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Knowledge Engineering for Preservation and Future use of Institutional KnowledgeThis Project has two main thrusts-preservation of special knowledge and its useful representation via computers. NASA is losing the expertise of its engineers and scientists who put together the great missions of the past. We no longer are landing men on the moon. Some of the equipment still used today (such as the RL-10 rocket) was designed decades ago by people who are now retiring. Furthermore, there has been a lack, in some areas of technology, of new projects that overlap with the old and that would have provided opportunities for monitoring by senior engineers of the young ones. We are studying this problem and trying out a couple of methods of soliciting and recording rare knowledge from experts. One method is that of Concept Maps which produces a graphical interface to knowledge even as it helps solicit that knowledge. We arranged for experienced help in this method from John Coffey of the Institute of Human and Machine Technology at the University of West Florida. A second method which we plan to try out in May, is a video-taped review of selected failed missions (e.g., the craft tumbled and blew up). Five senior engineers (most already retired from NASA) will, as a team, analyze available data, illustrating their thought processes as they try to solve the problem of why a space craft failed to complete its mission. The session will be captured in high quality audio and with at least two video cameras. The video can later be used to plan future concept mapping interviews and, in edited form, be a product in itself. Our computer representations of the amassed knowledge may eventually, via the methods of expert systems, be joined with other software being prepared as a suite of tools to aid future engineers designing rocket engines. In addition to representation by multimedia concept maps, we plan to consider linking vast bodies of text (and other media) by hypertexting methods.
Document ID
19960052326
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Moreman, Douglas
(Southern Univ. Baton Rouge, LA United States)
Dyer, John
(Southern Univ. Baton Rouge, LA United States)
Date Acquired
August 17, 2013
Publication Date
July 1, 1996
Publication Information
Publication: HBCUs Research Conference Agenda and Abstracts
Subject Category
Social Sciences (General)
Report/Patent Number
Paper-30
Accession Number
96N35523
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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