Knowledge Engineers Course

Overview

A fully facilitated three day training course to train Knowledge Engineers.  The course includes both theoretical and practical sessions and covers the following key areas:

Acquisition Techniques

Multiple acquisition techniques will be presented that include:

- Unstructured Interviews

- Structured Interviews

- Concept Sorting

- Laddering

- Mapping techniques

- Triadic Elicitation

- Repertory Grid

- Protocol Analysis

- Constrained Processing

- Commentating and Teach-back

Storing Knowledge for reuse

Understand how knowledge can be stored and made accessible to both other users and other systems.

Understand how the use of multiple visualisations can be used to improve the accuracy of the knowledge and make the knowledge more accessible.

Use of the Techniques and Software Tools

The software tools will be used to deliver knowledge engineering capabilities including:

- The acquisition of knowledge

- The analysis, aggregation, categorisation and modelling of knowledge

- The visualisation and presentation of knowledge

- The system administration and archiving of knowledge

- The publication of knowledge as websites and structured documentation

Prospectus

Day 1

1. Acquiring and Managing Knowledge (90 minutes)

This module is a general introduction to the issues, techniques and benefits associated with the management of knowledge. It provides an overview of the knowledge engineering approach and covers such questions as: what is knowledge? what is knowledge management? how is knowledge captured? how is knowledge stored and shared? What tools are used? what are the business uses and benefits?

2. Knowledge Analysis and Modelling (3 hours)

This module includes presentations and practical exercises to introduce knowledge analysis and knowledge modelling. Different types of knowledge objects and knowledge models are described. The trainees are given passages of text to analyse and model.

3. Introduction to PCPACK (60 minutes)

This module provides details of the PCPACK suite of knowledge tools. Each tool is described, as are the underlying representations that make-up the knowledge base. There is a demonstration showing how each of the tools is used.

4. PCPACK Practical Exercise - General (2 hours)

Trainees work alone, or in pairs, to gain experience of PCPACK. They analyse an interview transcript then structure the resulting knowledge objects to create various knowledge models. The approach is non-specific and uses a general ontology (e.g. concepts, tasks, attributes). Websites are published from the knowledgebase using different templates.

Day 2

5. Interview Techniques (3 hours)

This module describes the toolkit of techniques that are used to capture knowledge from experts. The session covers such techniques as semi-structured interview, concept sorting, commentary and constrained tasks. There is a particular focus on the semi-structured interview, with advice on creating good questions and general advice being given and discussed. The trainees have the opportunity to practice the techniques covered during the module.

6. Knowledge Capture Practical Exercise – Part 1 (4 hours)

Trainees work alone, or in pairs, to learn how to use PCPACK in the context of a real (mini) knowledge acquisition project. The trainees interview an expert (another trainee) and use PCPACK to model this person’s expertise. Use of most PCPACK tools is practiced (e.g. Protocol tool, Laddering tool, Diagram tool, Annotation tool).

Day 3

7. Knowledge Capture Practical Exercise – Part 2 (3 hours)

Trainees continue to model the knowledge acquired in the first section of this module. PCPACK is used to validate the knowledge with the expert. Structured interviews are used to capture deeper knowledge. The PCPACK knowledgebases are completed and each person/team publishes a website. The websites are presented to the other trainees. Lessons learnt during the exercise are discussed.

8. Project Management and Scoping (2 hours)

This module covers issues and advice for those planning and running a knowledge acquisition project. It covers the planning of a project and how to scope a project, i.e. how to define the knowledge that is to be acquired. The use of a special PCPACK ontology template (called “knowledge project”) that helps to run a project will be demonstrated and practiced.

9. Quiz on Knowledge Acquisition and PCPACK (1 hour)

The trainees are given a set of questions and exercises to revise and consolidate their understanding. The quiz includes multiple-choice questions and passages of text to be analysed and modelled.

10. Feedback and Wrap-up (1 hour)

The trainees are given the opportunity to fill-in a short questionnaire on the training course. Any remaining questions are answered. The programme of continuing support and consultancy will be discussed and the next steps in each project will be addressed.