Abstract:
Physicians today are faced with “data overload” and, paradoxically, “information underload”
- the inability to locate pertinent, needed knowledge in a sea of data with which
they are inundated. Increasingly, the professional functions of the physician are
becoming focused on the desktop workstation, in terms of its ability to provide “windows”
into local databases and knowledge resources, and to serve as an. access port to other
networked resources. A challenge we now face is to develop means for structuring the
vast potentially available knowledge resources in such a manner that access to pertinent
knowledge can be facilitated, and to develop acceptable interfaces to the knowledge
resources so that a user can effectively navigate through them. The complexity of
this task is due to the nature of the knowledge resources - knowledge can be in a
variety of forms; ranging from textual and pictorial material, to structured representations,
to more dynamic embodiments in the form of procedures. In the Decision Systems Group
we have focused on the development of a prototype desktop knowledge management environ-
. ment known as Explorer-2, with the objective of providing a consistent interface
for access to a wide variety of knowledge. Our accomplishments to date encompass the
incorporation into the Explorer-2 environment of adaptations of textbook chapters
and books, image data bases, simulations, and expert systems. Navigational aids are
provided by a semantic net browser using both MeSH and augmented taxonomies and by
a graphical overview map. User response to the predecessor system, Explorer-1, has
been strongly positive. Our experience to date suggests a number of observations about
the characteristics that knowledge management systems should possess, and the next
steps for further research and development.
Key-Words:
Medical Decision-Making - Knowledge Bases - Knowledge Representation - User Interface,
Education
