A multiple-method knowledge-acquisition shell for the automatic generation of knowledge-acquisition tools

The use of predefined models of problem-solving methods is receiving considerable attention from researchers in the area of knowledge acquisition. Using these models, developers of knowledge-acquisition tools are able to prescribe the roles in which knowledge is used in completing a given task. A number of method-oriented architectures based on a single problem-solving method have been developed by various research groups. Because the methods are domain-independent, methodoriented architectures are limited by the fact that knowledge roles that depend on domain-specific considerations cannot be represented using the model of problem solving. In addition, the interface between the knowledge-acquisition tool and the application expert cannot convey adequately the role of each knowledge type in the task model. PROTÉGÉ-II is a knowledge-acquisition shell that we are building to generate knowledge-acquisition tools automatically without presupposing a specific model of problem solving. The shell manages a library of mechanisms—procedures of grain size smaller than that of problem-solving methods. Mechanisms can be combined in PROTÉGÉ-II to construct problem-solving methods and to define the roles of knowledge that depend on domain considerations. Furthermore, PROTÉGÉ-II utilizes the concept of adaptation in interfaces to allow the knowledge engineer to produce interfaces that are task- and domain-specific. In this paper, we present the PROTÉGÉ-II shell and examine the components of its architecture. We also demonstrate the use of PROTÉGÉ-II with a running example and discuss the design techniques used to overcome the limitations of method-specific architectures.