tions once a pattern of utility scores has been recog-
nized. (For other issues related to reducing the com-
plexity of knowledge acquisition of influence dia-
grams see Bielza, Gomez and Shenoy (2010).) Fol-
lowing these tenets, we successfully configured our
first demonstration system of CLAD.
As regards incorporating aspects of influence
diagram creation into OntoElicit, our current think-
ing is that experts could, in fact, be led through the
process of decomposing the problem into the main
variables in the decision vs. the variables in local
decisions (cf. point (1) above), but we have yet to
experiment with this methodology.
4 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, we have provided a sweeping introduc-
tion to some of the different kinds of modeling
strategies used within the OntoAgent environment.
We have shown how our problem space design has
facilitated the creation of a mixed-initiative KE sys-
tem for encoding clinical knowledge in the metalan-
guage of the OntoAgent environment. One of the
advantages of our modeling strategies is that the
knowledge is formulated such that it can understood
not only by the expert him- or herself but also by the
wider community, as illustrated in Jarrell et al.
(2008). (Cf. the KADS principle that collected data
and analysis should be documented.) Although we
are well aware that such general strategies will not
be sufficient to overcome all modeling challenges,
we believe that they are beneficial in helping experts
to conceptualize domains quickly, independently
and in the most practical way. In this sense we be-
lieve that this work makes a contribution to over-
coming the knowledge bottleneck in constructing
practical knowledge-based systems.
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