Reference: Musen, M. A. Widening the Knowledge-Acquisition Bottleneck: Automated Tools for Building and Extending Clinical Methods. 1989.
Abstract: Building a knowledge-based system is like developing a scientific theory. Although a medical knowledge base does not constitute a theory of some natural phenomenon, it does represent a theory of how expert physicians diagnose or treat particular clinical conditions. As when scientists develop a natural theory, builders of expert systems first must formulate a model of the behavior that they wish to understand, and then must corroborate and extend that model with the aid of specific examples. There are thus two phases of knowledge-base construction: (1) model building and (2) model extension. Computer-based tools can assist with both phases of the knowledge-acquisition process. A recent tool known as PROTEGE individually addresses these two distinct activities, and thus facilitates the construction of medical advice systems when the same general model can be applied to a variety of application tasks.