Arnon Sturm

As knowledge increases tremendously each and every day, there is a need for various means to manage and organize it, so to utilize it when needed. For example, for finding solutions to technical and engineering problems. An alternative for achieving these goals is through knowledge mapping that aims at indexing the knowledge. Recently, we devised an approach called ME-MAP for mapping out know-how, so to facilitate knowledge indexing. However, the challenge of handling large maps still exists. In this paper, we address this challenge by proposing a simplification mechanism for ME-maps. In particular, we define the meaning of simplification in ME-MAP, set simplification rules, and develop an algorithm for simplifying ME-maps. In addition, we confirm the correctness of the algorithm and its scalability, as well as its support for understanding domain maps through a preliminary user study.