human expert in a particular field
  • Use heuristics to arrive at conclusions or make suggestions
  • Explore new business possibilities
  • Increase overall profitability
  • Reduce costs
  • Provide superior service to customers and clients
• When to use expert systems

  • Provide a high potential payoff or significantly reduce downside risk
  • Capture and preserve irreplaceable human expertise
  • Solve a problem that is not easily solved using traditional programming techniques
  • Develop a system more consistent than human experts
  • Provide expertise needed at a number of locations at the same time or in a hostile environment that is dangerous to human health
  • Provide expertise that is expensive or rare
  • Develop a solution faster than human experts can
  • Provide expertise needed for training and development to share the wisdom and experience of human experts with many people
• Components of expert systems

  • 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 knowledge base
  • Provides answers, predictions, and suggestions, like a human expert
• 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


  Specialized user interface software employed for designing, creating, updating, and using expert systems
• Participants in developing and using expert systems

  • Domain expert
  • Knowledge engineer
  • Knowledge user
• Expert systems development tools and techniques

  • Traditional programming languages
  • Special programming languages for AI applications (LISP, PROLOG)
  • Expert system shells
• Virtual reality system


  Enables one or more users to move and react in a computer-simulated environment
• Immersive virtual reality


  User becomes fully immersed in an artificial, three-dimensional world that is completely generated by a computer