Reference: Musen, M. A. Conceptual Models of Interactive Knowledge- Acquisition Tools. March 1988, 1988.
Abstract: Workers in artificial intelligence (AI) have developed many interactive programs that assist in the knowledge-acquisition process. Because of the diverse nature of these tools, it is often difficult to understand how each one relates to all the others. This paper describes a taxonomy for knowledge- acquisition aids that is based on the terms and relationships that a given tool uses to establish the semantics of a user's entries. Such semantic assumptions, or conceptual models, have important implications for how a knowledge-acquisition tool is used and to what degree it can assist its users in analyzing new applications at the knowledge level. Furthermore, when the conceptual model of a knowledge-acquisition tool can be made explicit, knowledge engineers can use metalevel programs to edit that conceptual model, creating knowledge-acquisition aids that are custom-tailored for particular applications. One such metalevel tool, PROTEGE, has been developed to edit the conceptual models of programs that acquire knowledge for tasks that can be solved via the method of skeletal-plan refinement.
Notes: 16 pages.