US-South Africa Cooperative Research: Intelligent Knowledge Acquisition and Service Delivery

该项目将南非西开普省大学(UWC)的研究与霍华德大学在“智能系统和知识获取”方面的努力联系起来。这项工作的亮点是，每年有一名霍华德大学的研究员和三名霍华德大学的研究生前往UWC，与UWC的教职员工和学生一起进行研究。他们的工作将集中在新兴的基于智能的互联网计算--“语义网”及其不断发展的语言和本体。根据Fensel和Musen的说法，“在几年内，它[网络]将交织在10亿人中间，不仅渗透到计算机，而且还渗透到其他设备，包括汽车、冰箱、咖啡机，甚至衣服。”新千年开启了“智能知识工程与管理”(IKEM)时代。该项目将对两所大学现有的和拟议的几门课程产生直接和长期的影响。现有课程包括人工智能、专家系统、计算机网络、建模与仿真、多媒体系统、系统管理、大型系统和网络服务。拟开设的课程包括高级智能系统和人机交互。在开发IKEM系统方面的进展将促进数字图书馆、语义网服务和实时知识处理的利用。将IKEM系统的开发和利用联系起来将为扩大这一初步努力提供若干可能性。

This project links research conducted by the University of Western Cape's (UWC) in South Africa with Howard University's efforts in "Intelligent Systems and Knowledge Acquisition". The highlight of this effort is that each year an investigator from Howard University and three graduate students from Howard University will travel to UWC to conduct research with UWC faculty and students. Their work will focus on the emerging intelligent-based internet computing - "The Semantic Web" with its evolving languages and ontologies. According to Fensel and Musen, "in a few years, it [the Web] will interweave one billion people and penetrate not just computers but also other devices, including cars, refrigerators, coffee machines, and even clothes." The new millennium has ushered in the era of "intelligent knowledge engineering and management" (IKEM). This project will have an immediate and long-range impact on several existing and proposed courses at both universities. Existing courses include Artificial Intelligence, Expert Systems, Computer Networks, Modeling and Simulation, Multimedia Systems, Systems Management, Large Scale Systems, and Web Services. Proposed courses include Advanced Intelligent Systems, and Human Computer Interaction. Advances in the development of an IKEM system will promote the utilization of digital libraries, semantic web services and real-time knowledge manipulation. Linking IKEM system development and utilization will provide a number of possibilities for extending this initial effort.