Distributed expert problem treatment as a model for information system analysis and design

Abstract

We discuss the functional analysis and design of a general information provision mechanism. Our basic assumptions are that information provision mechanisms are best considered as a part of a problem management system which includes user, mechanism and knowledge resource, that such mechanisms must necessarily be multi-functional, and that they will include both human and machine components. By analyzing how such a mechanism must operate in order to help the user to treat her/his problem, we identify a number of discrete functions which interact in complex ways. This leads us to discuss a particular approach to the modelling and design of problem treatment situations, distributed problem treatment. This ap proach assumes that problem treatment can be broken down into a number of separate entitites, each of which makes hypotheses about its particular area of responsibility, and com municates these results to the other entities of the mechanism. We demonstrate, by partial example, that the information provision mechanism fulfills the requirements of this approach, and that this approach appears able to provide a means for analysis and design of information provision mechanisms which retains the level of complexity necessary for the sorts of mecha nisms our assumptions imply. We suggest a possible architec ture for the information mechanism based on this approach.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Projekt INSTRAT. Funded by the German Federal Ministry for Research and Technology under Grant Number 1DA 0160-4.

T. Seeger, ed.. Information Systems as Collectives of Cooperating Functional Experts. Proceedings of a Workshop. Berlin, 1981. FUB-IFB 5/82 (Freie Universitat Berlin, Fachbereich Kommunikationswissenschaft, Arbeitsbereich Informationsmssenschaft, Berlin, 1982).

G. Wersig, Information — Kommunikation — Dokumentation (Verlag Dokumentation. Pullach hei Munchen, 1971).

G. Wersig , The problematic situation as a basic concept of information science in the framework of the social sciences - a reply to N. Belkin, in: New Trends in Informatics and Its Terminology. FID 568 ( VINITI, Moscow, 1979) pp. 48-57.

W. Kunz and H. Rittel , A Systems Analysis of the Logic of Research and Information Processes (Veriag Dokumentation, Munchen. 1977).

H.A. Simon , The structure of ill-structured problems, Artificial Intelligence 4 (1973) 181-201.

H.M. Brooks and N.J. Belkin , Discourse analysis and the human-machine interface of information retrieval systems. Centre for Information Science. The City University , to appear.

P. Cochrane (Atherton) , Presearch Interview Project Executive Summary, Project Bibliography and Sample Data. ED 205 190 (Syracuse University. School of Information Studies. Syracuse, NY, 1981).

B. Dervin , Information as a user construct: the relevance of perceived information needs to synthesis and interpretation. Paper prepared for the Research and Educational Practice Unit, National Institute for Education . 1980, to appear.

10.

P.R. Cohen , C.R. Perrault and J.F. Allen , Beyond Question-Answering. AD - A100 432; BBN - 4644 ( Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge, MA, 1981).

11.

E. Hollnagel , The relation between intention, meaning and action. in: M. MacCafferty and K. Gray , eds., The Analysis of Meaning: Informatics 5 (Aslib, London, 1979) pp. 135-147.

12.

N.J. Belkin , Anomalous states of knowledge as a basis for information retrieval, Canadian J. Inform. Sci. 5 (1980) 133-143.

13.

R. Wesson et al., Network structures for distributed situation assessment, IEEE Trans. Systems, Man and Cybernetics SCM-11 (1) (1981) 5-23.

14.

L.D. Erman and V.R. Lesser , The HEARSAY - II system: a tutorial, in: W.A. Lea , ed., Trends in Speech Recognition ( Prenoce-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1979) pp. 361-381.