Managing Agriculture Knowledge Through Localized Community Expert System

A Research Project

• Availability of user-friendly technology • Building & maintaining expert systems is a process

with two axes: Knowledge Acquisition and Knowledge Engineering

• Many components come into play creating a web of factors that could affect the efficiency of expert systems.

• The need not to just build an expert system but to document how to go about building a valid and efficient expert system.

Researching A Process….Evaluating A Product

What are the components of a workable model for building efficient Knowledge Bases for solving problems in specific knowledge domains through the use of Expert Systems?

  To what extent do the model components affect each other? What is the expertise needed for managing and sustaining each of the model components?

  What are the criteria of the knowledge domains that could be best encoded through Expert Systems? What are the selection criteria of the knowledge experts who can effectively encode their expertise as

Expert Systems?

To what extent is the knowledge engineering methodology adopted in the project effective in capturing and encoding expertise as rules in knowledge bases? 

  What are the advantages and disadvantages of the available Expert System technologies? On what basis

the decision was taken for the expert system technology used in this project? What are the competencies and skills required for the efficient use of Expert Systems?  How could the challenge of upgrading and sustaining Expert Systems be dealt with?  

Research Questions

• Adopting and adapting expert system tool

• Identifying a workable model for building efficient expert systems.

• Researching conditions of system components and the relationships among them.

• Consolidating lessons learned and best practices. • Producing field-tested prototypes to use in advocacy and

capacity building

Pilot Project

• 6 Capacity Building and Validation Workshops• 50+ participants • 37 Expert Systems developed • 4 Focus group meetings with knowledge experts • 1 Focus group meeting with CLAES • Tool Questionnaire • Training Questionnaire• Peer Review Questionnaire • Expert System Rating Scale

Researching A Process……

• The developed tool is user friendly• The implementation of the expert systems

has led to add some features to the developed tool (e.g. links to images, and textual document for symptoms and causes, systems directory, list of experts) • Some rules are added to handle “no

diagnosis”.• User’s rating and comments

The Expert System Tool

Workable Framework for Building

Efficient Expert Systems

Identification of Knowledge

Experts

Advocating Business Model

Showing Prototypes

Setting Requirements

Training on Knowledge

Engineering

Establishing Follow-up

Mechanism

Developing/Reviewing& Updating Expert

System

Validation & Verification

(internal/External)

Community Rating

ADVOCACY BUILDING CAPACITY

CONSTRUCTION

As Sequential as A, B, C……..

• ADVOCACY - Advocacy Message - Advocacy Channels - Showing not Telling / Experiential not Theoretical

• BUILDING CAPACITY- Clear requirements - Training Approach - Follow-up Mechanism

• CONSTRUCTION - Building & Testing

As Sequential as A, B, C……..

Advocacy Identification of Knowledge

Experts

Advocating Business Model

Showing Prototypes

Advocacy Identification of Knowledge Experts Familiarity with problems /language in the field

Access to in-depth specialized, valid, up-to-date and complete knowledge

Logical Thinking

Knowledge Acquisition / analysis

Design Knowledge bases

Advocacy

Advocating Business Model

Clear Return on Investment

Fierce Competition

Users’ needs & satisfaction

Quality of Input

Different advocacy channels

Advocacy

Showing Prototypes

Showing not Telling

Model Adaptation/Variation

Best Practice Prototype

Expert System Advocates/Other Advocacy Channels

Building Capacity Setting Requirements

Training on Knowledge Engineering

Establishing Follow-up Mechanism

Building Capacity Setting Requirements

Avail Relevant Knowledge (texts/photos)

Classifying /Sorting Knowledge

Decide on Scope

Building Capacity

Training on Knowledge Engineering

Knowledge Engineering

Knowledge bases

Modeling

Completing/reviewing the expert system

Start Feeding Knowledge bases to the tool

Immediate Feedback

‘How-to validate and verify

Building Capacity

Establishing Follow-up Mechanism

Criteria/Index as frame of reference

Announced Follow-up/technical support plans

Motivation/Incentives

Construction Developing/Reviewing & Updating Expert Systems

Validation & Verification

Community Rating

Construction Developing/Reviewing & Updating Expert Systems

Clarity of questions

Classification of answers

Order/number of Questions

Use/quality of photos

System Review

System Update

Responding to the interest of the growers

Construction

Validation & Verification

Real-time Test cases

Two cases/ rule (+/-)

Adaptation in light of test cases

Users’ feedback

Construction

Community Rating

Competition & Business Model

Users’ rating & Comments

Monitoring traffic

Role modeling

Hyperlink of list of Expert Systems

Evaluating products……

• Follow-up efforts (facebook groups, messaging, individual contacts)

• CLAES validation and verification reports

• Knowledge experts evaluation (rating and comments)

Evaluating Products

• Building experts system is a trainable process • Identified critical factors that affect system efficiency

and validity

• Factors taken into account in planning Advocacy, Capacity Building and Construction Phases of the process

Concluding Remarks

Project Outputs: • User-friendly expert system tool• 37 expert systems at various degrees of

completion • Training Package • ICT Skills KIT • Process reports• Process/Working Model document• On-going feedback collection mechanism

Concluding Remarks

• Expert System Review

• CLAES technical support (end of Sept.) • Peer reviewing continue

• Community Rating (Tool & Expert System) • ICT Trust Fund customers-support

Next Steps