How do we cope with one of the biggest challenges in IT, the information overload? Theoretically, all data should be accessible, once it is entered into a computer. Indeed, the growing variety of business intelligence solution, operating systems, formats and databases adds to the challenge. However, inaccessible data is lost knowledge.
How do we access the knowledge?
Paradoxically, knowledge in a company is linked to a certain person or persons. This means that only with the help of this person can the wealth of the archives be unlocked. The creativity and knowledge of this person is based upon association. Knowledge is not just a collection of information, but it stands in context,with something else. A piece of data gets a meaning for us when we associate it with other things. When we encounter a piece of data, our first action is usually to attempt to find a way to attribute meaning to it. And we do this by associating it with other things.
The semantic trap!
It’s so easy for humans, to understand semantic or meaningful information. We either understand it immediately or we ask because we do not understand. At the latest, if we have to raise and educate children, we realize, that there is so much useless information out there. And we also realize that if we feed useless information, we corrupt the quality of exiting knowledge – the GIGO principle (Garbage IN = Garbage OUT). “We must be carefully, what we teach to a semantic system, it’s like educate a human” … says Manfred Hoffleisch, head of R&D at ai-one inc.
Next: how ai-one™ helps solve this problem.