THE WELCH COMPANY
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111-2496
415 781 5700
rodwelch@pacbell.net



Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2005 11:28:40 -0800

03 00050 61 05011501




Mr. Henry van Eyken
Webmaster
Bootstrap Institute
6505 Kaiser Drive
Fremont, CA 94555
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Subject:   Fleabyte, DKR, Collaboration and civic journalism
Innovation Loop DKR Used Planning

Dear Henry,

Eugene makes a good point in his letter on 050114, shown below, on conducting a professional event that aims for synergy between a DKR and collaboration.
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An initial question Fleabyte can address might define the purpose of a DKR that augments thinking and facilitates collaboration, and which also grows through collaboration and a wide variety of other means.
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For example, Eugene plans to generate a DKR for an upcoming professional event, which will yield lessons learned for doing future events, and which in turn will contribute to the DKR. Does a DKR then relate to particular subjects, like learning to conduct professional events; or, might a DKR provide guidance on matters presented during a professional event? One can imagine that experience and lessons learned on conducting professional events would indeed bear directly on future similar events, but what of the content in the events? Can we truly say that "learning" occurs from a presentation, and if so is it "knowledge" or is it mere awareness that someone said something and offered evidence relevant to particular contexts? This seems like a critical factor applying lessons stored in a Dynamic Knowledge Repository (DKR). What makes it "dynamic" and what makes it "knowledge." Eugene's letter offers that continually adding new information from follow on events makes a repository "dynamic." Sounds "good to go."
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To illustrate, on 000518 Jack introduced Professor Marry Keeler during a meeting at SRI to define "knowledge" toward designing a DKR. Professor Keeler cited the work of Charles Peirce, who developed semiotics in the early 20th century. Peirce's work on semiotics has recently gained renewed interest for guidance on the philosophy of using technology to aid "knowledge" formation. How so? Earlier, on 000517 Jack submitted a paper Mary prepared on her study of Peirce which disclosed that experience drives formation of knowledge, and this means the accuracy of knowledge in the human mind is continually refined by new experience.
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Eugene's model of using experience from past professional events to refine knowledge for conducting future events appears to align with Peirce's ideas on human mental metrics. Might this be a good model for a DKR, i.e., we are all equipped to grow knowledge, and so can we configure technology to augment the intelligence process for dynamically generating, connecting, storing, and retrieving knowledge, in the same way that an automobile augments physical strength to move about with heavier loads by some significant order of magnitude?
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How then to expand the model for using a DKR to collaborate on professional events to include content of such events, and all other events?
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One way would be to triangulate new information in a professional event with related experience from all events, like reading a book, attending meetings, getting and sending email, seeing a movie, etc. The challenge becomes how to make dynamic connections between disparate events that accumulate evidence with sufficient weight that justify a conclusion of a "lesson" which can be relied upon for future conduct? This suggests a DKR supports dynamics between learning and taking action, described as "thinking" and "doing" in POIMS....
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http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/02/00030.HTM#2050
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The suggestion that a DKR requires input from experts is not entirely supported by experience. Mark Twain defined an "expert" as "Some guy from out of town." Setting humor aside, while credentials are helpful and important, ultimately the critical factor that grows "knowledge" is experience, also called history. The notion of an "encyclopaedia" that organizes experience based on the structure of knowledge, some might call a taxonomy, or ontology fits this model. It should seek out experts, analyse their input, and make appropriate attribution, but conclusions must ultimately be grounded in experience that establish reliable belief in causation. Thus, in my view, an effective DKR requires a generalist, not an expert. This means that people like Eugene and Henry are ideal for the task of growing knowledge using skills of reporting, and journalism. Other skills are also needed, but history begins with writing the story.
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Fleabyte then might look for tools that generate Dynamic Knowledge Repository (DKR) by empowering people to work intelligently by "connecting the dots" with dynamic links from daily experience that continually refine the accuracy of knowledge in their personal encyclopaedia.
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This requires a method of defining an organic structure for navigating the repository.
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Of course merely accumulating a lot of experience does not yield lessons learned. Human reasoning tends to make conclusions of cause and effect based on chronology, as in the popular question -- "Then what happened?"
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People yearn to have information presented in sequence because time imparts causation, which can be applied for decisions on future events with similar context, i.e., planning.
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Of course, merely having a lot good ideas in a dynamic repository does not comprise useful "knowledge" without precision access based on situational awareness to draw on relevant knowledge when needed to "connect the dots" for understanding current events in relation to objectives, requirements, and commitments. With these capabilities, a DKR is positioned to augment intelligence for getting things done on time, within budget and correctly to save lives, time, and money, while further disclosing the secrets of nature, commonly called "creativity."
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How can intelligence for getting things done creatively be applied?
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Eugene notes in his letter how a DKR can help plan future professional events. Additional application to education, government, business, health care, science, and other areas driven by knowledge are listed in the record on 020708....

http://www.welchco.com/sd/08/00101/02/02/07/08/104022.HTM#MZ6O
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On 000120 Eric Armstrong and others discussed creating a DKR to solve world problems. People posed the prospect of eliminating poverty, war, pestilence, ignorance, decadence... That may be. A DKR can further support daily routine tasks described by Doug in his 1972 paper, which he cited on 000327....

http://www.welchco.com/sd/08/00101/02/00/03/27/094001.HTM#3971
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Perhaps learning to use a DKR for personal and organizational tasks that save lives, time, and money will lead toward larger societal goals, as civilization takes another leap, noted by Doug Lenat, cited in Jack's letter on 010622...

http://www.welchco.com/sd/08/00101/02/01/06/22/151656.HTM#N668
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Seems like the ingredients are there for a successful open source conference, and to launch Fleabyte again, giving a strong voice for a brighter future.

Sincerely,



Rod Welch
rodwelch@pacbell.net

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Copy to:
  1. Eugene Eric Kim
  2. Henry K van Eyken
  3. Jack Park
  4. Peter P. Yim"
  5. Toomas Altosaar
  6. Johnson, Garold L."
  7. DeHart, Bill"
  8. Jones, Morris E."
  9. Jones, Peter"
  10. Joslyn, Cliff"
  11. Laundauer, Ph.D., Tom"
  12. Lincoln, Patrick"
  13. Armstrong-IBM, Ross"

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