Knowledge Acquisition using an English-Based Method Editor

We describe an editor for problem-solving knowledge that communicates with the user through English paraphrases of the knowledge. Although it does not support the full range of modifications one might want to make, the value of the tool lies in the fact that the user need not understand the syntax of the expert system to make modifications. By analyzing the problem solving knowledge, the tool can allow the user to select semantically coherent chunks of the knowledge. It then presents English paraphrases of possible substitutions which would result in new problem-solving knowledge that is syntactically correct. In this way the tool expands the range of modifications that a na ve user can make to problem-solving knowledge in an expert system.