The Exploratory Media Lab MARS Media Arts & Research Studies Discovering, Visualizing, and Sharing Knowledge through Personalized Learning Knowledge Maps

Abstract. This paper presents an agent-based approach to semantic exploration and knowledge discovery in large information spaces by means of capturing, visualizing and making usable implicit knowledge structures of a group of users. The focus is on the developed conceptual model and system for creation and collaborative use of personalized learning knowledge maps. We use the paradigm of agents on the one hand as model for our approach, on the other hand it serves as a basis for an efficient implementation of the system. We present an unobtrusive model for profiling personalised user agents based on two dimensional semantic maps that provide 1) a medium of implicit communication between human users and the agents, 2) form of visual representation of resulting knowledge structures. Concerning the issues of implementation we present an agent architecture, consisting of two sets of asynchronously operating agents, which enables both sophisticated processing, as well as short respond times necessary for enabling interactive use in real-time.