Acquisition and organization of personal knowledge through WWW browsing

• Published in: Electronics & communications in Japan. Part 2, Electronics Electronics, 2004-11, Vol.87 (11), p.38-48
• Main Authors: Takashiro, Toru, Takeda, Hideaki
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: browsing support; context; individual knowledge; knowledge acquisition
• ISSN: 8756-663X; 1520-6432
• DOI: 10.1002/ecjb.20127

The purpose of this paper is to construct a system to support the process whereby the user acquires knowledge by viewing electronic documents, including documents on the World Wide Web (WWW). The paper focuses on the structure of the individual knowledge and the context that forms its background, based on the experience, interests, and concerns of the individual user. A system called “MindHeap,” which models the structure of the individual knowledge in the system by interaction with the user, and presents the information to the user on the basis of that model, was previously implemented. The system has a function allowing interaction with the user in addition to the functions of an ordinary WWW browser. The user can input the part of the document that is of interest by tracing it on the screen. As a result of repeated input, the structure of the individual knowledge is automatically rearranged and systematized on the basis of the input and its context. Thus, the system supports the user with information in various formats. Evaluation experiments of the system are presented in this paper, demonstrating that the technique works effectively. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 2, 87(11): 38–48, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecjb.20127