Investigating the communication problems encountered in knowledge acquisition

Whether conducted manually or with the help of automated software tools, knowledge acquisition is a process fraught with numerous communication problems. It has become widely accepted that domain experts sometimes have trouble articulating their knowledge in a way that knowledge engineers or knowledge acquisition programs can use effectively. These communication difficulties are often vaguely attributed to the unverbalizable, "intuitive" nature of expert problem solving. However, if we are to make substantive improvements in knowledge acquisition technology, a more sophisticated understanding of the communication characteristics of expert-novice (knowledge engineering) interactions needs to be developed.