Uses for Knowledge Bases

Knowledge bases as teaching aids:

Somebody who is learning about a topic can use a knowledge base as a learning or review aid. Many of the facts found in traditional books or other sources of narrative or expository text can be expressed in a very condensed way in a knowledge base. The learner has less to read and can clearly see the relationships among different parts of the knowledge.

However, a knowledge base should normally complement a other learning aids, not replace them completely. For example, a knowledge base doesn't contain exercises; also explanations of the knowledge are usually absent or very terse. Finally, the information in a knowledge base is highly organized, but it is not usually organized so that a learner can easily see the simplest subjects they should start learning first.

Knowledge bases as aids to reach agreement about terminology:

Very often, people working in a particular area will use terms in slightly different ways. This results in confusion, especially when people do not realize that they are not quite speaking the same language. A knowledge base is a very good way to define all the terms you use. You can start the process by having everybody propose definitions, then you can discuss the definitions and arrive at a compromise that you record in the knowledge base.

However, a knowledge base contains more than just definitions. It contains many different facts about each subject. As you negotiate agreements about the definition, you can also negotiate agreements about all the other facts that are true regarding a subject. Doing this will often help you to clarify the definition.

Knowledge bases as reference documents:

People go to references documents such as dictionaries or encyclopedias when they want to look up a particular fact. A knowledge base can condense all the facts about a certain area into a convenient, browsable form.

Knowledge bases as glossaries:

Many books have glossaries so that, as people are reading the book, they can look up definitions about which they are unsure. A knowledge base can serve as a particularly powerful kind of glossary. It is more powerful than a typical glossary because it can be viewed in different ways (e.g. alphabetically or using the 'isa' hierarchy) and also because it contains more information about each term than simply a definition.

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