Developing Knowledge-Based Systems using the Semantic Web

The benefits of reuse have long been recognized in the knowledge engineering community where the dream of creating knowledge-based systems on-the-fly from libraries of reusable components is still to be fully realised. In this paper we present a two stage methodology for creating knowledge-based systems: first reusing domain knowledge by mapping it, where appropriate, to the requirements of a generic problem solver; and secondly using this mapped knowledge and the requirements of the problem solver to "drive" the acquisition of the additional knowledge it needs. For example, suppose we have available a knowledge-based systems which is composed of a propose-and-revise problem solver linked with an appropriate knowledge base/ontology from the elevator domain. Then to create a diagnostic knowledge-based systems in the same domain, we require to map relevant information from the elevator knowledge base/ontology, such as component information, to a diagnostic problem solver, and then to extend it with diagnostic information such as malfunctions, symptoms and repairs for each component. We have developed MAKTab, a Protege plug-in which supports both these steps and results in a composite knowledgebased systems which is executable. In the final section of this paper we discuss the issues involved in extending MAKTab so that it would be able to operate in the context of the (Semantic) Web. Here we use the idea of centralised mapping repositories and mapping composition. This work contributes to the vision of the Web, which contains components (both problem solvers and instantiated ontologies (knowledge bases)) that tools (like MAKTab) can use to create knowledge-based systems which subsequently can enhance the richness of the Web by providing yet further knowledge-based Web-services.