US-South Africa Cooperative Research: Intelligent Knowledge Acquisition and Service Delivery

Howard University, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

This project links research conducted by the University of Western Cape's (UWC) in South Africa with Howard University's efforts in "Intelligent Systems and Knowledge Acquisition". The highlight of this effort is that each year an investigator from Howard University and three graduate students from Howard University will travel to UWC to conduct research with UWC faculty and students. Their work will focus on the emerging intelligent-based internet computing - "The Semantic Web" with its evolving languages and ontologies. According to Fensel and Musen, "in a few years, it [the Web] will interweave one billion people and penetrate not just computers but also other devices, including cars, refrigerators, coffee machines, and even clothes." The new millennium has ushered in the era of "intelligent knowledge engineering and management" (IKEM). This project will have an immediate and long-range impact on several existing and proposed courses at both universities. Existing courses include Artificial Intelligence, Expert Systems, Computer Networks, Modeling and Simulation, Multimedia Systems, Systems Management, Large Scale Systems, and Web Services. Proposed courses include Advanced Intelligent Systems, and Human Computer Interaction. Advances in the development of an IKEM system will promote the utilization of digital libraries, semantic web services and real-time knowledge manipulation. Linking IKEM system development and utilization will provide a number of possibilities for extending this initial effort.