Knowledge base

A knowledge base (or knowledgebase; abbreviated KB, kb or Δ^{[citation needed]}) is a special kind of database for knowledge management, providing the means for the computerized collection, organization, and retrieval of knowledge.

[edit] Types

Knowledge bases are categorized into two major types:

Machine-readable knowledge bases store knowledge in a computer-readable form, usually for the purpose of having automated deductive reasoning applied to them. They contain a set of data, often in the form of rules that describe the knowledge in a logically consistent manner. An ontology can define the structure of stored data - what types of entities are recorded and what their relationships are. Logical operators, such as And (conjunction), Or (disjunction), material implication and negation may be used to build it up from simpler pieces of information. Consequently, classical deduction can be used to reason about the knowledge in the knowledge base. Some machine-readable knowledge bases are used with artificial intelligence, for example as part of an expert system that focuses on a domain like prescription drugs or customs law. Such knowledge bases are also used by the semantic web.

Human-readable knowledge bases are designed to allow people to retrieve and use the knowledge they contain. They are commonly used to complement a help desk or for sharing information among employees within an organization. They might store troubleshooting information, articles, white papers, user manuals, or answers to frequently asked questions. Typically, a search engine is used to locate information in the system, or users may browse through a classification scheme.

The TeraGrid distributed supercomputing system provides a knowledge base for user support.^[1]

Tufts University School of Medicine has created a software infrastructure called the Tufts University Sciences Knowledgebase, TUSK. It serves as a knowledge base for curricular information for the health sciences schools at Tufts (medical, dental, veterinary, public health, nutrition, graduate biomedical sciences). This infrastructure has been shared with seven schools in the U.S., Africa, and India.^[2]

A pediatric research group at the British Columbia's Children's Hospital has created a knowledge base authoring tool called iKnow. It is used by clinicians at the hospital to develop knowledge rules for improving patient care in surgical operations. A decision support system then runs the rules in the operating room to assist anesthesiologists in dealing with adverse events. The knowledge base developed is machine-readable and also has a human interface called iKnow.^[3]^[4]

CHORUS, the "Collaborative Hypertext of Radiology", is an expert system used by doctors to help interpret medical images and diagnose patients.^[5]

Informational formats