Using ICT to support public and private community memories: case studies and lessons learned

Information communication technologies (ICTs) enable the development of memories across a variety of communities. We identify a spectrum of deployment from private through to open public spaces. As we move along this spectrum key variables change including mechanisms of trust and accountability and the definition of ownership, authorship and readership. Some challenges however, remain constant such as designing for sustainability and the need to align research and community goals. Private spaces can be created to enhance existing interactions, develop bonding capital and build shared memory. Such spaces allow a defined membership the opportunity to explore new ideas away from the public gaze, using language which may not be intelligible to outsiders. ICTs may be used to bridge internal and external audiences, repurposing content for a wider public. The original content may require alternative presentation, organisation or navigation methods to support its effective use by an external audience. Increasingly, community memories are being developed using social software within the public sphere, however this raises issues of authority, reputation management, and conflict resolution. Unexpected innovation may occur, and issues of sustainability must be addressed. In our analysis we will draw on three ICT initiatives in which we have participated: Bletchley Park Guides’ Forum, Bletchley Park Text and Milton Keynes Open Guide

Knowledge support of simulation model reuse

This describes the knowledge support for engineering design based on virtual modelling and simulation. These are the results of the EC Clockwork project. A typical and important step in the development of a simulation model is the phase of reusing. Virtual modelling and simulation often use the components of previous models. The usual problem is that the only remaining part of the previous simulation models is the model itself. However, a large amount of knowledge and intermediate models have been used, developed and then lost. A special methodology and special tools have therefore been developed on support of storing, retrieving and reusing the knowledge from previous simulation models. The knowledge support includes informal knowledge, formal knowledge and intermediate engineering models. This paper describes the overall methodology and tools, using the example of developing a simulation model of Trijoint, a new machine tool

A generic library of problem solving methods for scheduling applications

In this paper we propose a generic library of problem-solving methods for solving scheduling applications. Some attempts have been made in the past at developing a library of scheduling problem-solvers but in some cases these earlier proposals subscribe to a specific application domain of scheduling, which restricted their reusability, while in some other cases they subscribe to the specific problem-solving technique which may be applicable only to a subset of the space of scheduling problems. Finally all the existing scheduling libraries fail to provide an adequate degree of detail and precision. In our approach we subscribe to the Task-Method-Domain-Application knowledge modeling framework which provides a structured organization for the different components of the library. At the task level, we constructed a generic scheduling task ontology to formalize the space of scheduling problems. At the method level, we constructed a generic problem-solving model of scheduling that generalizes from the variety of approaches to scheduling problem-solving, which can be found in the literature. And, then seven knowledge-intensive methods are developed as a specialization of the generic problem-solving model of scheduling. Finally, we validated our library on a number of applications to demonstrate its generic nature and effective support for developing scheduling applications

Tools for personalised annotation and organisation of diverse Web resources

The CIPHER project is concerned with developing tools and methodologies to support the exploration of cultural heritage via Web-based Cultural Heritage Forums. As part of the project, a resource annotation tool (RAT) is being developed to support the collection, annotation and retrieval of diverse Web resources to provide content for personal or shared spaces within a forum. Interaction with the RAT tool will enable a user to reuse and personalise an official site ontology, based on personal interests and for a group of users to identify overlapping areas of interest. Tools will further be provided to facilitate users in the construction of coherent stories using their personal content, based on narrative principles. This paper describes the existing functionality of the RAT tool and plans for future development

Knowledge support for virtual modelling and simulation

The paper describes an approach to providing knowledge support for virtual modelling and simulation (VMS). The design methodology, based on multidisciplinary virtual modelling and subsequent simulation, is essential for contemporary engineering design, but specifically for the design of complex mechatronic machines. Additionally, current engineering design is multidisciplinary and therefore based on team work. The teams are often geographically distributed and would benefit from greater support for collaboration. Engineering design also draws heavily on previous experience and therefore it is essentially to build and maintain comprehensible and re-usable archives of previous cases. This is also true of simulation models

The Use of Ontologies For Specifying Tasks and Problem-Solving Methods: A Case Study

. A number of authors [BBH96][vHA96] have proposed that PSMs be described not only in a domain-independent, but also task-independent way, so that they can become more broadly reusable. However, there is a trade-off between usability and reusability [KBD+91], which means that there is a need for techniques which facilitate the process of configuring a task-independent PSM for a particular task and domain. In this paper we characterise this problem as one of ontology mapping and we present a view of method configuration as a stepwise specialization process, during which assumptions on the availability and the nature of domain knowledge and ontological commitments on the definition of the goal of the task are introduced. In the paper we illustrate our approach in a formal way, by presenting i) a method-independent formulation of a task ontology for parametric design, ii) a task-independent specification of a propose & revise PSM, and a iii) task-specific version of propose & revise, conf..