The power of a question: a case study of two knowledge capture systems

Abstract

Designers have many options for how to encode knowledge, although most are based on declarative representations. This paper explores the use of questions to represent knowledge. Practitioner experiences implementing two knowledge resources using a question-based representation are described. In both resources, the use of "questions" was chosen as both a nonthreatening way of engaging users and for its value in initiating thinking processes. Both systems have succeeded in capturing the interest of users and serve as valuable components of the organization's knowledge capture program. This paper describes the systems, the underlying design approach, and results from system evaluation. Since the goal of any knowledge resource is to facilitate the reuse of knowledge, it is important to understand the impact that different knowledge representations could have on system acceptance. This study raises several research issues based on experiences using the unusual representation of "questions".