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Advanced Knowledge Technologies

AIAI/IRR, Division of Informatics,

The University of EdinburghIn association with

University of Southampton (lead), University of Aberdeen, Open University, University of Sheffield,

and over 20 other industrial and government organisations

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The Problem

• The key technical issue is to support knowledge management lifecycles.

• These are now important because:– Knowledge sources can be large.– There are many more of them.– Modern lifecycles are lengthy.– Automation is essential.

• Formal issues (e.g. dependability) are important but so are less formal issues (e.g. ontology).

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AKT Partners• University of Southampton (Nigel Shadbolt,

Wendy Hall)• University of Aberdeen (Derek Sleeman)• University of Edinburgh (Dave Robertson,

Austin Tate)• University of Sheffield (Yorick Wilks)• Open University (Marc Eisenstadt, Enrico Motta)• Over 20 Industrial, business and government

organisations - AKT Club

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Other AKT Participants• Active Navigation• Baker Hughes • BG Knowledge • Boeing • BP Amoco • British Airways • Clifford Chance • DERA • Epistemics

• IMS• ISX • Open University Learning

Technologies • Parametric Technology • Rolls Royce • Teknowledge • Unilever • University of Edinburgh

SELLIC

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Six Knowledge Challenges

• Knowledge Acquisition• Knowledge Modelling• Knowledge-Re-use• Knowledge Retrieval• Knowledge Publishing• Knowledge Maintenance

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Types of Knowledge

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Four Testbeds

• Industrial Design and Engineering Knowledge Management – Rolls Royce

• Knowledge Auditing (processes, products, safety) – Unilever

• Team-centred Course Production – Open University• Scientific Research Knowledge Management – AKT

Consortium and Club

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Healthcare Example• “Perhaps 16,000 lives could be saved (p.a. in the UK)

if all current knowledge of cancer were properly applied.” [ICRF Vision for Cancer, 1995]

• “In NHS hospitals alone adverse events in which harm is caused to patients … occur in around 10% of admissions … in excess of 850,000 a year … cost the service an estimated £2billion a year in additional hospital stays alone” [Dept. of Health Report: An Organisation with Memory]

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A Medical Knowledge Problem• The rate of accumulation of information about new drugs,

clinical procedures, techniques, diseases is increasing.• Most of this information is text.• Practitioners don't have the time to read all this or the ability to

recall all of it.• This has long been true in general but is now true in individual

specialisations.• This disadvantages worst those patients with multiple conditions

crossing speciality boundaries, such as the elderly.• The age structure of our population is getting older.

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Evidence-based Medicine• A movement to perform reviews of clinical research

and publish from these recommendations for clinical practice justified by the recommendations.

• But this is just more stuff to load upon practitioners. How could it help?– Encourage specialists to be more specialised?– Have more training courses?– Demand greater efficiency?– Standardised ``packages of care''?– Computer-based support of some tasks?

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Relationship to AKT• [Acquisition:] using terminology and language

models.• [Retrieval:] from patient records, etc.• [Reuse:] of clinical protocol formats (e.g. Infermed).• [Modelling:] using medical ontologies.• [Maintenance:] as standards change (e.g. BMJ open

source debate).• [Publishing:] on standard information portals (e.g.

openclinical.org).

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Edinburgh Focus in AKTSupport to the collaborative process of

knowledge modelling, maintenance and use

• Formal Aspects of the Knowledge Life Cycle

• Multi-perspective approach to knowledge modelling and acquisition

• Framework to support knowledge modelling, maintenance and usage processes

• Ontologies as the basis for shared and communicable models

• Agent-based approaches to web-accessible task support

• Synthesis of knowledge presentations

• Specific focus on task-related, activity and process knowledge, and its underlying rationale, in the context of all testbeds

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More Information on AKT

http://www.aktors.org