Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 July 2009
This special issue of The Knowledge Engineering Review includes three papers on the subject of automated knowledge-acquisition tools. Gaines and Shaw (1993) review knowledge acquisition tools based on personal-construct psychology; Birmingham and Klinker (1993) review tools based on predefined models of problem-solving methods; and Eriksson and Musen (1993) review metalevel tools that developers may use to build other knowledge acquisition tools. Although this trio of papers by no means summarizes all recent developments in computer-based assistance for knowledge engineering, these contributions provide examples of three important research frontiers that, in many ways, trace their origins to early expert systems research.