IN Class Blog

Today in my Knowledge Management class, I am going to define what we have been talking about for the last two class sessions.

1. What is an Expert system?

Many times and expert system is called Artificial Inelegance. An expert system is effectively a software program that helps an expert who is knowledgeable in a particular field. An Expert System is applied based on a bank of knowledge and a set of rules for applying the knowledge base to each particular situation that is described to the program.

2. What are some applications of Expert System Technologies?

Many of the applications currently in place for Expert System Technologies include; systems that help with the diagnosis and treatment of patients in the health care system, schedule modeling for factories, game design and simulation was one of the first uses of expert systems.

In many ways, the use of expert systems increases the usefulness of whoever/whatever is using the system. Examples include, loan approval, medicine subscription, human resources, process control and accounting.

3. What are some strengths/benefits to be obtained from ES technology?

ES is used to make better decisions based on programed rules to assist with the best decision possible. Some of the strengths/benefits include:
1. consistency in answering repetitive decisions and tasks
2. has a knowledge base that can be improved on based on how much information is stored and usable in the system
3. asks the same questions every time making sure that each question is answered

4. What are some weaknesses/limitations of ES technology?
ES technology has some weaknesses/limitations also. An ES makes the same decision based on the circumstances that it is presented with, even if this is not the best decision possible.
1. there is a lack of common sense and creativity that a human might have used to make decisions
2. some areas of expertise may not have enough quantifiable decision processes to make an accurate ES
3. if errors occur there is no way to see that an error has been made

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Expert systems are a great resource if used in the right context and has the knowledge base it uses updated in a timely manner. Being that ES technology takes the human control out of the picture, it is advisable to have some sort of "overriding" decision support from a human interface as part of the ES technology.