Understanding

Knowledge
 Definitions
• Knowledge is considered to be information combined
with experience and interpretation. It is a high-value form
of information that is ready to apply to decisions and
actions.

It is “know-how” or a familiarity with how to do

something and perform a specialized task.

Knowledge is an accumulation of
facts and Rules (procedural rules and heuristics).

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 Basic K. Related Definitions
• Fact: statement of some element of truth about
a subject or a domain.
“Milk is white & sun sets in the west & car engines needs
cooling water, are facts”
• Procedural rule: rule that describes a sequence
of relations relative to domain.
Check your car before driving
if the gas gauge indicates less than a quarter
of a tank look for a gas station,
if the water tank indicates less than half
then fill water till the water mark.

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 Basic K. Related Definitions
• Heuristic a rule based on years of
experience.
If a person drives no more than 5
kilometers above the speed limit,
then that person is not likely to be stopped
for speeding.

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 Reasoning and Heuristics
ES & KBMS = KB + Inference engine
Humans reason in a variety of ways:
• Reasoning by analogy :
relating one concept to another.
“CD is analogous to DVD. Both are used to store data”
• Formal reasoning :
using deductive or inductive methods.
Deductive “reasoning” inference;
If Ossama is taller than Dina AND Dina is taller than Amir
Then Ossama is taller than Amir.
If mothers are women AND Amira is a mother,
Then Amira is a woman.

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 Reasoning and Heuristics
Major : In Egypt, all citizens get retirement
from age 60 on.
Minor : Ahmed Kamal, age 60, is a citizen of
Egypt.
Conclusion: Ahmed is retired.

The idea behind the deductive “reasoning” method

is to generate new knowledge from previously
defined knowledge.

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 Reasoning and Heuristics
inductive inference
In each example the inference is inductive
Premises: Chronic unemployment causes social problems.
Premises: illiteracy causes social problems.
Premises: Recession causes social problems.
Conclusion: Chronic unemployment, illiteracy & recession
causes social problems.

Premises: He is an avid fisherman.

Premises: He is an avid hunter.
Premises: He is an avid mountain climber.
Premises: Mountain climb, fishing, hunting are outdoor sports
Conclusion: He likes outdoor sports.

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 Reasoning and Heuristics
Case-based reasoning - CBR:

reasoning from relevant past cases.

It is attractive because it is so similar to the

process of expert human often use to
solve problems successfully.

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 Types of Knowledge
• Explicit (codified) knowledge and
digitized in books, documents, reports,
memos, etc.

• Tacit knowledge embedded in the human

mind through experience and jobs.

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 EXPLICIT AND TACIT
KNOWLEDGE
Oral Communication
“Tacit” Knowledge

50-95%

Information Request
“Explicit” Knowledge
Explicit Knowledge
Information Feedback Base
5%

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 Knowledge Types
• From Procedural to Episodic
Knowledge:

Procedural Knowledge.
Declarative Knowledge.
Semantic Knowledge.
Episodic Knowledge.

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 Knowledge Types
Procedural Knowledge:
is an understanding of how to do a task or to carry out a
procedure.
E.g. Driving a car,
learning a language to speak it fluently.

Declarative Knowledge:
Its an awareness knowledge of which the expert is
conscious.
This type of knowledge resides in the short-term memory.
E.g. the electrical system of a car, if the headlights are
dim then the battery is faulty.
“but it doesn’t explain how the electrical system works”

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 Knowledge Types
Semantic Knowledge:
It is a deeper knowledge. Highly organized.
Includes major concepts, facts and relationships.

Back to the electrical system of a car example; Semantic

knowledge about the system would consist of
understanding about the battery, battery cables, lights,
ignition system…etc. as well as the interrelationships
among those things.

Dim headlights can be caused by a loose battery cable,

drain on the electrical system .. etc.
At this point a real expert (mechanic) enters the picture.

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 Semantic Declarative
Headlights

Headlights are dim

Electrical system battery

Positive terminal Negative terminal

Battery is fault

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 Knowledge Types
• Episodic Knowledge:
is a knowledge based on experiential information.
The longer a human expert takes to verbalize his
knowledge, the more episodic it is.

• Shut your eyes. Then try to touch the tip

of your nose with your index finger. At the
same time, concentrate hard on what you
are doing and on where your arm is at all
times. Do the exercise slowly. Allow
minimum 20 seconds for it.

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 Knowledge Types
• Did you succeed in finding your nose?
YES
NO
Which hand did you use?
Now, assume that I would ask you to write an
essay on exactly how you did the exercise,
describe how you held your index finger,
every movement your arm was doing, all
different angles, all the way up to your nose.
Allow 30 seconds for it.
• Was it easy to describe in words how you did
the exercise?
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 Knowledge Types
• You managed to touch the tip of your nose even
though you could not see it. This is because you
have tacit knowledge of where the tip of your nose is
and how you must move your arm to touch it. In the
exercise you were consciously focusing on your
tacit knowledge.
• It was more difficult to write a detailed
description of how you did, than doing the
exercise itself, was not it?
• This is episodic knowledge.

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 Knowledge Types
• If you really had to explain in writing
how you did in detail, you would have
to spend days not seconds, and you
still would not be able to do it properly.
This is because we are very good at
doing things episodically, so good that
we can express only a fraction of it in
words.
• This is episodic knowledge.
• And what is amazing about it that its
use is automated.
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 Knowledge Types
• Which hand did you use in the exercise?
• If you are right-handed, you probably used the right one.
• Why did you not use your other hand? You never gave it
a thought, it was purely automatic. Am I right?
• you missed the experience of trying it with your other
hand. No great loss in this case perhaps, but consider
how you act in more complex situations at home or at
work. How much happens automatically?
• How much of your ability to create new knowledge?
• So congratulations if you used the other hand. Your
ability to break your unconscious limitations is an
indication of creativity!

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 FROM PROCEDURAL TO EPISODIC KNOWLEDGE
• Shallow Procedural Knowledge
• Knowledge
• Knowledge of how to do a task that is essentially motor in
• nature; the same knowledge is used over and over again.
• _______________________________________________
• Declarative Knowledge
• Surface-type information that is available in short-term
• memory and easily verbalized; useful in early stages
• of knowledge capture but less so in later stages.
• _______________________________________________
• Semantic Knowledge
• Hierarchically organized knowledge of concepts, facts,
• and relationships among facts.
• _______________________________________________
• Episodic Knowledge
• Knowledge that is organized by temporal spatial means,
• not by concepts or relations; experiential information that
• is chunked by episodes. This knowledge is highly compiled
• Deep and autobiographical and is not easy to extract or capture.
• Knowledge

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 Nonalgorithmic Nonprogrammable
(Heuristic)
WISDOM

KNOWLEDGE

INFORMATION

Algorithmic DATA Programmable

From Data Processing to Knowledge-based Systems

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• start

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CAPTURING TACIT
KNOWLEDGE
 The Interview As a Tool
• Commonly used in the early stages of tacit knowledge capture
and verify its validity.
• Validity of a given question means its logically correct and is
understood the same way by different people.
• The validity of information is more reliable if it is freely given, for
this reason the voluntary nature of the interview is important.
• Major benefit is behavioral analysis.
• Interviewing as a tool requires training and preparation, “The
knowledge developer must be well trained to observe and
analyze motions, facial movements, body language, etc and
create a friendly, non-threatening atmosphere and reveal any
fear or criticism to experts.

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 Types of Interviews
• Structured: Questions and responses are definitive. Used
when specific information is wanted.
varieties of structured questions:
- Multiple choice questions – MCQ:
offer specific choices, and less bias.
- Yes / No questions “Dichotomous”:
are a special type of multiple-choice question.
- Ranking scale questions “ask the expert to arrange items in
a list in order of their importance.”
• Semi-structured: Predefined questions are asked but allow
expert some freedom in expressing the answers.
Knowledge developer: what would be your first question to the
patient?
Diabetic expert: where is the pain?

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 Types of Interviews
• Unstructured: Neither the questions nor their
responses specified in advance. Used when
exploring an issue.
Open-Ended questions.

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 Guide to a Successful Interview
• Set the stage and establish rapport
• Properly phrase the questions
• Question construction is important
• Listen closely and avoid arguments
• Evaluate session outcomes

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 Things to Avoid
• Taping a session without advance permission from the
expert.
• Converting the interview into an interrogation.
• Interrupting the expert.
• Asking questions that put the domain expert on the
defensive.
• Losing control of the session
• Pretending to understand an explanation when you
actually don’t.
• Promising something that cannot be delivered.
• Bring items not on the agenda.
• Try to be specific, rather than general.
• Stay away from using technical terms just to show off.
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 On-Site Observation
• Process of observing, interpreting, and recording problem-solving behavior
while it takes place by experts.
• In addition, the knowledge developer asks the expert questions about the
problem solving process.
• The protocol of observation is more listening than talking.
• Dose not argue with the expert while performing a task.
• Avoid giving advices to expert while observing.
• In comparison to the interview, observation places the knowledge developer
closer to the actual process, steps, and procedures used to solve the
domain problem.
• The problem here is that some experts don’t like to be observed.
• Experts fear of ‘giving away’ their experience in a quick look.
• Observation process can be distracting to others in the setting.

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 Brainstorming
• Unstructured approach to generating ideas about a
problem; invites two or more experts into a session in
which discussion are carried out.
• The primary goal of brain storming is to think up
creative solutions to problems.
• All possible solutions are considered equally.
• Anything related to the topic can be brought up, and
everything is valued.
• Questions can be raised for clarification, but no
evaluation is made at the moment.
• Idea generation, followed by idea evaluation.

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 Protocol Analysis
• Think-aloud method.
• How each expert arrived at the solution through verbalization.
• Expert keeps talking, speaking out loud while solving a problem
• Unlike other techniques, knowledge developers never interrupt
or ask questions.
• Effective source of information on cognitive processes
• Makes expert cognizant of the processes being described; it is
a cognitive approach to problem solving.
• Provides wealth of information that is very useful to knowledge
capture and representation.
• Look for the next example;
“there are other ways to reach the same solution”

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•
Protocol Analysis
A father, mother and their daughter have a combined age of 70
years. The father is 3 times as old as the daughter, the mother is
the same age as father. How old is the daughter, father & mother?
• The solver thinks aloud like;
• This sounds complicated, I ll give it a shot.
• Assume F for father, M mother, D daughter.
• F+M+D = 70
• F is 3 times D
• M=F
• So far I have 3 questions and 3 unknowns
• D+3D (or F)+3D (or M) = 70
• 7D = 70
• D = 10
• Ages of father and mother total 70 – 10 = 60
• Because M is same age like F then Father is 30 and M is 30.

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