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A knowledge base (or knowledgebase; abbreviated KB, kb or Δ) is a special kind of database for knowledge management. It provides the means for the computerized collection, organization, and retrieval of knowledge. Just as it has become standard practice to write database as one word it is increasingly common in computer science to write knowledgebase as one word (an interim approach was to write the term with a hyphen).
Types Knowledgebases are categorized into two major types: The most important aspect of a knowledgebase is the quality of information it contains. The best knowledge bases have carefully written articles that are kept up to date, an excellent information retrieval system (search engine), and a carefully designed content format and classification structure. A knowledge base may use an ontology to specify its structure (entity types and relationships) and its classification scheme. An ontology, together with a set of instances of its classes constitutes a knowledge base. Determining what type of information is captured, and where that information resides in a knowledge base is something that is determined by the processes that support the system. A robust process structure is the backbone of any successful knowledge base. Some knowledge bases have an artificial intelligence component. These kinds of knowledge bases can suggest solutions to problems sometimes based on feedback provided by the user, and are capable of learning from experience. See expert system. Knowledge representation, automated reasoning and argumentation are active areas of research at the forefront of artificial intelligence. Implementations Tufts University School of Medicine has created a software infrastructure called the Tufts University Sciences Knowledgebase, TUSK. It serves as a knowledgebase for curricular information for the health sciences schools at Tufts (medical, dental,veterinary, public health, nutrition, graduate biomedical sciences). This infrastructure has been shared with three medical schools in the U.S., three in Africa and soon, one in India. The infrastructure enables institutions to create a knowledgebase serving local needs. See also Notes | ||||||||
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