assessing conceptual similarity to support concept mapping

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Assessing Conceptual Similarity to Support Concept Mapping David B. Leake and Ana Maguitman Computer Science Department Lindley Hall, Indiana University 150 S. Woodlawn Avenue Bloomington, IN 47405, U.S.A. leake,anmaguit @cs.indiana.edu Alberto Ca ˜ nas Institute for Human and Machine Cognition University of West Florida 11000 University Parkway Pensacola, FL 32514, U.S.A. [email protected] Abstract Concept maps capture knowledge about the concepts and concept relationships in a domain, using a two-dimensional visually-based representation. Computer tools for concept mapping empower experts to directly construct, navigate, share, and criticize rich knowledge models. This paper de- scribes ongoing research on augmenting concept mapping tools with systems to support the user by proactively sug- gesting relevant concepts and associated resources (e.g., im- ages, video, and text pages) during concept map creation. Providing such support requires efficient and effective algo- rithms for judging concept similarity and the relevance of prior concepts to new concept maps. We discuss key issues for such algorithms and present four new approaches devel- oped for assessing conceptual similarity for concepts in con- cept maps. Two use precomputed summaries of structural and correlational information to determine the relevance of stored concepts to selected concepts in a new concept map, and two use information about the context in which the se- lected concept appears. We close by discussing their trade- offs and their relationships to research in areas such as in- formation retrieval and analogical reasoning. Introduction Capturing expert knowledge is an essential component of the knowledge management process. Once models of ex- perts’ domain knowledge are available, they can provide a valuable resource for knowledge comparison, refinement, and reuse. However, a difficult question is how to obtain the required knowledge models. Hand-crafting is expen- sive; machine learning techniques may not be effective. We are investigating an alternative approach: developing tools to enable experts themselves to construct models of their knowledge. Our approach builds on concept mapping (No- vak & Gowin 1984), in which subjects construct a two- dimensional, visually-based representation of concepts and their relationships. Concept mapping was first proposed in educational settings, to help assess students’ understanding and to aid their knowledge-building, comparison, and re- This research is supported in part by NASA under award No NCC 2-1216. Copyright c 2002, American Association for Artificial Intelli- gence (www.aaai.org). All rights reserved. finement. In the concept mapping view, experts who build concept maps are not simply externalizing pre-existing inter- nal knowledge, but are also doing knowledge construction. Thus tools to provide relevant knowledge to consider and compare during concept mapping could facilitate not only knowledge capture, but knowledge generation. The Institute for Human and Machine Cognition has developed a set of publicly-available tools for concept mapping, available at http://cmap.coginst.uwf.edu/. These widely-used systems support generating and modifying con- cept maps in electronic form, as well as annotating concept maps with additional material such as images, diagrams, and video clips. They provide the capability to store and access concept maps on multiple servers, to support knowledge sharing across geographically-distant sites. We have devel- oped an initial implementation of a suggester system that au- tomatically extracts information from a concept map under construction and uses that information to retrieve prior con- cept maps, associated resources, and related concepts that the user can compare and possibly include in the concept map being constructed. Figure 1 shows a screen shot of the concept mapping tools being used for knowledge modeling about Mars, with the suggester proposing new concepts to link to the “space exploration” node (to fill in the not-yet- specified concept node designated by “????”). The effectiveness of a suggester system depends on ef- ficient algorithms for judging similarity and relevance of stored concepts to the concepts currently under considera- tion. This paper describes four approaches that we have implemented and are now testing, two of which focus on determining the relevance of a prior concept to a new con- cept, based on summaries of structural and correlational in- formation previously generated for the concept map library, and two of which directly compare the context in which the concept appears—its concept map—to concept maps in the concept map library. We compare the complexity of these approaches, discuss pilot studies of their effectiveness, and the relationship of this work to previous approaches. Concept Maps for Knowledge Modeling Concept mapping was designed both to enable the exam- ination of human conceptualizations, and to further human knowledge construction. As shown in the center of Figure 1, concept maps are a two-dimensional visual representations

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Page 1: Assessing Conceptual Similarity to Support Concept Mapping

AssessingConceptualSimilarity to Support ConceptMapping�

David B. Leake and Ana MaguitmanComputerScienceDepartment

Lindley Hall, IndianaUniversity150S.Woodlawn Avenue

Bloomington,IN 47405,U.S.A.�leake,anmaguit� @cs.indiana.edu

Alberto CanasInstitutefor HumanandMachineCognition

Universityof WestFlorida11000UniversityParkway

Pensacola,FL 32514,[email protected]

AbstractConceptmapscaptureknowledgeabout the conceptsandconceptrelationshipsin a domain,usinga two-dimensionalvisually-basedrepresentation.Computertools for conceptmappingempower experts to directly construct,navigate,share,andcriticize rich knowledgemodels.This paperde-scribesongoingresearchon augmentingconceptmappingtools with systemsto supportthe userby proactively sug-gestingrelevantconceptsandassociatedresources(e.g.,im-ages,video, and text pages)during conceptmapcreation.Providing suchsupportrequiresefficientandeffectivealgo-rithms for judging conceptsimilarity and the relevanceofprior conceptsto new conceptmaps.We discusskey issuesfor suchalgorithmsandpresentfour new approachesdevel-opedfor assessingconceptualsimilarity for conceptsin con-ceptmaps. Two useprecomputedsummariesof structuralandcorrelationalinformationto determinetherelevanceofstoredconceptsto selectedconceptsin a new conceptmap,andtwo useinformationaboutthecontext in which these-lectedconceptappears.We closeby discussingtheir trade-offs andtheir relationshipsto researchin areassuchasin-formationretrieval andanalogicalreasoning.

Intr oductionCapturingexpert knowledgeis an essentialcomponentofthe knowledgemanagementprocess.Oncemodelsof ex-perts’ domainknowledgeareavailable,they canprovide avaluableresourcefor knowledgecomparison,refinement,and reuse. However, a difficult questionis how to obtainthe requiredknowledgemodels. Hand-craftingis expen-sive; machinelearningtechniquesmaynot beeffective. Weare investigatingan alternative approach:developingtoolsto enableexperts themselves to constructmodelsof theirknowledge.Our approachbuilds on conceptmapping(No-vak & Gowin 1984), in which subjectsconstructa two-dimensional,visually-basedrepresentationof conceptsandtheir relationships.Conceptmappingwasfirst proposedineducationalsettings,to helpassessstudents’understandingand to aid their knowledge-building, comparison,and re-�

This researchis supportedin partby NASA underawardNoNCC2-1216.Copyright c

�2002, AmericanAssociationfor Artificial Intelli-

gence(www.aaai.org). All rightsreserved.

finement. In the conceptmappingview, expertswho buildconceptmapsarenotsimplyexternalizingpre-existinginter-nal knowledge,but arealsodoingknowledgeconstruction.Thus tools to provide relevant knowledgeto considerandcompareduring conceptmappingcould facilitatenot onlyknowledgecapture,but knowledgegeneration.

The Institute for Human and Machine Cognition hasdeveloped a set of publicly-available tools for conceptmapping,availableat http://cmap.coginst.uwf.edu/.Thesewidely-usedsystemssupportgeneratingandmodifyingcon-ceptmapsin electronicform, aswell asannotatingconceptmapswith additionalmaterialsuchasimages,diagrams,andvideoclips. They provide thecapabilityto storeandaccessconceptmapson multiple servers, to supportknowledgesharingacrossgeographically-distantsites.We have devel-opedaninitial implementationof asuggestersystemthatau-tomaticallyextractsinformationfrom a conceptmapunderconstructionandusesthatinformationto retrieveprior con-ceptmaps,associatedresources,and relatedconceptsthatthe usercan compareand possiblyinclude in the conceptmapbeingconstructed.Figure1 shows a screenshotof theconceptmappingtoolsbeingusedfor knowledgemodelingaboutMars, with the suggesterproposingnew conceptstolink to the “spaceexploration” node(to fill in the not-yet-specifiedconceptnodedesignatedby “????”).

The effectivenessof a suggestersystemdependson ef-ficient algorithmsfor judging similarity and relevanceofstoredconceptsto the conceptscurrentlyunderconsidera-tion. This paperdescribesfour approachesthat we haveimplementedand are now testing, two of which focus ondeterminingthe relevanceof a prior conceptto a new con-cept,basedon summariesof structuralandcorrelationalin-formationpreviouslygeneratedfor theconceptmaplibrary,andtwo of which directlycomparethecontext in which theconceptappears—itsconceptmap—toconceptmapsin theconceptmaplibrary. We comparethe complexity of theseapproaches,discusspilot studiesof their effectiveness,andtherelationshipof thiswork to previousapproaches.

ConceptMaps for KnowledgeModelingConceptmappingwas designedboth to enablethe exam-inationof humanconceptualizations,andto furtherhumanknowledgeconstruction.As shown in thecenterof Figure1,conceptmapsarea two-dimensionalvisual representations

Page 2: Assessing Conceptual Similarity to Support Concept Mapping

Figure1: A screenshotof thesuggesterproposingresourcesrelevantto a currentconcept,in thecontext of aconceptmap.

containingnodesfor concepts,connectedwith namedlinksexpressingconceptrelationships(e.g.,thatEarthis a neigh-bor of Jupiter). Conceptmapsappearsimilar to semanticnetsbut havenofixedsemanticsandvocabulary—they sim-ply make explicit any set of conceptsand relationshipsinany vocabulary thattheexpertchooses.

In electronicconceptmaps,nodescanbeassociatedwithresourcessuch as photographsand textual passages(asshown in the backgroundof Figure 1), diagrams,or evenpointersto additionalconceptmapsto definea hierarchi-cal conceptstructure.The resultis a rich andflexible con-ceptrepresentationto helphumansunderstanddomainsandrevise their domainknowledge. Conceptmappinghasre-ceived widespreaduse for knowledge modeling, sharing,andrefinementby expertsandnovices(e.g.,in theQuorumproject,involving over a thousandschoolsin SouthAmer-ica (Canaset al. 1995)).As increasingnumbersof conceptmapsarecapturedin electronicform, they provide a grow-ing sourceof datafor studyinghumanconcepts,for enablingknowledgesharing,andfor helpingto refinetoolsto supporthumanconcept-mapping.

SomeCentral IssuesDeveloping methodsfor assessingconceptmap similarityrequiresaddressingissuesfor bothcognitivescienceandAI:� The rolesof contentand structur e in similarity assess-

ment: Modelsof conceptualsimilarity in conceptmapsmustconsiderboth conceptlabels,andhow the labeledconceptsarerelatedto otherconcepts.� Assessing similarity and relevance for non-standardized representations: Labels on conceptmap nodesprovide namesfor the conceptsthat they

represent,but not in the more formal, standardizedrepresentationsassumedin muchAI research.Nodeandlink labelsmay be ambiguousor inconsistentwith thenamesusedin other conceptmaps. Thus determiningrelated conceptsrequires more than simple keywordmatching,andsimilarity assessmentmustbesufficientlyrobustto dealwith representationaldifferences.� Efficient use of structural information: If link labelscannotbematchedreliably, matchingconceptmapstruc-turereducestographmatching.Becausethisis expensive,methodsareneededto summarizestructuralinformationandusethosesummariesto guidematching.� Exploiting contextual information: Context may becrucialin determiningtherelevanceof conceptswith dif-ferent labels,becausethe meaningof eachconceptin aconceptmap is partially capturedby its connectionstootherconcepts.Context may be crucial even for deter-mining relevanceof identicalconcepts:A rocket enginedesignerwho entersa nodelabeled“hydrogenperoxide,”linked to conceptsfor fuel andpropulsion,would not beinterestedin retrievingaconceptmaponfirst-aidthathap-pensto includehydrogenperoxideaswell.� Facilitating representational standardization: Theusefulnessof conceptualinformation for reasoningsys-tems increaseswith standardization.To increasestan-dardizationwithout increasingtheburdenonusers,meth-odsareneededto helpidentify to reuseexisting labels.

Methodsfor ComputingRelevance,Similarity , and Usefulness

We arestudyingtechniquesfor assessingthe relevanceofa new conceptasa candidate“conceptextension”(related

Page 3: Assessing Conceptual Similarity to Support Concept Mapping

conceptto considerlinking to a selectedconceptin a con-ceptmap),aswell asto suggestrelevant vocabulary itemsfor possiblereuse. This sectionintroducesand comparesfour techniquesfor determiningtherelevanceof a new con-ceptto aconceptunderconsideration.Thefirst two rely pri-marilyonprecomputedglobalinformation,while thesecondtwo usethecontext of theconceptmapin whichtheconceptappears.We begin with definitionsthat will be useful forunderstandingthefollowing algorithms.

Preliminary DefinitionsConceptshave different importancesin conceptmaps,andthe conceptmap layout often providesuseful informationfor assigningconceptweights.For example,amainconceptusuallyappearsat the top of eachconceptmap,specifyingthemain topic. In (Canas,Leake, & Maguitman2001)weproposedthatasmallsetof topologicaldimensionscanuse-fully summarizeconceptroles:� Authorities: Conceptsto which otherconceptsconverge.

Thesehave the largestnumberof incoming links from“hub nodes”(definedbelow).� Hubs(centersof activity): Conceptswith thelargestnum-berof outgoinglinks endingatauthoritynodes.� UpperNodes:Conceptsthatappeartowardsthetopof themapin its graphicalrepresentation.� Lower Nodes:Conceptsthat appeartowardsthe bottomof theconceptmapin its graphicalrepresentation.

Our algorithmsto computetheseweightsareadaptedfromresearchon determininghubandauthoritiesnodesin a hy-perlinked environment(Kleinberg 1999). We definefourweights,a-weight, h-weight, u-weightandl-weight, in [0,1],representingthe degreeto which a conceptbelongsto theabovecategoriesin a particularconceptmap.Detaileddefi-nitionsarepresentedin (Canas,Leake,& Maguitman2001).For a givenconceptmap,theseweightscanbecomputedin������

time, where

is the numberof conceptsin a map.They needonly becomputedonce,whentheconceptmapisindexed,andstoredwith eachconcept.

To describeindividualconcepts,ourmethodsextractkey-wordsfrom theconceptlabels(“stopwords”aredeletedbe-foreprocessing),andweightthekeywordsin termsof thesefour typesof weights,usingtheweightsof the conceptsinwhich they appear. Conceptmapsare then comparedac-cordingto their weightedkeywords. (In the following for-mulas,wesometimesrefertoapplyingsetoperationssuchasintersectionanddifferenceto conceptmaps;this is a short-handfor applyingthoseoperationsto the setsof keywordsextractedfrom theconceptmaps.)Givena keyword � andconceptmap library � , ���� standsfor the set of conceptmapsin � containingkeyword � . For simplicity weassumethat � is fixedanduse � � to denoteall conceptmapscon-taining keyword � . It may be useful to refer to the globalweightof a keyword in a setof conceptmaps.If � is a setof conceptmaps,� is akeyword,andw is aweightfunction,theglobalweight ��� � ����� of � in � is definedby:� � � ����� �����! #"%$ � �&��' )(

Someof our algorithmscomputethe averageof the

highestvaluesof a setof values.For a setof values* , wewill usethenotation+ �, �-* to referto thesumrestrictedtothe

highestvaluesof * , dividedby

. In thespecialcase

when * is empty, thereturnedvalueis 0.

Estimating Relevanceby Global CorrelationsOur first two methodsuseglobal correlationmetricsto re-trieve conceptmapscontainingconceptsthat tend to co-occurwith conceptsfrom thecurrentconceptmap.Becausethis allows correlatedkeywords to matcheachother, it ismoreflexible thanusingkeywordmatchingalone.Correla-tion informationis combinedwith theweighteachkeywordhasonthecorrespondingmaps—giving riseto weight-basedglobalcorrelationmetrics—orwith thedistancebetweenthetwo involved keywords in eachconceptmap—giving riseto distance-basedglobal correlationmetrics. (In a conceptmapthe notion of distancecanbe naturallydefinedastheminimumdistancebetweenconceptsin whichthekeywordsappear.) Both of theabove methodsareglobal in thesensethatthey assignconceptimportancesbasedon global infor-mationpre-computedfrom theentireconceptmaplibrary.

Method 1: Using weight-basedglobal correlations: Tocomputeweight-basedglobalcorrelationsbetweenasourceconcept. anda targetconcept/ , we first computetheset021 � .3�-/ of weight-basedcorrelation values. Writing �for ��4#56��798;:)<>= , wecalculate:?�@ � 8BA �DC @ E � � � � 8BA �DCF� G � � � � 8HA �DCF� I @ � 8 @ � @ �DC @ � � � � 8 � G � � � �DC�� I J G�KL.3�MINKO/�PRQThen we computethe weight-basedglobal correlation asS � .3�T/ !� + � � 021 � .3�T/ - , where

U�2� @ . @WVX@ / @ -YFZ .Method 2: Usingdistance-basedglobal correlations: Inorder to computedistance-basedglobal correlations westartby defining[ � � G��MI , whichstatesthedistancebetweenkeywordsG andI in theconceptmap ' . Thedistancemetric[ � � G\�BI canbe naturallydefinedasthe minimumnumberof links betweenconceptscontainingthosekeywords,or in-finity if G and I arenot both in ' . Considerthesetof key-words . and / . We begin by computingtheset ] 1 � .3�T/ of distance-basedcorrelationvalues:^_ ` ��! ba"dcHef"&gTh Z� @ � 8 @iVj@ � C @ � [ � � G\�BI J GkKl.!�BINKm/on pq (The distance-basedglobal correlation is then r � .3�T/ ��+ � ��] 1 � .3�-/ T , where

l�s� @ . @iVj@ / @ �YtZ .Estimating RelevanceBasedon ContextWhenproviding suggestionsto a userconstructinga con-ceptmap,it is appealingto retrieve conceptsthatappearincontextssimilar to themapunderconstruction.Wehavede-velopedtwo methodsto comparelocal contexts, thefirst ofwhich is asimilarity-basedapproach.It positsthatthemoresimilarthecontextsin whichtwo conceptsappear, thehigher

Page 4: Assessing Conceptual Similarity to Support Concept Mapping

thelikely relevanceof oneconceptto theother. Thesecondis a usefulness-basedu approachthat favorsconceptsprovid-ing additionalinformationastheuserseeksto addnew con-ceptsto apartialconceptmap.

Method 3: Using contextual similarity: To comparetheconceptmapstructuresin which two conceptsappear, weconsiderthe four weightsobtainedfrom topologicalanaly-sis to summarizethe positioningof eachconcept,andusethatinformationto comparetheroleof eachrelatedconcept(i.e.,conceptwith overlappingkeywords)in its own conceptmapby calculatingthedistancesbetweenthesetsof associ-atedweights.Thustheweightsobtainedfrom thetopologi-cal analysisof a conceptmapareusedto definetopologicalsimilaritiesbetweentwo conceptsbelongingto two differentconceptmaps.For example,two conceptsthatappearat thetop of their correspondingconceptmapswill have similaru-weights, while two conceptsthatplaysimilar rolesashubnodesin theircorrespondingconceptmapswill havesimilarh-weights. Basedon theseintuitions we cancomparetwomaps'wv and 'kx by first computing/�. � 'wvd�\'yx , thesetoftopological similarity valuesasfollows:^zz_ zz`w{ |~}���{ � �� � ��� �M���O�%��� |d�������M���T�!�&�9�{ ��� {��3� � |d�9�y� � |l�N� � �M����� � n

zzpzzqwhere��� � .3�T/ ��s� @ . @iVj@ / @ �YtZ ,��� 0 =

� � a-weight,� h-weight,� u-weight,� l-weight� ,and��� $ � .3�\' v �-/D��' x k�2� $ � .3�\' v d� $ � /D�\' x T E , and $ isoneof thefour weights.

Wethencomputethetopologicalsimilaritybetweenconceptmaps ' v and ' x , as � � ' v ��' x �� + � �-/�. � ' v ��' x - ,where

m�s� @ 'wv @>VX@ 'yx @ -YFZ .Method 4: Using context and novelty of information:Theconceptmapthat is themostsimilar to thesourcemapmay not be mostusefulfor suggestinginformationto con-nectto a new concept.For finding new connections,usefulprior conceptmapsarethosethatboth includesimilar con-ceptsandsuggestnew connections.Consequently, we arealsoexploringmethodsthatfavor bothcommonalityandtheexistenceof new materialin thestoredconceptmap.

A simpleusefulnessmeasurebetweena sourceconceptmap ' v anda targetconceptmap ' x canbecomputedby:� � 'wv���'yx �� � � @ ' v A 'yx @VN¡ � @ 'kx � ' v @ ��¢ � @ ' v � 'kx @where � ,

¡and

¢areconstantsthat adjustthe balancebe-

tweenoverlapandnovelty. (�

neednot besymmetric,so itis a measure, ratherthana metric.) We arealsoinvestigat-ing measuresthat considerthe correlationsbetweentargetandthesourcekeywordsfor moreflexible matchingof non-identical terms. For example,applyingthe distance-basedcorrelationmeasurefrom Method 2, we can computetheusefulnessmeasure:

��£ � ' v �\' x �� � � @ ' v A ' x @ V¡ � r � ' v ��' x � ' v � @ ' x � ' v @ �¢ � ��¤¥� r � 'yx!��'wv � 'yx T � @ 'wv � 'yx @ (Discussionof MethodsAssessingthe previous methodsrequiresconsideringtheircostandthequalityof their relevancepredictions.

Cost: Methods1 and2, theglobalcorrelationmetrics,areefficientto compute.Computingtheglobalweightfor akey-word (Method1) is linear in the numberof conceptmapsinvolved. Computingthe weight-basedcorrelationvaluesfor keywords G andI involvescountingtheconceptmapssi-multaneouslycontainingthosekeywords,whichcanbedonein timesfrom

��� @ � 8 @ to��� @ � 8 @ � @ �DC @ , dependingon the

underlyingindexing scheme.Weight-basedglobal correla-tionsmustbecomputedfor eachpair of keywordsin sourceand target concepts,but becausethe numberof keywordsin conceptsis usually small, this is inexpensive in prac-tice. Computingdistance-basedglobalcorrelations(Method2) requirescomputingminimumdistancesbetweenpairsofkeywordsin conceptmaps,which is basicallythe shortestpath problem, and can be computedin

��� @ ¦o@ �N§¨W© @ 1 @ ,where

1is the numberof vertices(conceptsin our case)

and¦

is thenumberof edges(links in ourcase).Method3, thefirst context-basedmethod,requirescom-

putingtopologicalsimilarity betweeneachpair of conceptsin two conceptmaps.In principle,this canbequiteexpen-sive,but thesevaluesonly needto becomputedfor pairsofconceptsthathave at leasta keyword in common.Usuallytherearefew suchconceptsin any conceptmap,makingthisinexpensive in practice.Dependingon theindexing mecha-nismused,thebasictechniqueconsideringcontext andnov-elty (the first versionof Method4) canbe implementedintimes

���ªl to���,ª � � , where

ªand

arethe sizesof

the conceptmapsto be compared.The secondversionofMethod4, which addsglobal correlations,is significantlylessefficient. Its speedof calculatingglobalcorrelationsisreasonablefor comparingindividual concepts,but not forcomparingconceptmaps. In future researchwe intendtoperforma formal analysisandto developefficient approxi-mationsof thisapproach.

Relevanceof suggestions: We performeda pilot experi-ment to evaluatewhetherour metricscan be exploited toprovide better recommendationsthan the simple baselinemethodof countingsharedkeywords. In the experiment,subjectswerepresentedwith a conceptmap,with onecon-ceptdesignatedastheconceptto beextended,anda list of50 suggestionschosenrandomlyfrom thesetof extensionscontainingat leastonekeyword in commonwith the con-ceptto beextended.Tensubjects,all graduatestudentsnotinvolved in the project,assessedthe relevanceof retrievedinformationona scaleof 0 to 10. Their rankingswerecom-paredto therelevancescoresassignedbyourtechniques.WethenusedSpearmanrankcorrelationto comparetherankingproducedby thehumansubjectsto therankingproducedbyouralgorithms.

Page 5: Assessing Conceptual Similarity to Support Concept Mapping

In our study, bestresultsareobtainedwhenusefulness-based« comparisonmeasures(Method 4) are usedto pre-selecttarget conceptmapsandthe combinationof weight-basedcomparisonmetric (Method 1) and distance-basedcomparisonmetric (Method2) is usedto ranksuggestions.In thisapproach,theweight-basedmetricmeasuresthesimi-larity betweenthesourcebaseconcept,i.e.,theconcepttobeextended,andthe targetbaseconcept,i.e., theconceptthatis connectedto potentiallyrelevantextensions;thedistance-basedmetriccomparesthebasesourceconceptto thepoten-tially relevant extension. Intuitively, weight-basedmetricsbetweenconceptstell ushow similartwo givenconceptsare,while thedistance-basedmetrichelpstopredicthow suitableis for aconceptto haveanothernew conceptasaneighbor.

Our resultsshow a correlationfactorof 0.77, with a 2-tailed significancelevel ¬®­°¯ ( ¯F¯F¯ ¤ , betweenthe valuesobtainedby the combinedmethodand the aggregationoftheevaluationsmadeby humansubjects.Our resultsshowa correlationfactorof 0.63,with ¬R­2¯ ( ¯F¯F¯ ¤ , betweenval-uesfrom thebaseline“countingcommonkeywords”andtheaggregateof the resultsreturnedby humansubjects.Thissuggeststhatour methodsarecapturingregularitiesbeyondthosecapturedby thebaselinemethod.

Comparisonto RelatedWorkTheprojectdescribedhererelatesto numerousresearchar-eassuchasknowledgemodelingandsharing,conceptrep-resentation,information retrieval, and case-basedreason-ing. As a knowledgemodelingproject, it contrastswithknowledgeengineeringapproachesthat dependon hand-craftingknowledgerepresentations,aimingto empowerdo-mainexpertsto directlyconstruct,navigate,share,andcriti-cizeknowledgemodels.This requiresthat theconceptrep-resentationsbenaturalfor themto construct,andsufficientlyexpressivefor othersto understandtheir conceptualizations.Therepresentationthatwe have chosen,conceptmapsaug-mentedwith supplementaryresources,appearsto providetheneededinformationin aneasy-to-useform, anda recentstudysubstantiatestheusefulnessof conceptmapnavigationfor guidingknowledgeaccess(Carnotetal. 2001).

Keyword-basedretrieval techniquesare commonin theinformationretrieval literature(Baeza-Yates& Ribeiro-Neto1999). Becauseconceptmapsprovide additionalstructure,our methodsaugmentkeyword-basedmethodswith consid-erationof thetopologicalrole of a keyword, inheritedfromthetopologicalrole of theconceptin which it appears.TheIR communityhasalsodoneconsiderableresearchonmeth-odsinvolving metricclusters, in which keywordsarecom-paredin termsof theirdistance(usuallydefinedby thenum-berof wordsbetweenthemin a document,with infinite dis-tancebetweenkeywordsin differentdocuments).Our no-tion of distance-basedglobal correlationsis an adaptationof theseideas.

Thecomparisonof structuredinformationhasbeenexten-sively studiedin researchon case-basedreasoningandana-logical reasoning.Ourmethodsrely on topologicalanalysistechniquesratherthanonexplicit structuremapping,asdoneby (Falkenhainer, Forbus,& Gentner1989).Structuralanal-ysisrequiresastandardizedrepresentationlanguage,andas-

sumesthat the most importantmatchesinvolve the links,ratherthan the entitiesthat theselinks relate. In conceptmaps, the representationalvocabulary is nonstandardizedandlink namestendto be generic,so the mostsignificantinformationsourceis usuallyon theconceptsratherthanonthelinks.

ConclusionConceptmappingprovidesa meansto captureand exam-ine humanconcepts,aswell asa tool for aidingexpertsandnovicesatconstructingandrefiningtheirown understandingof adomain.Augmentingconceptmappingtoolswith intel-ligent methodsfor suggestingrelevantconceptsto compareandconsideris promisingfor aidingtheseprocessesandfa-cilitating knowledgesharing.Developingthesemethodsde-pendson beingableto efficiently andeffectively assesstherelevanceof conceptsin prior mapsto selectedconceptsintheconceptmapscurrentlybeingconstructed.

Thepaperhasidentifiedkey issuesfor this taskandpre-senteda setof approachesfor assessingconceptualsimilar-ity andrelevancefor conceptmapping. Theseapproacheshave beenimplementedin a suggestersystemcombinedwith the electronicconceptmappingtools of the Institutefor HumanandMachineCognition,with encouraginginitialresultsthat we arepreparingto test moreextensively in alarger-scalestudy. Basedon theresultsof thatstudy, we in-tendto refinetheseindividualmethodsandinvestigatepossi-bilities for combinationsto exploit theirindividualstrengths,as well as to addressadditionalissuessuchas selectivelyadjustingconceptweightsto reflectadditionalinformationabouttaskcontexts.

ReferencesBaeza-Yates,R., andRibeiro-Neto,B. 1999. ModernIn-formationRetrieval. Addison-Wesley.Canas, A.; Ford, K.; Brennan,J.; Reichherzer, T.; andHayes,P. 1995. Knowledgeconstructionandsharinginquorum. In World Conferenceon Artificial IntelligenceinEducation,AIED’95, 218–225.AACE.Canas,A.; Leake,D.; andMaguitman,A. 2001. Combin-ing conceptmappingwith cbr: Experience-basedsupportfor knowledgemodeling.In Proceedingsof theFourteenthInternationalFlorida Artificial IntelligenceResearch Soci-etyConference, 286–290.AAAI Press.Carnot, M.; Dunn, B.; Canas, A.; Graham, P.;and Muldoon, J. 2001. Concept maps vs. webpages for information searching and browsing.http://www.coginst.uwf.edu/users/acanas/Publications/-CMapsVSWebPagesExp1/CMapsVSWebPagesExp1.htm.Falkenhainer, B.; Forbus,K.; andGentner, D. 1989. Thestructure-mappingengine:Algorithm andexamples.Arti-ficial Intelligence41:1–63.Kleinberg, J. 1999.Authoritativesourcesin a hyperlinkedenvironment.Journalof theACM 46(5):604–632.Novak, J., andGowin, D. 1984. LearningHow to Learn.New York: CambridgeUniversityPress.