Distributed Knowledge in Case-Based Reasoning: Knowledge Sharing and Reuse within the Semantic Web

Abstract

The Semantic Web is an emerging framework for data reuse and sharing. By giving data clear semantics it allows for machine processing of this information. The Semantic Web technologies range from simple meta data to domain models using the Web Ontology Languge (OWL). Much of the semantics of OWL stems from the Knowledge Representation field of Description Logics. Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) uses specific knowledge in the form of cases to solve problems. The Creek system is a Knowledge-Intensive approach to CBR that combines specific knowledge with general domain knowledge. Part of this work is to define a OWL vocabulary for Creek. This will be concepts used to describe case-bases and domain models, and how these concepts are related to each other. Using this vocabulary, a knowledge model from a Creek system can be described in OWL and shared with others on the Semantic Web. We also examines how domain ontologies can be reused and imported into a Creek knowledge model. We propose a design for Creek to operate in the context of the Semantic Web and its distributed knowledge. Part of the design will be tested by implementation.