Approaches to Acquisition and Management of New Knowledge

Abstract

The computer has become accepted as an information
management tool in many fields. Yet veterinarians are very selective with the level to which we will rely on
computerized information systems and with the types of information we will manage with computers. Traditionally we have accepted the computer as a means of managing numerical or financial information. More recently we have begun to accept the computer as an information tool for practice management, medical records, and herd health data. Now computer software is giving us the means to develop easy-to-use medical information systems. Two basic software concepts are presented in this paper, hypertext applications and the Problem Knowledge Coupler.™

The concept of "hypertext" was first introduced to the computer community by Ted Nelson in the 1960s. Put simply, hypertext is the means to link textual information to other textual information. Hypertext programs give one the ability to create large, cross-referenced documents with virtually unlimited search capabilities. Hypertext provides a means of navigating through large volumes of information. With the cross-referencing and search capabilities of hypertext documents it becomes possible to develop systems to successfully deal with information overload. With the geometrically increasing volume of information in veterinary medicine simple and effective means for navigation through information are essential.